User schemas preview: define your own user model #12464

We just shipped the second piece of the next Zitadel preview: user schemas. Full write-up is here.

The short version: your user model is a JSON Schema file in .zitadel/schemas/, not a fixed shape we hand you. Every project starts with a default human schema, but you can edit it, add fields, or add whole new schemas for machines and agents or whatever you require. Change the schema, add the field to a flow step so it's actually collected, then preview and publish with the CLI:

npx @zitadel/cli@alpha plan
npx @zitadel/cli@alpha apply

plan shows you exactly what would change before anything touches the server. apply publishes it.

If you tried the first preview, start from a fresh project. The CLI and .zitadel/ have both moved on since then, and running setup again on an already-initialized project won't pick up what's new.

We'd especially like to know:

• Was it obvious where to make changes?
• Did plan give you confidence about what would happen before you ran apply?
• Were validation errors easy to understand and act on?
• If you drove this through a coding agent, where did it need help or get it wrong?
• What does your actual user model look like, and does JSON Schema plus our x- annotations get you there?

We opened a dedicated Discord channel for this preview too, if you'd rather talk it through in real time. Try it, break it, and tell us what's missing.