diff --git a/docs/dotprompt.md b/docs/dotprompt.md
index ce09b925e7..71cfed0589 100644
--- a/docs/dotprompt.md
+++ b/docs/dotprompt.md
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ conditional portions to your prompt or iterate through structured content. The
 file format utilizes YAML frontmatter to provide metadata for a prompt inline
 with the template.
 
-## Defining Input/Output Schemas with Picoschema
+## Defining Input/Output Schemas
 
 Dotprompt includes a compact, YAML-optimized schema definition format called
 Picoschema to make it easy to define the most important attributs of a schema
@@ -142,6 +142,50 @@ output:
         minimum: 20
 ```
 
+### Leveraging Reusable Schemas
+
+In addition to directly defining schemas in the `.prompt` file, you can reference
+a schema registered with `defineSchema` by name. To register a schema:
+
+```ts
+import { defineSchema } from '@genkit-ai/core';
+import { z } from 'zod';
+
+const MySchema = defineSchema(
+  'MySchema',
+  z.object({
+    field1: z.string(),
+    field2: z.number(),
+  })
+);
+```
+
+Within your prompt, you can provide the name of the registered schema:
+
+```yaml
+# myPrompt.prompt
+---
+model: vertexai/gemini-1.5-flash
+output:
+  schema: MySchema
+---
+```
+
+The Dotprompt library will automatically resolve the name to the underlying
+registered Zod schema. You can then utilize the schema to strongly type the
+output of a Dotprompt:
+
+```ts
+import { prompt } from "@genkit-ai/dotprompt";
+
+const myPrompt = await prompt("myPrompt");
+
+const result = await myPrompt.generate<typeof MySchema>({...});
+
+// now strongly typed as MySchema
+result.output();
+```
+
 ## Overriding Prompt Metadata
 
 While `.prompt` files allow you to embed metadata such as model configuration in
diff --git a/js/core/src/index.ts b/js/core/src/index.ts
index 2155298f44..71ebb997c4 100644
--- a/js/core/src/index.ts
+++ b/js/core/src/index.ts
@@ -21,4 +21,5 @@ export * from './action.js';
 export * from './config.js';
 export { GenkitError } from './error.js';
 export * from './flowTypes.js';
+export { defineJsonSchema, defineSchema } from './schema.js';
 export * from './telemetryTypes.js';
diff --git a/js/core/src/registry.ts b/js/core/src/registry.ts
index d24935d387..94647c92be 100644
--- a/js/core/src/registry.ts
+++ b/js/core/src/registry.ts
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import { FlowStateStore } from './flowTypes.js';
 import { logger } from './logging.js';
 import { PluginProvider } from './plugin.js';
 import { startReflectionApi } from './reflectionApi.js';
+import { JSONSchema } from './schema.js';
 import { TraceStore } from './tracing/types.js';
 
 export type AsyncProvider<T> = () => Promise<T>;
@@ -28,6 +29,7 @@ const ACTIONS_BY_ID = 'genkit__ACTIONS_BY_ID';
 const TRACE_STORES_BY_ENV = 'genkit__TRACE_STORES_BY_ENV';
 const FLOW_STATE_STORES_BY_ENV = 'genkit__FLOW_STATE_STORES_BY_ENV';
 const PLUGINS_BY_NAME = 'genkit__PLUGINS_BY_NAME';
+const SCHEMAS_BY_NAME = 'genkit__SCHEMAS_BY_NAME';
 
 function actionsById(): Record<string, Action<z.ZodTypeAny, z.ZodTypeAny>> {
   if (global[ACTIONS_BY_ID] === undefined) {
@@ -53,6 +55,15 @@ function pluginsByName(): Record<string, PluginProvider> {
   }
   return global[PLUGINS_BY_NAME];
 }
+function schemasByName(): Record<
+  string,
+  { schema?: z.ZodTypeAny; jsonSchema?: JSONSchema }
+> {
+  if (global[SCHEMAS_BY_NAME] === undefined) {
+    global[SCHEMAS_BY_NAME] = {};
+  }
+  return global[SCHEMAS_BY_NAME];
+}
 
 /**
  * Type of a runnable action.
@@ -211,6 +222,17 @@ export async function initializePlugin(name: string) {
   return undefined;
 }
 
+export function registerSchema(
+  name: string,
+  data: { schema?: z.ZodTypeAny; jsonSchema?: JSONSchema }
+) {
+  schemasByName()[name] = data;
+}
+
+export function lookupSchema(name: string) {
+  return schemasByName()[name];
+}
+
 /**
  * Development mode only. Starts a Reflection API so that the actions can be called by the Runner.
  */
diff --git a/js/core/src/schema.ts b/js/core/src/schema.ts
index 5c6609469a..16a45160d3 100644
--- a/js/core/src/schema.ts
+++ b/js/core/src/schema.ts
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import addFormats from 'ajv-formats';
 import { z } from 'zod';
 import zodToJsonSchema from 'zod-to-json-schema';
 import { GenkitError } from './error.js';
+import { registerSchema } from './registry.js';
 const ajv = new Ajv();
 addFormats(ajv);
 
@@ -109,3 +110,16 @@ export function parseSchema<T = unknown>(
   if (!valid) throw new ValidationError({ data, errors: errors!, schema });
   return data as T;
 }
+
+export function defineSchema<T extends z.ZodTypeAny>(
+  name: string,
+  schema: T
+): T {
+  registerSchema(name, { schema });
+  return schema;
+}
+
+export function defineJsonSchema(name: string, jsonSchema: JSONSchema) {
+  registerSchema(name, { jsonSchema });
+  return jsonSchema;
+}
diff --git a/js/plugins/dotprompt/src/metadata.ts b/js/plugins/dotprompt/src/metadata.ts
index 131ea1373c..839a7068d5 100644
--- a/js/plugins/dotprompt/src/metadata.ts
+++ b/js/plugins/dotprompt/src/metadata.ts
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import {
   ModelArgument,
 } from '@genkit-ai/ai/model';
 import { ToolArgument } from '@genkit-ai/ai/tool';
+import { lookupSchema } from '@genkit-ai/core/registry';
 import { JSONSchema, parseSchema, toJsonSchema } from '@genkit-ai/core/schema';
 import z from 'zod';
 import { picoschema } from './picoschema.js';
@@ -92,8 +93,8 @@ export const PromptFrontmatterSchema = z.object({
   config: GenerationCommonConfigSchema.passthrough().optional(),
   input: z
     .object({
-      schema: z.unknown(),
       default: z.any(),
+      schema: z.unknown(),
     })
     .optional(),
   output: z
@@ -122,21 +123,37 @@ function stripUndefinedOrNull(obj: any) {
   return obj;
 }
 
+function fmSchemaToSchema(fmSchema: any) {
+  if (!fmSchema) return {};
+  if (typeof fmSchema === 'string') return lookupSchema(fmSchema);
+  return { jsonSchema: picoschema(fmSchema) };
+}
+
 export function toMetadata(attributes: unknown): Partial<PromptMetadata> {
   const fm = parseSchema<z.infer<typeof PromptFrontmatterSchema>>(attributes, {
     schema: PromptFrontmatterSchema,
   });
+
+  let input: PromptMetadata['input'] | undefined;
+  if (fm.input) {
+    input = { default: fm.input.default, ...fmSchemaToSchema(fm.input.schema) };
+  }
+
+  let output: PromptMetadata['output'] | undefined;
+  if (fm.output) {
+    output = {
+      format: fm.output.format,
+      ...fmSchemaToSchema(fm.output.schema),
+    };
+  }
+
   return stripUndefinedOrNull({
     name: fm.name,
     variant: fm.variant,
     model: fm.model,
     config: fm.config,
-    input: fm.input
-      ? { default: fm.input.default, jsonSchema: picoschema(fm.input.schema) }
-      : undefined,
-    output: fm.output
-      ? { format: fm.output.format, jsonSchema: picoschema(fm.output.schema) }
-      : undefined,
+    input,
+    output,
     metadata: fm.metadata,
     tools: fm.tools,
     candidates: fm.candidates,
diff --git a/js/plugins/dotprompt/src/prompt.ts b/js/plugins/dotprompt/src/prompt.ts
index 24bbc80aa0..6d1db8851d 100644
--- a/js/plugins/dotprompt/src/prompt.ts
+++ b/js/plugins/dotprompt/src/prompt.ts
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ export class Dotprompt<Variables = unknown> implements PromptMetadata {
       throw new GenkitError({
         source: 'Dotprompt',
         status: 'INVALID_ARGUMENT',
-        message: `Error parsing YAML frontmatter of '${name}' prompt: ${e.message}`,
+        message: `Error parsing YAML frontmatter of '${name}' prompt: ${e.stack}`,
       });
     }
   }
@@ -166,9 +166,9 @@ export class Dotprompt<Variables = unknown> implements PromptMetadata {
     );
   }
 
-  private _generateOptions(
+  private _generateOptions<O extends z.ZodTypeAny = z.ZodTypeAny>(
     options: PromptGenerateOptions<Variables>
-  ): GenerateOptions {
+  ): GenerateOptions<z.ZodTypeAny, O> {
     const messages = this.renderMessages(options.input, {
       history: options.history,
       context: options.context,
@@ -188,17 +188,19 @@ export class Dotprompt<Variables = unknown> implements PromptMetadata {
       tools: (options.tools || []).concat(this.tools || []),
       streamingCallback: options.streamingCallback,
       returnToolRequests: options.returnToolRequests,
-    };
+    } as GenerateOptions<z.ZodTypeAny, O>;
   }
 
-  render(opt: PromptGenerateOptions<Variables>): GenerateOptions {
-    return this._generateOptions(opt);
+  render<O extends z.ZodTypeAny = z.ZodTypeAny>(
+    opt: PromptGenerateOptions<Variables>
+  ): GenerateOptions<z.ZodTypeAny, O> {
+    return this._generateOptions<O>(opt);
   }
 
-  async generate(
+  async generate<O extends z.ZodTypeAny = z.ZodTypeAny>(
     opt: PromptGenerateOptions<Variables>
-  ): Promise<GenerateResponse> {
-    return generate(this.render(opt));
+  ): Promise<GenerateResponse<z.infer<O>>> {
+    return generate<z.ZodTypeAny, O>(this.render<O>(opt));
   }
 
   async generateStream(
diff --git a/js/plugins/dotprompt/tests/prompt_test.ts b/js/plugins/dotprompt/tests/prompt_test.ts
index ce0f14464d..d1dd4ce321 100644
--- a/js/plugins/dotprompt/tests/prompt_test.ts
+++ b/js/plugins/dotprompt/tests/prompt_test.ts
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import { defineModel } from '@genkit-ai/ai/model';
 import { toJsonSchema, ValidationError } from '@genkit-ai/core/schema';
 import z from 'zod';
 import { registerPluginProvider } from '../../../core/src/registry.js';
+import { defineJsonSchema, defineSchema } from '../../../core/src/schema.js';
 import { defineDotprompt, Dotprompt, prompt } from '../src/index.js';
 import { PromptMetadata } from '../src/metadata.js';
 
@@ -200,6 +201,24 @@ output:
         },
       });
     });
+
+    it('should use registered schemas', () => {
+      const MyInput = defineSchema('MyInput', z.number());
+      defineJsonSchema('MyOutput', { type: 'boolean' });
+
+      const p = Dotprompt.parse(
+        'example2',
+        `---
+input:
+  schema: MyInput
+output:
+  schema: MyOutput
+---`
+      );
+
+      assert.deepEqual(p.input, { schema: MyInput });
+      assert.deepEqual(p.output, { jsonSchema: { type: 'boolean' } });
+    });
   });
 
   describe('defineDotprompt', () => {
diff --git a/js/testapps/prompt-file/package.json b/js/testapps/prompt-file/package.json
index 7d1383f76f..ec4efbb0eb 100644
--- a/js/testapps/prompt-file/package.json
+++ b/js/testapps/prompt-file/package.json
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
     "@genkit-ai/googleai": "workspace:*",
     "zod": "^3.22.4"
   },
+  "main": "lib/index.js",
   "scripts": {
     "build": "tsc",
     "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
diff --git a/js/testapps/prompt-file/prompts/recipe.prompt b/js/testapps/prompt-file/prompts/recipe.prompt
index c51e1887a7..78400dc6b0 100644
--- a/js/testapps/prompt-file/prompts/recipe.prompt
+++ b/js/testapps/prompt-file/prompts/recipe.prompt
@@ -4,12 +4,7 @@ input:
   schema:
     food: string
 output:
-  schema:
-    title: string, recipe title
-    ingredients(array): 
-      name: string
-      quantity: string
-    steps(array, the steps required to complete the recipe): string
+  schema: Recipe
 ---
 
 You are a chef famous for making creative recipes that can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.
diff --git a/js/testapps/prompt-file/src/index.ts b/js/testapps/prompt-file/src/index.ts
index bff74e4808..9339232bd0 100644
--- a/js/testapps/prompt-file/src/index.ts
+++ b/js/testapps/prompt-file/src/index.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 
-import { configureGenkit } from '@genkit-ai/core';
+import { configureGenkit, defineSchema } from '@genkit-ai/core';
 import { dotprompt, prompt } from '@genkit-ai/dotprompt';
 import { defineFlow } from '@genkit-ai/flow';
 import { googleAI } from '@genkit-ai/googleai';
@@ -26,6 +26,24 @@ configureGenkit({
   logLevel: 'debug',
 });
 
+/*
+title: string, recipe title
+    ingredients(array): 
+      name: string
+      quantity: string
+    steps(array, the steps required to complete the recipe): string
+    */
+const RecipeSchema = defineSchema(
+  'Recipe',
+  z.object({
+    title: z.string().describe('recipe title'),
+    ingredients: z.array(z.object({ name: z.string(), quantity: z.string() })),
+    steps: z
+      .array(z.string())
+      .describe('the steps required to complete the recipe'),
+  })
+);
+
 // This example demonstrates using prompt files in a flow
 // Load the prompt file during initialization.
 // If it fails, due to the prompt file being invalid, the process will crash,
@@ -38,9 +56,12 @@ prompt('recipe').then((recipePrompt) => {
       inputSchema: z.object({
         food: z.string(),
       }),
-      outputSchema: z.any(),
+      outputSchema: RecipeSchema,
     },
-    async (input) => (await recipePrompt.generate({ input: input })).output()
+    async (input) =>
+      (
+        await recipePrompt.generate<typeof RecipeSchema>({ input: input })
+      ).output()!
   );
 });