rf validate

Synopsis

rf validate [options]

Description

rf validate checks a pipeline definition for structural and type errors without executing any nodes. Run it before rf run to catch problems early, or add it to your CI pipeline.

Options

Flag	Default	Description
--strict	—	Treat warnings as errors.
--fix	—	Auto-fix common issues (e.g., missing output schemas inferred from upstream).
--schema-only	—	Check only schema compatibility, skip other validations.
--format <fmt>	text	Output format: text or json.

Examples

Basic validate

$ rf validate

Validating flow.yaml...

  read-leads       OK
  score-leads      OK
  filter-top       OK
  write-output     OK

4 nodes validated. No errors.

Strict mode

Promotes warnings to errors. Useful in CI to enforce clean pipelines.

$ rf validate --strict

Validating flow.yaml...

  read-leads       OK
  score-leads      OK
  filter-top       WARNING  Unused output port 'count' (strict: treated as error)
  write-output     OK

1 error found.

Auto-fix

$ rf validate --fix

Validating flow.yaml...

  read-leads       OK
  score-leads      FIXED    Added inferred output schema from upstream
  filter-top       OK
  write-output     OK

4 nodes validated. 1 fix applied. No errors.

Validation checks

rf validate runs these checks against your flow.yaml:

Check	Description
Schema compatibility	Output port schemas are compatible with connected input port schemas. Field names and types must match.
Edge compatibility	A Value output cannot connect to a Table input. Port data types must be compatible.
Cycle detection	The node graph must be a DAG. Circular dependencies are rejected.
Missing references	Every ref() points to a node and port that exist.
Duplicate node IDs	Every node has a unique slug.
Required fields	Nodes have the required type, op, and port declarations.
Unknown operations	The op value is a recognized built-in or registered custom operation.

Error example

$ rf validate

Validating flow.yaml...

  read-leads       OK
  score-leads      OK
  filter-top       ERROR  Type mismatch on input 'data':
                          expected Table, got Value
                          from ref(score-leads.count)
  write-output     ERROR  Missing reference: ref(transform.result)
                          node 'transform' does not exist

2 errors found.

Cycle detection

$ rf validate

Validating flow.yaml...

  ERROR  Cycle detected: node-a -> node-b -> node-c -> node-a

1 error found.

JSON output

Use --format json for machine-readable output in CI.

$ rf validate --format json

{
  "valid": false,
  "errors": [
    {
      "type": "type_mismatch",
      "node": "filter-top",
      "port": "data",
      "expected": "Table",
      "actual": "Value",
      "source": "ref(score-leads.count)"
    },
    {
      "type": "missing_ref",
      "node": "write-output",
      "port": "data",
      "ref": "ref(transform.result)",
      "message": "node 'transform' does not exist"
    }
  ],
  "nodes_checked": 4
}

CI integration

Add validation to your CI pipeline:

rf validate --strict --format json || exit 1

Pair with rf inspect to review the full graph structure after validation passes.

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	Pipeline is valid.
1	Errors found.
2	Warnings found (only with --strict).