JSON plugin validation reports

plugin validate

Check a plugin or a marketplace for syntax and schema errors before publishing.

The command exits 0 when validation passes, 1 when it fails, and 2 when the validation run itself fails, such as when the path you pass is unreadable.

claude plugin validate <path> [options]

The command takes these arguments:

• <path>: Path to a plugin directory or a marketplace directory. See Validate a plugin or a directory without a manifest for which files a plugin run covers.

The command accepts these options:

Option	Description	Default
--strict	Treat warnings as errors and exit 1 on them. Use in CI to catch issues the runtime tolerates, such as unrecognized fields
--json	Output the validation report as one JSON object with the same exit codes. Requires Claude Code v2.1.259 or later
-h, --help	Display help for command

With --json, Claude Code writes the report to stdout as one JSON object with these top-level fields:

• success: the same verdict the exit code gives
• strict: whether the run treated warnings as errors
• target: the resolved path Claude Code validated
• manifest: the manifest's own result, or null for a run without a manifest
• contents: per-file results, each naming its file and carrying errors, warnings, and notes arrays

On exit 2, the command writes nothing to stdout; the error message goes to stderr.

Within an interactive session, /plugin validate <path> runs the same checks inline.