skill validate

Checks that a skill directory has the correct structure — valid YAML frontmatter, required fields, a non-empty body, and expected sub-directories.

Usage

doraval skill validate <path> [options]

The <path> argument must point to a directory containing a SKILL.md file.

Checks

Check	Pass condition
YAML frontmatter	Present, parseable, non-empty
name	Required. Must be kebab-case (a-z, 0-9, hyphens), 2–64 characters
description	Required. Must be present in frontmatter
Markdown body	Must be non-empty after frontmatter
references/	Logged if directory exists
scripts/	Logged if directory exists
assets/	Logged if directory exists

Example

  doraval skill validate — Structural validation

  Path:  ./skills/my-skill/

  ✓ YAML frontmatter present and parseable
  ✓ name: "my-skill"
  ✓ description field present
  ✓ Markdown body is non-empty
  ✓ references/ directory exists

  Result: 0 error(s), 0 warning(s)

Options

Flag	Short	Description
--format <type>	-f	table (default) or json
--agent <name>	-a	Force a specific agent adapter
--verbose	-v	Show detailed diagnostics
--ci		Machine-friendly output, non-zero exit on issues

JSON output

doraval skill validate ./my-skill/ --format json

Returns:

{
  "path": "./my-skill/",
  "errors": [],
  "warnings": [],
  "passes": [
    "YAML frontmatter present and parseable",
    "name: \"my-skill\"",
    "description field present",
    "Markdown body is non-empty"
  ]
}

Exit codes

• 0 — No errors
• 1 — Structural errors found, or path/SKILL.md not found