tld validate

tld validate checks diagram structure, source links, and architectural warnings. It reads workspace YAML when present, otherwise the configured database. Use --source live to check the target directly.

tld validate

What it catches

• Missing elements: a connector references an element that doesn’t exist
• Duplicate refs: two elements with the same key
• Invalid placements: missing parents or an element placed inside its own view
• Broken view references: connectors pointing to views that don’t exist
• Stale symbols: an element points at a file or symbol that moved or disappeared
• Architectural warnings: crowded views, missing metadata, and weak source coverage

A clean workspace prints a summary:

✓ Workspace valid: 42 elements, 12 views, 35 connectors

Strictness levels

The validation level controls how strict checks are. Set it globally or override per run:

tld validate --strictness 1   # Minimal
tld validate --strictness 2   # Standard (default)
tld validate --strictness 3   # Strict — checks labels, descriptions, naming
tld validate --strictness 3 --verbose

Architectural warnings

After structural validation, tld validate runs the architectural linter and prints a summary grouped by rule code:

Architectural Warnings (Level 2: Standard)

CODE     RULE              VIOLATIONS
ARC001   High Density      1
ARC002   Isolated Element  1

Pass a rule code to see its full detail, including every violating element and how to fix it:

tld validate ARC001

Run tld validate rules for the current catalog, or see Linting Rules. An explicit rule code runs even when excluded or above the configured strictness level.

Warnings in CI

Architectural warnings are advisory by default. In CI, make them fail the build:

tld validate --strict

--strict exits non-zero on architectural warnings. Structural and source-symbol errors already fail validation.

Suppressing rules

Suppress specific rule codes in global config:

tld config set validation.exclude_rules ARC002

Flags

Flag	Default	What it does
--strictness	config / 2	Override validation level [1-3]
-v, --verbose	false	Show full architectural warning output
--strict	false	Exit non-zero on architectural warnings
--source	auto	Read cache or live; explicit --target/--data-dir selects live in auto mode