validate Command¶
Validate code against MCP standards.
Synopsis¶
Description¶
The validate command checks your code against applicable standards, providing detailed feedback on compliance issues, suggestions for improvement, and automated fixes where possible.
Options¶
--standards <file>¶
Use specific standards file or query result.
--auto-detect¶
Automatically detect applicable standards (default).
--fix¶
Automatically fix issues where possible.
--dry-run¶
Show what would be fixed without making changes.
--format <format>¶
Output format (text, json, junit, sarif).
--severity <level>¶
Minimum severity level to report (error, warning, info).
--ignore <pattern>¶
Ignore files matching pattern.
--config <file>¶
Use custom validation configuration.
--parallel <n>¶
Number of parallel validation workers.
--fail-on <level>¶
Exit with error code if issues found at level.
Examples¶
Basic Validation¶
Output:
Detecting project context...
Project Type: web-application
Frameworks: react, tailwind
Languages: javascript, typescript
Loading applicable standards...
✓ React 18 Patterns
✓ TypeScript Best Practices
✓ Web Accessibility Standards
✓ JavaScript ES2025 Standards
Validating files...
[████████████████████] 100% | 45/45 files
Results:
========
src/components/Button.tsx
Line 15: ERROR - Missing accessible label
Standard: wcag-2.2-accessibility
Rule: interactive-elements-labels
<button onClick={handleClick}>
{icon}
</button>
Fix: Add aria-label or visible text content
Line 23: WARNING - Using deprecated pattern
Standard: react-18-patterns
Rule: no-default-props
Button.defaultProps = { size: 'medium' }
Fix: Use default parameters in function signature
src/api/client.js
Line 8: WARNING - Missing error boundary
Standard: javascript-error-handling
Rule: async-error-handling
async function fetchData(url) {
const response = await fetch(url);
return response.json();
}
Fix: Add try-catch block or .catch() handler
src/styles/global.css
Line 145: INFO - Consider using CSS custom properties
Standard: modern-css-architecture
Rule: prefer-custom-properties
.theme-dark { background: #000; color: #fff; }
Suggestion: Use CSS variables for theme values
Summary:
Files scanned: 45
Issues found: 12
Errors: 3
Warnings: 7
Info: 2
Standards applied: 4
Time: 2.34s
Exit code: 1 (errors found)
Auto-Fix Issues¶
Output:
Validating and fixing issues...
Fixed: src/components/Button.tsx
✓ Added aria-label to button (line 15)
✓ Converted defaultProps to default parameters (line 23)
Fixed: src/api/client.js
✓ Added error handling to async function (line 8)
Could not auto-fix:
src/styles/global.css - Manual review required for CSS architecture
Summary:
Files fixed: 2
Issues fixed: 3
Issues remaining: 1
Please review the changes before committing.
Dry Run Mode¶
Output:
DRY RUN MODE - No files will be modified
Would fix: src/components/Button.tsx
- Line 15: Add aria-label="Submit" to button
- Line 23: Convert to: function Button({ size = 'medium' })
Would fix: src/api/client.js
- Line 8-12: Wrap in try-catch block:
async function fetchData(url) {
try {
const response = await fetch(url);
return response.json();
} catch (error) {
console.error('Failed to fetch data:', error);
throw error;
}
}
Total changes that would be made: 3 fixes in 2 files
JSON Output for CI/CD¶
Output (validation-results.json):
{
"summary": {
"files_scanned": 45,
"total_issues": 12,
"errors": 3,
"warnings": 7,
"info": 2,
"standards_applied": 4,
"duration_ms": 2340
},
"issues": [
{
"file": "src/components/Button.tsx",
"line": 15,
"column": 5,
"severity": "error",
"standard": "wcag-2.2-accessibility",
"rule": "interactive-elements-labels",
"message": "Missing accessible label",
"code": "A11Y001",
"snippet": "<button onClick={handleClick}>",
"fix": {
"available": true,
"description": "Add aria-label attribute",
"diff": "+ <button onClick={handleClick} aria-label=\"Submit\">"
}
}
],
"standards": [
{
"id": "wcag-2.2-accessibility",
"title": "Web Accessibility Standards",
"rules_applied": 15,
"issues_found": 3
}
]
}
JUnit Format for CI¶
SARIF Format for GitHub¶
Custom Validation Config¶
# .mcp-validate.yaml
validation:
# Override detected standards
standards:
- react-18-patterns
- typescript-strict
- security-best-practices
# Ignore patterns
ignore:
- "**/*.test.*"
- "**/*.spec.*"
- "build/**"
- "dist/**"
- "node_modules/**"
# Rule overrides
rules:
# Disable specific rules
no-console: off
no-default-props: warning # Downgrade from error
# Configure rule options
max-line-length:
severity: warning
options:
limit: 100
ignore-comments: true
# Auto-fix settings
fix:
enabled: true
safe-only: true # Only apply safe fixes
# Reporting
report:
severity: warning # Minimum level to report
fail-on: error # Exit code 1 if errors found
Validate Specific Standards¶
# First, query standards
mcp-standards query --project-type api --format json > api-standards.json
# Then validate against them
mcp-standards validate --standards api-standards.json src/api/
Parallel Validation¶
Output:
Starting validation with 8 workers...
Worker 1: Scanning src/components/...
Worker 2: Scanning src/api/...
Worker 3: Scanning src/utils/...
Worker 4: Scanning src/styles/...
[... parallel progress ...]
Merged results from all workers.
Total issues: 45
Integration Examples¶
Pre-commit Hook¶
#!/bin/bash
# .git/hooks/pre-commit
# Validate staged files
STAGED_FILES=$(git diff --cached --name-only --diff-filter=ACM | grep -E '\.(js|jsx|ts|tsx)$')
if [ -n "$STAGED_FILES" ]; then
echo "Validating staged files..."
mcp-standards validate $STAGED_FILES --fail-on error
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
echo "Validation failed. Fix errors before committing."
exit 1
fi
fi
GitHub Actions¶
name: Standards Validation
on: [push, pull_request]
jobs:
validate:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v3
- name: Setup MCP Standards
run: pip install mcp-standards-server
- name: Sync Standards
run: mcp-standards sync
- name: Validate Code
run: |
mcp-standards validate \
--format sarif \
--fail-on error \
. > results.sarif
- name: Upload SARIF
uses: github/codeql-action/upload-sarif@v2
if: always()
with:
sarif_file: results.sarif
VS Code Task¶
{
"version": "2.0.0",
"tasks": [
{
"label": "Validate Current File",
"type": "shell",
"command": "mcp-standards",
"args": [
"validate",
"${file}",
"--format", "json"
],
"problemMatcher": {
"pattern": {
"regexp": "^(.+):(\\d+):(\\d+):\\s+(error|warning)\\s+(.+)$",
"file": 1,
"line": 2,
"column": 3,
"severity": 4,
"message": 5
}
}
}
]
}
Custom Validator Plugin¶
# validators/custom_security.py
from mcp_standards.validators import BaseValidator
class CustomSecurityValidator(BaseValidator):
"""Custom security validation rules."""
def validate_file(self, file_path, content):
issues = []
# Check for hardcoded secrets
if 'api_key' in content.lower():
issues.append({
'severity': 'error',
'message': 'Possible hardcoded API key',
'line': self.find_line_number('api_key', content),
'rule': 'no-hardcoded-secrets'
})
return issues
Performance Tips¶
- Use Parallel Workers: For large codebases, increase parallel workers
- Ignore Patterns: Exclude generated files and dependencies
- Incremental Validation: Only validate changed files in CI
- Cache Standards: Ensure standards are synced before validation
- Severity Filtering: Focus on errors first, then warnings
Exit Codes¶
0: Validation passed, no issues found1: Validation failed, issues found at fail-on level2: Command line error3: Configuration error4: Standards loading error5: File access error