Validating

jsonschema validate <schema.json|.yaml> <instance.json|.jsonl|.jsonl.gz|.yaml|directory...>
  [--http/-h] [--verbose/-v] [--debug/-g]
  [--header/-H "<name>: <value>"]
  [--resolve/-r <schemas-or-directories> ...]
  [--benchmark/-b] [--loop <iterations>] [--extension/-e <extension>]
  [--ignore/-i <schemas-or-directories>] [--trace/-t] [--fast/-f]
  [--template/-m <template.json>] [--json/-j] [--entrypoint/-p <pointer|uri>]
  [--continue/-c] [--format-assertion/-F] [--configuration/-C <path>]
  [--valid/-V] [--invalid/-I] [--color auto|always|never]

The most popular use case of JSON Schema is to validate JSON documents. The JSON Schema CLI offers a validate command to evaluate one or many JSON instances, directories of instances, or JSONL datasets against a JSON Schema, presenting human-friendly information on unsuccessful validation.

The --json/-j option outputs the evaluation result using the JSON Schema Flag or Basic standard format depending on whether the --fast/-f option is set.

If you want to validate that a schema adheres to its metaschema, use the metaschema command instead.

To help scripts distinguish validation errors, these are reported using exit code 2.

For example, the following Draft 4 schema asserts that the instance is a valid email address rather than just annotating it:

{
  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-04/schema#",
  "type": "string",
  "format": "email",
  "x-format-assertion": true
}

To speed-up the compilation process, you may pre-compile a schema using the compile command and pass the result using the --template/-m option. However, you still need to pass the original schema for error reporting purposes. Make sure they match and that the compilation and evaluation were done with the same version of this tool or you might get non-sense results.

Examples

For example, consider the following JSON Schema Draft 4 schema that asserts that the JSON instance is a string:

{
  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-04/schema#",
  "type": "string"
}

Also consider a JSON instance called instance.json that looks like this:

12345

This instance is an integer, while the given schema expects a string. Validating the instance against the schema using the JSON Schema CLI will result in the following output:

$ jsonschema validate schema.json instance.json
error: The target document is expected to be of the given type
    at instance location ""
    at evaluate path "/type"

Validate a JSON instance against a schema

jsonschema validate path/to/my/schema.json path/to/my/instance.json

Validate a JSON instance against a schema and print the result as JSON

jsonschema validate path/to/my/schema.json path/to/my/instance.json --json

Validate a JSON instance against a schema with a pre-compiled template

jsonschema compile path/to/my/schema.json > template.json
jsonschema validate path/to/my/schema.json path/to/my/instance.json \
  --template template.json

Validate a JSON instance against a schema in fast mode

jsonschema validate path/to/my/schema.json path/to/my/instance.json --fast

Validate a JSON instance forcing every format to assert

jsonschema validate path/to/my/schema.json path/to/my/instance.json --format-assertion

Validate a multiple JSON instances against a schema

jsonschema validate path/to/my/schema.json \
  path/to/my/instance_1.json \
  path/to/my/instance_2.json \
  path/to/my/instance_3.json

Validate a JSONL dataset against a schema

jsonschema validate path/to/my/schema.json path/to/my/dataset.jsonl

Validate a GZIP-compressed JSONL dataset against a schema

jsonschema validate path/to/my/schema.json path/to/my/dataset.jsonl.gz

Report every failing instance instead of stopping at the first

jsonschema validate path/to/my/schema.json path/to/my/dataset.jsonl --continue

Note that even with --continue, only the first error of each failing instance is reported. Continuing validation past the first error within a single instance is a gray area not covered by the JSON Schema specification and potentially tricky to implement correctly at the evaluation level.

Validate a JSON instance enabling HTTP resolution

jsonschema validate path/to/my/schema.json path/to/my/instance.json --http

Validate a JSON instance with a custom HTTP header

jsonschema validate path/to/my/schema.json path/to/my/instance.json \
  --http --header "Authorization: Bearer $REGISTRY_TOKEN"

Validate a JSON instance importing a single local schema

jsonschema validate path/to/my/schema.json path/to/my/instance.json \
  --resolve path/to/external.json

Validate a JSON instance importing a directory of .schema.json schemas

jsonschema validate path/to/my/schema.json path/to/my/instance.json \
  --resolve path/to/schemas --extension schema.json

Validate a JSON instance against a schema printing timing information

jsonschema validate path/to/my/schema.json path/to/my/instance.json --benchmark

Validate a JSON instance against a schema with trace information

jsonschema validate path/to/my/schema.json path/to/my/instance.json --trace

Validate a directory of instances against a schema

jsonschema validate path/to/my/schema.json path/to/instances/

Validate a directory of instances with a specific extension

jsonschema validate path/to/my/schema.json path/to/instances/ --extension .data.json

Validate a directory of instances while ignoring certain paths

jsonschema validate path/to/my/schema.json path/to/instances/ \
  --ignore path/to/instances/drafts

Assert that a JSON instance fails validation

jsonschema validate path/to/my/schema.json path/to/my/instance.json --invalid

Assert that a directory of instances all fail validation

jsonschema validate path/to/my/schema.json path/to/invalid-instances/ \
  --invalid --continue

Validate a JSON instance against a specific subschema

jsonschema validate path/to/my/schema.json path/to/my/instance.json \
  --entrypoint '/$defs/MyType'