/ha:validate

Validate Home Assistant configuration files for YAML syntax errors and common issues.

When to Use This Skill

Context

• Config path: {{ path or '.' }}
• YAML files: !find . -name "*.yaml" -type f

Validation Steps

1. YAML Syntax Validation

Validate all YAML files for proper syntax:

find {{ path or '.' }} -name "*.yaml" -type f -exec python3 -c "
import yaml
import sys
try:
    with open('{}', 'r') as f:
        yaml.safe_load(f)
    print('OK: {}')
except yaml.YAMLError as e:
    print('ERROR: {}')
    print(str(e)[:200])
    sys.exit(1)
" \; 2>&1 | head -50

2. Check for Common Issues

Check for undefined secrets:

# Find secret references
grep -rh "!secret [a-z_]*" {{ path or '.' }} --include="*.yaml" 2>/dev/null | \
  sed 's/.*!secret //' | sort -u > /tmp/used_secrets.txt

# Check if secrets.yaml exists
if [ -f "{{ path or '.' }}/secrets.yaml" ]; then
  echo "secrets.yaml found"
  # List defined secrets
  grep "^[a-z_]*:" {{ path or '.' }}/secrets.yaml | sed 's/:.*//' | sort -u > /tmp/defined_secrets.txt
  echo "Undefined secrets:"
  comm -23 /tmp/used_secrets.txt /tmp/defined_secrets.txt
else
  echo "WARNING: secrets.yaml not found"
fi

Check for duplicate keys:

python3 -c "
import yaml
import sys
from collections import Counter

class DuplicateKeyChecker(yaml.SafeLoader):
    def construct_mapping(self, node, deep=False):
        keys = [k.value for k, v in node.value if isinstance(k, yaml.ScalarNode)]
        duplicates = [k for k, count in Counter(keys).items() if count > 1]
        if duplicates:
            print(f'Duplicate keys in {node.start_mark}: {duplicates}')
        return super().construct_mapping(node, deep)

for f in ['configuration.yaml', 'automations.yaml', 'scripts.yaml', 'scenes.yaml']:
    path = '{{ path or '.' }}/' + f
    try:
        with open(path) as file:
            yaml.load(file, Loader=DuplicateKeyChecker)
            print(f'OK: {f}')
    except FileNotFoundError:
        pass
    except yaml.YAMLError as e:
        print(f'ERROR in {f}: {e}')
" 2>&1

3. Docker-based Full Validation (if available)

If Home Assistant is running in Docker:

docker exec homeassistant hass --script check_config 2>&1 | head -100 || echo "Docker validation not available"

4. Home Assistant OS Validation (if available)

ha core check 2>&1 || echo "HA OS validation not available"

Post-Validation

Report validation results:

• List any YAML syntax errors with file and line numbers
• List any undefined secret references
• List any duplicate keys
• Suggest fixes for common issues

Common Fixes