ValidYML VSCode Extension

Overview

ValidYML is a VS Code extension that validates Kubernetes manifests, Docker Compose files, and MCP (Model Context Protocol) client configs as you edit them, and can clean up Kubernetes YAML in one command.

Features

1. Kubernetes Validation

• Required fields: kind, apiVersion, metadata.name
• Containers and init containers in Pods and in templated workloads (Deployment, StatefulSet, DaemonSet, ReplicaSet, Job, CronJob)
• Multi-document files (----separated)
• Checks:
  • Untagged or :latest images (digest-pinned @sha256: images are accepted)
  • Missing resources.limits
  • privileged containers (error)
  • Missing readinessProbe on Deployments and StatefulSets

2. Docker Compose Validation

• Detected by filename or by shape (a top-level services: mapping), including compose.yaml / compose.yml
• Checks:
  • Services need image or build
  • Untagged or :latest images
  • privileged services (error)
  • Hardcoded secrets in environment (map and list forms) and malformed variable substitution
  • Docker socket mounts and host bind mounts (named volumes are not flagged)
  • Obsolete top-level version field
  • External networks that also set a driver

3. MCP Config Validation

• Validates .mcp.json, mcp.json, claude_desktop_config.json, and any *.mcp.json
• Checks:
  • Transport shape: exactly one of command (stdio) or url (remote)
  • Deprecated sse transport (use Streamable HTTP) and unknown transport types
  • Hardcoded secrets in env (${VAR} references are fine)
  • Unpinned npx / uvx / pipx packages
  • Remote servers over plain http://

4. Kubernetes YAML Cleaning

• Removes null and empty values
• Removes common defaults: namespace: default, protocol: TCP on Service ports, imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent, and default termination message settings
• Reformats consistently

Installation

1. Open Visual Studio Code
2. Go to Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X)
3. Search for "ValidYML"
4. Click Install

Or install from the VS Code Marketplace.

Usage

Commands

Access these commands through the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P):

• ValidYML: Validate Current File - Manually trigger validation
• ValidYML: Clean Current File - Clean and format the current Kubernetes YAML file

Results appear in the Problems panel and as inline diagnostics.

Settings

• validyml.enableAutoValidation (default true): validate files as they are opened or edited. Reload the window after changing it.

Examples

Validation Example

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: web
spec:
  containers:
  - name: web
    image: nginx:latest

Validation will show:

• Warning: Container 'web' uses an untagged or ':latest' image
• Warning: Container 'web' has no resources.limits

Cleaning Example

Before:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  namespace: default
spec:
  ports:
  - port: 80
    protocol: TCP
  selector:
    app: null

After:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
spec:
  ports:
  - port: 80

Requirements

• Visual Studio Code 1.96.0 or higher

Known Issues

• Cleaning is Kubernetes-oriented; don't run it on Compose or MCP files
• Some advanced Kubernetes CRDs are only checked for the basic required fields

Release Notes

See CHANGELOG.md.

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
5. Open a Pull Request

License

This project is licensed under the Apache-2.0 License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Support

For support, please open an issue in the GitHub repository or contact the maintainers.

Acknowledgments

• Based on the ValidYML project
• Uses YAML parsing from yaml.js
• Inspired by Kubernetes best practices

Authors

Animesh Pathak - Sonichigo

Project Status

Active development - Contributions welcome!