deployment-validation-config-validate_skill

Overview

This skill validates, tests, and enforces correctness of application configuration across environments. I provide analysis of existing configs, JSON Schema-based validators, environment-specific rules, runtime checks, migration helpers, and secure secret handling. The goal is to prevent configuration-driven failures and reduce deployment friction.

How this skill works

I scan a project for common configuration formats (JSON, YAML, TOML, .env, INI, JS) and flag structural, consistency, and potential secret exposures. I generate and apply JSON Schema validators with custom formats (port, https URL, duration) and run environment-aware rules that enforce production hardening. Runtime watchers validate changes, emit events on errors or drift, and migration utilities upgrade configs safely between versions. I also provide patterns for encrypting secrets and producing human-readable configuration reference docs.

When to use it

• Before merging configuration changes to staging or production
• When onboarding a new environment or platform (k8s, serverless, VMs)
• To detect leaked secrets or plaintext credentials in repo configs
• When implementing CI checks that must reject invalid configs
• During application upgrades that require config migrations

Best practices

• Define strict JSON Schemas for each logical config group and reuse them across environments
• Enforce environment rules (no debug in production, require HTTPS, stronger password length)
• Run schema validation in CI and fail fast on schema or security violations
• Store secrets encrypted and decrypt at runtime with a dedicated SecureConfigManager
• Version config files and use migration scripts to handle breaking changes

Example use cases

• Create a 'database' JSON Schema and CI tests that reject invalid ports or missing credentials
• Scan a repository to find .env files that contain likely API keys and return a security report
• Watch production config files and emit alerts when an unexpected change violates production rules
• Migrate legacy config v0.1.0 to v1.0.0 using a sequenced ConfigMigrator with semver checks
• Generate a YAML configuration reference document for developer and ops teams