03: Validation Workflows

Build a workflow that ensures pack quality before deployment.

Learning Objectives

• Create automated validation workflows
• Catch errors before deployment
• Integrate validation in development
• Set up pre-commit validation

Time Required

25 minutes

Prerequisites

• Completed Tutorial 2: Multi-Prompt Packs
• Git installed

Step 1: Setup Project

mkdir validation-workflow
cd validation-workflow
mkdir -p prompts config packs scripts .git/hooks
git init

Step 2: Create Prompts

Create a sample prompt:

cat > prompts/assistant.yaml <<'EOF'
apiVersion: promptkit.altairalabs.ai/v1alpha1
kind: PromptConfig
spec:
  task_type: assistant
  name: AI Assistant
  description: General purpose assistant
  system_prompt: You are a helpful AI assistant.
  user_template: "User: "
  template_engine: go
  parameters:
    temperature: 0.7
    max_tokens: 500
EOF

Create arena.yaml:

cat > config/arena.yaml <<'EOF'
prompts:
  - ../prompts/assistant.yaml
EOF

Step 3: Create Validation Script

cat > scripts/validate-pack.sh <<'EOF'
#!/bin/bash
set -e

PACK_FILE="$1"

if [ -z "$PACK_FILE" ]; then
  echo "Usage: $0 <pack-file>"
  exit 1
fi

echo "Validating: $PACK_FILE"

# 1. Check file exists
if [ ! -f "$PACK_FILE" ]; then
  echo "❌ Pack file not found"
  exit 1
fi

# 2. Validate with packc
if ! packc validate "$PACK_FILE"; then
  echo "❌ Pack validation failed"
  exit 1
fi

# 3. Check pack size
size=$(stat -f%z "$PACK_FILE" 2>/dev/null || stat -c%s "$PACK_FILE")
max_size=$((1024 * 1024))  # 1MB

if [ "$size" -gt "$max_size" ]; then
  echo "⚠ Warning: Pack size ${size} bytes exceeds recommended ${max_size} bytes"
fi

# 4. Verify JSON structure
if ! jq empty "$PACK_FILE" 2>/dev/null; then
  echo "❌ Invalid JSON"
  exit 1
fi

# 5. Check required fields
if ! jq -e '.id' "$PACK_FILE" >/dev/null; then
  echo "❌ Missing pack ID"
  exit 1
fi

if ! jq -e '.prompts' "$PACK_FILE" >/dev/null; then
  echo "❌ Missing prompts"
  exit 1
fi

echo "✅ Pack validation passed"
EOF

chmod +x scripts/validate-pack.sh

Step 4: Build and Validate Workflow

Create build script:

cat > scripts/build-and-validate.sh <<'EOF'
#!/bin/bash
set -e

echo "=== Building Packs ==="
mkdir -p packs

packc compile \
  --config config/arena.yaml \
  --output packs/assistant.pack.json \
  --id assistant

echo ""
echo "=== Validating Packs ==="
./scripts/validate-pack.sh packs/assistant.pack.json

echo ""
echo "=== Inspecting Pack ==="
packc inspect packs/assistant.pack.json

echo ""
echo "✅ Build and validation complete"
EOF

chmod +x scripts/build-and-validate.sh

Run it:

./scripts/build-and-validate.sh

Step 5: Pre-Commit Hook

Set up automatic validation before commits:

cat > .git/hooks/pre-commit <<'EOF'
#!/bin/bash

echo "Running pre-commit validation..."

# Compile all packs
mkdir -p packs
packc compile --config config/arena.yaml --output packs/assistant.pack.json --id assistant

# Validate
if ! packc validate packs/assistant.pack.json; then
  echo ""
  echo "❌ Pack validation failed!"
  echo "Fix errors or use 'git commit --no-verify' to bypass"
  exit 1
fi

echo "✅ Pre-commit validation passed"
git add packs/assistant.pack.json
EOF

chmod +x .git/hooks/pre-commit

Test it:

git add prompts/ config/
git commit -m "Add assistant prompt"

Step 6: Makefile Workflow

Create a Makefile for common workflows:

cat > Makefile <<'EOF'
.PHONY: build validate clean test all

all: build validate

build:
  @echo "Building packs..."
  @mkdir -p packs
  @packc compile --config config/arena.yaml --output packs/assistant.pack.json --id assistant

validate: build
  @echo "Validating packs..."
  @./scripts/validate-pack.sh packs/assistant.pack.json

test: validate
  @echo "Running pack tests..."
  @# Add SDK tests here

clean:
  @echo "Cleaning build artifacts..."
  @rm -rf packs/

inspect: build
  @packc inspect packs/assistant.pack.json
EOF

Use it:

make build      # Build packs
make validate   # Build and validate
make all        # Build and validate
make inspect    # Build and inspect
make clean      # Clean up

Step 7: Continuous Validation

Create a validation loop for development:

cat > scripts/watch-and-validate.sh <<'EOF'
#!/bin/bash

echo "Watching for changes..."

while true; do
  # Watch for changes to prompt files
  if find prompts/ -type f -mmin -0.1 | grep -q .; then
    echo ""
    echo "Changes detected, rebuilding..."
    make validate
  fi

  sleep 1
done
EOF

chmod +x scripts/watch-and-validate.sh

Run in a separate terminal:

./scripts/watch-and-validate.sh

What You Learned

• ✅ Created validation scripts
• ✅ Built automated workflows
• ✅ Set up pre-commit hooks
• ✅ Used Makefiles for consistency
• ✅ Enabled continuous validation

Best Practices

1. Always Validate

# Never deploy without validation
packc compile ... && packc validate ...

2. Fail Fast

# Stop on first error
set -e

3. Multiple Validation Levels

# Basic: packc validate
# Medium: + size checks
# Strict: + custom validation rules

4. Document Failures

# Log validation results
packc validate pack.json 2>&1 | tee validation.log

Next Steps

• Tutorial 4: Pack Management - Organize and version packs
• How-To: Validate Packs - More validation strategies
• How-To: CI/CD Integration - Automate in CI/CD

Summary

You now have:

• Automated validation workflows
• Pre-commit quality gates
• Development validation loop
• Production-ready validation

Great work! 🎉