Validating YAML
Check your YAML before it touches ServiceNow.
flowctl --validate my-flow.yamlNo ServiceNow connection needed. Runs entirely offline.
What Gets Checked
Section titled “What Gets Checked”| Check | What it catches |
|---|---|
| YAML syntax | Parse errors, bad indentation |
| Schema version | Unknown schema: values |
| Required fields | Missing name or steps |
| Enum values | Invalid type, status, run_as, access |
| Trigger | Missing for flows, present for subflows (not allowed) |
| Step structure | Steps with no type key, containers missing required children |
| Variable names | Must match ^[a-z][a-z0-9_]*$, no duplicates |
| Pill references | $step_id must point to an earlier step with that id |
| Condition operators | Must be a valid SN operator |
| Stages | No duplicate values, step references point to valid steps |
Error Messages
Section titled “Error Messages”Errors include suggestions when the tool can figure out what you meant:
x steps[2]: unknown action "lookup_recrod"; did you mean "lookup_record"?
x trigger.type "record_create" is not a known trigger type Valid types: daily, inbound_email, knowledge_management, ...Validation on Create/Update
Section titled “Validation on Create/Update”Both --create and --update run validation automatically before making any API calls. If validation fails, nothing is sent to ServiceNow.
Need to create or update flows? See Pro features