> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.viorant.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Validate a .vio file

> Check a .vio file offline and print its digest before you deploy.

A `.vio` file is a portable definition of a whole agent — prompt, model, skills,
connectors and memory — in one YAML file. Everything the agent is made of is inside the
file, so you can deploy a `.vio` someone sent you without any other assets.

## Validate

```bash theme={"dark"}
vio validate agent.vio
```

Validation is local: no sign-in and no network. A valid file prints a summary of what it
contains. An invalid one exits `1` and names each field that's wrong.

Point `vio` at a folder and it looks for the `.vio` inside it (one level deep, not
subfolders):

```bash theme={"dark"}
vio validate .
```

One match is used. Several is an error that lists them; none is a distinct
"no .vio bundle found" error.

For scripts and CI, print one JSON result:

```bash theme={"dark"}
vio validate agent.vio --json
```

## Digest

```bash theme={"dark"}
vio digest agent.vio
```

Prints the **deployment digest** — the value a deployment records, and the one `vio show`
and the Hub compare against. `--content` prints the whole-file content digest instead, and
`--json` prints both.

<Warning>
  Each part of a `.vio` carries its own digest in the manifest. `vio validate` checks the
  structure of the file, not those per-part digests. A file that was hand-edited after it
  was exported can pass validation and still be refused at deploy. Re-export it from the
  Hub rather than editing it by hand.
</Warning>

## Deploying a `.vio` you were given

<Steps>
  <Step title="Put it in a folder">
    ```bash theme={"dark"}
    mkdir my-agent && mv agent.vio my-agent/ && cd my-agent
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Validate it">
    ```bash theme={"dark"}
    vio validate .
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Deploy it">
    Follow [Deploy an agent](/cli/deploy). You provide the model provider key; the file
    never contains one.
  </Step>
</Steps>