xai-org/grok-build · error

Manifest validation failed: {e}

Error message

Manifest validation failed: {e}

What it means

`grok plugin validate <path>` loads the plugin's plugin.json manifest and calls `manifest.validate()`. Any rule violation (invalid name, missing/wrong fields, bad format) is surfaced as "Manifest validation failed". It means the manifest exists but does not satisfy the plugin schema requirements.

Source

Thrown at crates/codegen/xai-grok-pager/src/plugin_cmd.rs:689

    if let Ok(ManifestLoadResult::Found(manifest)) = load_manifest(&repo.path) {
        if let Some(ref desc) = manifest.description {
            println!("  description: {desc}");
        }
        print_component_summary(&manifest, &repo.path);
    }
    Ok(())
}

fn cmd_validate(path: &str) -> Result<()> {
    let root = PathBuf::from(path);
    if !root.is_dir() {
        bail!("Not a directory: {path}");
    }
    match load_manifest(&root) {
        Ok(ManifestLoadResult::Found(manifest)) => {
            manifest
                .validate()
                .map_err(|e| anyhow::anyhow!("Manifest validation failed: {e}"))?;
            println!("Plugin manifest is valid.");
            println!("  name: {}", manifest.name);
            if let Some(ref v) = manifest.version {
                println!("  version: {v}");
            }
            if let Some(ref d) = manifest.description {
                println!("  description: {d}");
            }
            print_component_summary(&manifest, &root);
            Ok(())
        }
        Ok(ManifestLoadResult::NotFound) => {
            println!(
                "No plugin.json found. Grok discovers skills, agents, and hooks \
                 automatically from standard directories. A manifest is only needed \
                 for custom paths or metadata."
            );
            Ok(())

View on GitHub (pinned to bc7f02eddd)

Solutions

1. Read the `{e}` detail in the message — it names the exact failing rule — and fix that field in plugin.json
2. Run `grok plugin validate <dir>` again after each fix to iterate
3. Regenerate the manifest from a current plugin template/scaffold if unsure of the expected schema
4. Check whether a recent grok upgrade changed manifest requirements

Example fix

// before (plugin.json)
{ "name": "My Plugin!" }
// after
{ "name": "my-plugin", "version": "0.1.0", "description": "..." }

// pre-check manifest fields before calling validate
let m: serde_json::Value = serde_json::from_str(&std::fs::read_to_string("plugin.json")?)?;
assert!(!m["name"].as_str().unwrap_or_default().is_empty(), "name required");
assert!(m["name"].as_str().map_or(false, |n| n.chars().all(|c| c.is_ascii_lowercase() || c == '-' || c.is_ascii_digit())), "name must be kebab-case");

match manifest.validate() {
    Ok(()) => println!("valid"),
    Err(e) => eprintln!("manifest invalid: {e}; fix plugin.json and re-run grok plugin validate"),
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling `grok plugin validate <dir>` where plugin.json parses (ManifestLoadResult::Found) but `Manifest::validate()` returns an error — e.g. invalid `name` characters, missing required field, malformed version, empty description constraints.

Common situations: Hand-editing plugin.json and introducing invalid values; scaffolding a plugin manually instead of via a template; schema requirements tightened by a newer grok version so an older manifest no longer validates.

Understand the failure class

Background: Schema validation failed / invalid input schema: payload rejected because its shape doesn't match the expected schema — this error's family across 28 libraries.

Related errors

• Failed to load manifest: {e}
• No plugin.json found in {path}.
• No `version` field in plugin.json. Set a version to use `gro
• invalid worktree id from dest: {worktree_id}
• invalid worktree id {:?}

AI-assisted analysis of xai-org/grok-build@bc7f02eddd (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6df7aa06b7f9b6a7. Report an issue: GitHub.