---
title: "Preflight + validate a job's checks, without submitting"
method: POST
path: "/preview/jobs/validate"
tags: ["jobs"]
---

# Preflight + validate a job's checks, without submitting

`POST /preview/jobs/validate`

## Request

- Base URL: `https://autoresearch.sfcompute.com`
- URL: `https://autoresearch.sfcompute.com/preview/jobs/validate`
- Auth: HTTP bearer

Run PREFLIGHT and validate a job's CHECKS without submitting anything (docs/designs/job-checks.md). Free, about two seconds, and it changes nothing: use it in a loop while you get a job spec right, because it is faster and cheaper than a rejected submission per attempt. It answers the same three things submit_job would: does the `checks` block parse and mean something for this shape, does the job's worst-case cost fit the remaining spend cap (a BLOCK - the arithmetic is shown), and does the node's disk fit the model this job downloads (a WARNING). A check without sufficient data stays silent rather than guessing. Pass the same parameters you would pass to submit_job; the ones that only matter to a real run (context, image, idempotency_key, mission) are not needed.

## Query parameters

- `workspace` string

## Request body

- object
  - `checks` unknown
  - `chip` string, required: Chip: "h100", or a CPU size ("cpu-2", "cpu-8") - see submit_job.
  - `chip_count` integer, nullable: Chips per attempt (1-8). Defaults to 1. For more than one machine, set chip_count to 8 and set nodes.
  - `command` string, nullable: The command the job would run - preflight reads a `--model` flag or a `from_pretrained` literal out of it.
  - `env` object: Env the job would run with. Values are read only to identify a model reference; a stored-secret reference is never resolved here.
  - `max_duration_minutes` integer, nullable: Max run minutes (default 60) - half of the worst-case arithmetic.
  - `model` string, nullable: The model the job downloads, e.g. "Qwen/Qwen3-VL-72B@main".
  - `nodes` integer, nullable: The number of whole machines for the job, from 2 to 8 (see submit_job's nodes). Omit it for a job on one machine.
  - `resume` string, nullable: "checkpoint" or "none" (see submit_job's resume). A job with nodes must pass checkpoint.

## Response `200`

The capability's JSON result.

- Result: The capability's result: the same object the MCP tool returns as structuredContent. Resources carry an `object` type discriminator and an immutable id; money is integer micro-dollars in `*_usd_micros` fields.
  - `object` string: The resource type, when the result is one resource.

## Other responses

- `400`: Malformed request: bad JSON, a parameter that does not parse, or a value outside its range. Code `invalid`.
- `401`: No bearer token, or one this API cannot verify. Code `unauthenticated`.
- `403`: Authenticated, but the token's scopes or the account's role do not reach this operation. The message names the scope word to request. Code `forbidden`.
- `404`: No such route. Code `not_found`; the body names the OpenAPI document.
- `422`: A well-formed request the platform declined: no such node, a cap reached, a state that forbids the move. The message says which, and what to do instead. Code `refused`.
- `429`: Over this door's per-customer budget. Wait `Retry-After` seconds. Code `rate_limited`.
- `500`: Our fault. Retry; if it persists, quote the request-id. Code `internal`.

---

[API](https://skmtc.dev/givemeanode/apis/autoresearch-customer-api.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.dev/givemeanode/apis/autoresearch-customer-api/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc.dev/givemeanode/apis/autoresearch-customer-api/revisions/f88dcb70ac6c?raw)