Session format validator

Use this skill to verify that a training session is ready to join the curriculum. It reports gaps. It does not create files, rewrite curriculum content, or repair metadata unless the user asks for a separate implementation task.

Validate a session

1. Identify the session directory by its full module-local ID, such as m2-01. Find the matching sessions/session-m2-01-* directory. If the user provides only a local number, ask which module they mean.

2. Run the validator from the repository root:

   python .github/skills/session-format-validator/scripts/validate_session.py \
     sessions/session-mN-NN-topic

   Add --json when the result must feed another tool or a CI job.

3. Read the session overview, lab, and trainer guide only for findings that need explanation. Do not invent a requirement that the validator did not find.
4. Report results under Passed checks and Needs work. Group failures by materials, metadata, navigation, or lab readiness. Include the exact file and a concrete correction for every failed check.

What the validator checks

• Required materials: overview, trainer guide, lab guide, slides, starter assets, and solution assets.
• Trainer slides: a trainer-facing deck that explains the core concepts before the lab, including an agenda, concrete examples or decision criteria, and a lab handoff. Treat a short agenda-only outline as incomplete teaching material.
• Metadata: the directory name, overview heading, shared catalog entry, and valid module, difficulty, and duration values.
• Navigation: entries in mkdocs.yml, README.md, curriculum-plan.md, and tracks/full-mastery.md.
• Lab readiness: a setup or preflight section, a learner deliverable, and one clear access policy. The lab must require access to the named tools and tell learners to stop when access is missing.

The repository's established template is the reference: track-template/session-template/.

Result format

Use this structure:

## Session mN-NN — <title>

**Status:** Ready | Needs work

### Passed checks

- <short confirmation>

### Needs work

- `path:line or section` — <what is missing>. <specific correction>.

If every check passes, omit Needs work. If the directory is missing, state that first and stop. Do not claim that a session is ready when required files or curriculum navigation are missing.

Scope boundaries

• Keep existing material intact during validation.
• Require a firm access prerequisite with a stop-if-missing instruction.
• Do not accept a manual simulation as a replacement for required Copilot access.
• Accept another setup only when it uses the same required Copilot capability and preserves the same completion evidence.
• Do not require a live vendor tool, customer access, or a finished application.
• Use scripts/validate-labs.sh separately when the user also asks to validate executable starter or solution files.