diff --git a/.claude/agents/secrets-leak-scanner.md b/.claude/agents/secrets-leak-scanner.md
index 976fe03..e9f1b8b 100644
--- a/.claude/agents/secrets-leak-scanner.md
+++ b/.claude/agents/secrets-leak-scanner.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
 name: secrets-leak-scanner
-description: Scans staged/diffed files in this homelab repo for plaintext secrets that should instead come from .env or be sealed via kubeseal. Use before committing changes to manifests, Ansible vars, or Helm values.
+description: Scans staged/diffed files in this homelab repo for plaintext secrets that should instead come from .env or be sealed via kubeseal. Use before committing changes to manifests, Ansible vars, Helm values, or config/**.
 tools: Read, Grep, Glob, Bash
 model: sonnet
 ---
@@ -9,6 +9,12 @@ You scan changes in this repo for secrets that are about to be committed in
 plaintext. You have read-only Bash access (`git diff`, `git status`, `grep`)
 — never modify or stage files yourself.
 
+Scope explicitly includes `config/**` (e.g. `config/dashy/conf.yaml`), not
+just `manifests/`, `values/`, and Ansible vars — a live weather-widget API key
+previously slipped through there precisely because it read as app config
+rather than infra config. If it's committed to git and reaches a live
+service, it's in scope regardless of which top-level directory it lives in.
+
 ## What "should never be plaintext in git" looks like here
 
 Cross-reference `.env.example` for the full list of secret-shaped variable
diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/validate.yaml b/.gitea/workflows/validate.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..23d3875
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/validate.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+# Config for: Gitea Actions CI
+# Applied by: the self-hosted act_runner (ansible/roles/gitea-runner) on push
+# Description: Read-only lint/validate pass -- no cluster access, no apply/deploy.
+name: validate
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches:
+      - main
+  pull_request:
+
+jobs:
+  lint:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Install validation tools
+        run: |
+          pip install yamllint ansible-lint
+          curl -L https://github.com/yannh/kubeconform/releases/latest/download/kubeconform-linux-amd64.tar.gz \
+            | tar xz kubeconform
+          sudo mv kubeconform /usr/local/bin/
+
+      - name: yamllint
+        run: yamllint -c .yamllint.yml .
+
+      - name: ansible-lint
+        run: |
+          ansible-galaxy collection install -r ansible/requirements.yml
+          ansible-lint ansible/
+
+      - name: ansible-playbook --syntax-check
+        run: |
+          for pb in ansible/playbooks/*.yaml; do
+            ansible-playbook --syntax-check -i ansible/inventory.yaml "$pb"
+          done
+
+      - name: kubeconform
+        run: |
+          kubeconform -summary -ignore-missing-schemas -kubernetes-version 1.32.0 \
+            -schema-location default \
+            -schema-location 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/datreeio/CRDs-catalog/main/{{.Group}}/{{.ResourceKind}}_{{.ResourceAPIVersion}}.json' \
+            $(find manifests -name "*.yaml" -not -name "*-sealed.yaml") argocd/apps/*.yaml
diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
index 86de43e..ccdb119 100644
--- a/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -107,6 +107,28 @@ Never commit plaintext secrets. Two patterns coexist, both listed in
 `ansible/group_vars/all/vault.yaml` holds Ansible-side secrets (e.g.
 `vault_k3s_node_token`) referenced from `host_vars`.
 
+## Validation commands
+
+No cluster access is required for any of these — run them before reporting a
+change done, and show the actual output, not just a claim it passed.
+
+```bash
+yamllint -c .yamllint.yml .
+ansible-lint ansible/
+for pb in ansible/playbooks/*.yaml; do
+  ansible-playbook --syntax-check -i ansible/inventory.yaml "$pb"
+done
+kubeconform -summary -ignore-missing-schemas -kubernetes-version 1.32.0 \
+  -schema-location default \
+  -schema-location 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/datreeio/CRDs-catalog/main/{{.Group}}/{{.ResourceKind}}_{{.ResourceAPIVersion}}.json' \
+  $(find manifests -name "*.yaml" -not -name "*-sealed.yaml") argocd/apps/*.yaml
+```
+
+`ansible-lint` needs the collections in `ansible/requirements.yml` installed
+first (`ansible-galaxy collection install -r ansible/requirements.yml`),
+otherwise it reports spurious `unknown-module` errors for `community.general`/
+`community.docker` modules that are actually fine.
+
 ## Key gotchas (see README.md "Gotchas" for the full list)
 
 - Pi-hole has no wildcard DNS — add every new `home.arpa` hostname to both