From 48b918b0b3746dbc8a62bc15fe69ea2a454cb5ef Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "github-actions[bot]"
 <41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2026 18:22:30 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] Backport of Make `validation -json` command produce JSON
 output when argument parsing raises an error into v1.15 (#38419)

---
 internal/command/validate.go      | 13 +++++----
 internal/command/validate_test.go | 44 ++++++++++++++++++++++++-------
 2 files changed, 42 insertions(+), 15 deletions(-)

diff --git a/internal/command/validate.go b/internal/command/validate.go
index 7a69dbeb28..d37e819945 100644
--- a/internal/command/validate.go
+++ b/internal/command/validate.go
@@ -38,15 +38,18 @@ func (c *ValidateCommand) Run(rawArgs []string) int {
 
 	// Parse and validate flags
 	args, diags := arguments.ParseValidate(rawArgs)
-	if diags.HasErrors() {
-		c.View.Diagnostics(diags)
-		c.View.HelpPrompt("validate")
-		return 1
-	}
 
 	c.ParsedArgs = args
 	view := views.NewValidate(args.ViewType, c.View)
 
+	// Now the view is ready, process any diagnostics from argument parsing
+	if diags.HasErrors() {
+		if args.ViewType == arguments.ViewHuman {
+			defer c.View.HelpPrompt("validate")
+		}
+		return view.Results(diags)
+	}
+
 	// If the query flag is set, include query files in the validation.
 	c.includeQueryFiles = c.ParsedArgs.Query
 
diff --git a/internal/command/validate_test.go b/internal/command/validate_test.go
index 5827ac26a1..ed7df2e738 100644
--- a/internal/command/validate_test.go
+++ b/internal/command/validate_test.go
@@ -578,19 +578,43 @@ func TestValidate_json(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestValidate_ensure_json_diags(t *testing.T) {
-	output, code := setupTest(t, "validate-invalid", "-json", "-var", "foo")
+	t.Run("-var error diags are rendered using the correct view ", func(t *testing.T) {
+		output, code := setupTest(t, "validate-invalid", "-json", "-var", "foo")
 
-	if code != 1 {
-		t.Fatalf("Should have failed: %d\n\n%s", code, output.Stderr())
-	}
+		if code != 1 {
+			t.Fatalf("Should have failed: %d\n\n%s", code, output.Stderr())
+		}
+		if output.Stderr() != "" {
+			t.Fatalf("Expected output, all json output should go to stdout, got stderr: %s", output.Stderr())
+		}
 
-	gotString := output.Stdout()
+		gotString := output.Stdout()
 
-	var got map[string]any
-	err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(gotString), &got)
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("Test did not produce valid JSON: %s", err)
-	}
+		var got map[string]any
+		err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(gotString), &got)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("Test did not produce valid JSON: %s", err)
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("Flag/argument parsing error diags are rendered using the correct view ", func(t *testing.T) {
+		output, code := setupTest(t, "validate-invalid", "-json", "-foobar")
+
+		if code != 1 {
+			t.Fatalf("Should have failed: %d\n\n%s", code, output.Stderr())
+		}
+		if output.Stderr() != "" {
+			t.Fatalf("Expected output, all json output should go to stdout, got stderr: %s", output.Stderr())
+		}
+
+		gotString := output.Stdout()
+
+		var got map[string]any
+		err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(gotString), &got)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("Test did not produce valid JSON: %s", err)
+		}
+	})
 }
 
 func TestValidateWithInvalidListResource(t *testing.T) {