diff --git a/src/cli/action.zig b/src/cli/action.zig
index a7cbabf25..68bcf6448 100644
--- a/src/cli/action.zig
+++ b/src/cli/action.zig
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ const list_keybinds = @import("list_keybinds.zig");
 const list_themes = @import("list_themes.zig");
 const list_colors = @import("list_colors.zig");
 const show_config = @import("show_config.zig");
+const validate_config = @import("validate_config.zig");
 
 /// Special commands that can be invoked via CLI flags. These are all
 /// invoked by using `+<action>` as a CLI flag. The only exception is
@@ -35,6 +36,9 @@ pub const Action = enum {
     /// Dump the config to stdout
     @"show-config",
 
+    // Validate passed config file
+    @"validate-config",
+
     pub const Error = error{
         /// Multiple actions were detected. You can specify at most one
         /// action on the CLI otherwise the behavior desired is ambiguous.
@@ -124,6 +128,7 @@ pub const Action = enum {
             .@"list-themes" => try list_themes.run(alloc),
             .@"list-colors" => try list_colors.run(alloc),
             .@"show-config" => try show_config.run(alloc),
+            .@"validate-config" => try validate_config.run(alloc),
         };
     }
 
diff --git a/src/cli/validate_config.zig b/src/cli/validate_config.zig
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d6fedc544
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/cli/validate_config.zig
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+const std = @import("std");
+const Allocator = std.mem.Allocator;
+const args = @import("args.zig");
+const Action = @import("action.zig").Action;
+const Config = @import("../config.zig").Config;
+const cli = @import("../cli.zig");
+
+pub const Options = struct {
+    /// The path of the config file to validate. If this isn't specified,
+    /// then the default config file paths will be validated.
+    @"config-file": ?[:0]const u8 = null,
+
+    pub fn deinit(self: Options) void {
+        _ = self;
+    }
+
+    /// Enables "-h" and "--help" to work.
+    pub fn help(self: Options) !void {
+        _ = self;
+        return Action.help_error;
+    }
+};
+
+/// The `validate-config` command is used to validate a Ghostty config file.
+///
+/// When executed without any arguments, this will load the config from the default location.
+///
+/// The `--config-file` argument can be passed to validate a specific target config
+/// file in a non-default location.
+pub fn run(alloc: std.mem.Allocator) !u8 {
+    var opts: Options = .{};
+    defer opts.deinit();
+
+    {
+        var iter = try std.process.argsWithAllocator(alloc);
+        defer iter.deinit();
+        try args.parse(Options, alloc, &opts, &iter);
+    }
+
+    const stdout = std.io.getStdOut().writer();
+
+    var cfg = try Config.default(alloc);
+    defer cfg.deinit();
+
+    // If a config path is passed, validate it, otherwise validate default configs
+    if (opts.@"config-file") |config_path| {
+        var buf: [std.fs.max_path_bytes]u8 = undefined;
+        const abs_path = try std.fs.cwd().realpath(config_path, &buf);
+
+        try cfg.loadFile(alloc, abs_path);
+        try cfg.loadRecursiveFiles(alloc);
+    } else {
+        cfg = try Config.load(alloc);
+    }
+
+    try cfg.finalize();
+
+    if (!cfg._errors.empty()) {
+        for (cfg._errors.list.items) |err| {
+            try stdout.print("{s}\n", .{err.message});
+        }
+
+        return 1;
+    }
+
+    return 0;
+}
diff --git a/src/config/Config.zig b/src/config/Config.zig
index e33c2d92f..a9bbc226b 100644
--- a/src/config/Config.zig
+++ b/src/config/Config.zig
@@ -1785,22 +1785,30 @@ pub fn loadIter(
     try cli.args.parse(Config, alloc, self, iter);
 }
 
+/// Load configuration from the target config file at `path`.
+///
+/// `path` must be resolved and absolute.
+pub fn loadFile(self: *Config, alloc: Allocator, path: []const u8) !void {
+    assert(std.fs.path.isAbsolute(path));
+
+    var file = try std.fs.cwd().openFile(path, .{});
+    defer file.close();
+
+    std.log.info("reading configuration file path={s}", .{path});
+
+    var buf_reader = std.io.bufferedReader(file.reader());
+    var iter = cli.args.lineIterator(buf_reader.reader());
+    try self.loadIter(alloc, &iter);
+    try self.expandPaths(std.fs.path.dirname(path).?);
+}
+
 /// Load the configuration from the default configuration file. The default
 /// configuration file is at `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/ghostty/config`.
 pub fn loadDefaultFiles(self: *Config, alloc: Allocator) !void {
     const config_path = try internal_os.xdg.config(alloc, .{ .subdir = "ghostty/config" });
     defer alloc.free(config_path);
 
-    const cwd = std.fs.cwd();
-    if (cwd.openFile(config_path, .{})) |file| {
-        defer file.close();
-        std.log.info("reading configuration file path={s}", .{config_path});
-
-        var buf_reader = std.io.bufferedReader(file.reader());
-        var iter = cli.args.lineIterator(buf_reader.reader());
-        try self.loadIter(alloc, &iter);
-        try self.expandPaths(std.fs.path.dirname(config_path).?);
-    } else |err| switch (err) {
+    self.loadFile(alloc, config_path) catch |err| switch (err) {
         error.FileNotFound => std.log.info(
             "homedir config not found, not loading path={s}",
             .{config_path},
@@ -1810,7 +1818,7 @@ pub fn loadDefaultFiles(self: *Config, alloc: Allocator) !void {
             "error reading config file, not loading err={} path={s}",
             .{ err, config_path },
         ),
-    }
+    };
 }
 
 /// Load and parse the CLI args.