diff --git a/packages/cli/src/actions/index.ts b/packages/cli/src/actions/index.ts
index a30763bb..c8ce5ed9 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/actions/index.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/actions/index.ts
@@ -3,5 +3,6 @@ import { run as generate } from './generate';
 import { run as info } from './info';
 import { run as init } from './init';
 import { run as migrate } from './migrate';
+import { run as validate } from './validate';
 
-export { db, generate, info, init, migrate };
+export { db, generate, info, init, migrate, validate };
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/actions/validate.ts b/packages/cli/src/actions/validate.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c04f9b11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/cli/src/actions/validate.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+import colors from 'colors';
+import { getSchemaFile, loadSchemaDocument } from './action-utils';
+
+type Options = {
+    schema?: string;
+};
+
+/**
+ * CLI action for validating schema without generation
+ */
+export async function run(options: Options) {
+    const schemaFile = getSchemaFile(options.schema);
+
+    try {
+        await loadSchemaDocument(schemaFile);
+        console.log(colors.green('✓ Schema validation completed successfully.'));
+    } catch (error) {
+        console.error(colors.red('✗ Schema validation failed.'));
+        // Re-throw to maintain CLI exit code behavior
+        throw error;
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/index.ts b/packages/cli/src/index.ts
index d75cff32..5e16d0b2 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/index.ts
@@ -24,6 +24,10 @@ const initAction = async (projectPath: string): Promise<void> => {
     await actions.init(projectPath);
 };
 
+const validateAction = async (options: Parameters<typeof actions.validate>[0]): Promise<void> => {
+    await actions.validate(options);
+};
+
 export function createProgram() {
     const program = new Command('zenstack');
 
@@ -35,7 +39,7 @@ export function createProgram() {
         .description(
             `${colors.bold.blue(
                 'ζ',
-            )} ZenStack is a Prisma power pack for building full-stack apps.\n\nDocumentation: https://zenstack.dev.`,
+            )} ZenStack is a database access toolkit for TypeScript apps.\n\nDocumentation: https://zenstack.dev.`,
         )
         .showHelpAfterError()
         .showSuggestionAfterError();
@@ -115,6 +119,8 @@ export function createProgram() {
         .argument('[path]', 'project path', '.')
         .action(initAction);
 
+    program.command('validate').description('Validate a ZModel schema.').addOption(schemaOption).action(validateAction);
+
     return program;
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/cli/test/validate.test.ts b/packages/cli/test/validate.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5c7ec61e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/cli/test/validate.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+import fs from 'node:fs';
+import path from 'node:path';
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
+import { createProject, runCli } from './utils';
+
+const validModel = `
+model User {
+    id String @id @default(cuid())
+    email String @unique
+    name String?
+    posts Post[]
+}
+
+model Post {
+    id String @id @default(cuid())
+    title String
+    content String?
+    author User @relation(fields: [authorId], references: [id])
+    authorId String
+}
+`;
+
+const invalidModel = `
+model User {
+    id String @id @default(cuid())
+    email String @unique
+    posts Post[]
+}
+
+model Post {
+    id String @id @default(cuid())
+    title String
+    author User @relation(fields: [authorId], references: [id])
+    // Missing authorId field - should cause validation error
+}
+`;
+
+describe('CLI validate command test', () => {
+    it('should validate a valid schema successfully', () => {
+        const workDir = createProject(validModel);
+
+        // Should not throw an error
+        expect(() => runCli('validate', workDir)).not.toThrow();
+    });
+
+    it('should fail validation for invalid schema', () => {
+        const workDir = createProject(invalidModel);
+
+        // Should throw an error due to validation failure
+        expect(() => runCli('validate', workDir)).toThrow();
+    });
+
+    it('should respect custom schema location', () => {
+        const workDir = createProject(validModel);
+        fs.renameSync(path.join(workDir, 'zenstack/schema.zmodel'), path.join(workDir, 'zenstack/custom.zmodel'));
+
+        // Should not throw an error when using custom schema path
+        expect(() => runCli('validate --schema ./zenstack/custom.zmodel', workDir)).not.toThrow();
+    });
+
+    it('should fail when schema file does not exist', () => {
+        const workDir = createProject(validModel);
+
+        // Should throw an error when schema file doesn't exist
+        expect(() => runCli('validate --schema ./nonexistent.zmodel', workDir)).toThrow();
+    });
+
+    it('should respect package.json config', () => {
+        const workDir = createProject(validModel);
+        fs.mkdirSync(path.join(workDir, 'foo'));
+        fs.renameSync(path.join(workDir, 'zenstack/schema.zmodel'), path.join(workDir, 'foo/schema.zmodel'));
+        fs.rmdirSync(path.join(workDir, 'zenstack'));
+
+        const pkgJson = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(path.join(workDir, 'package.json'), 'utf8'));
+        pkgJson.zenstack = {
+            schema: './foo/schema.zmodel',
+        };
+        fs.writeFileSync(path.join(workDir, 'package.json'), JSON.stringify(pkgJson, null, 2));
+
+        // Should not throw an error when using package.json config
+        expect(() => runCli('validate', workDir)).not.toThrow();
+    });
+
+    it('should validate schema with syntax errors', () => {
+        const modelWithSyntaxError = `
+datasource db {
+    provider = "sqlite"
+    url = "file:./dev.db"
+}
+
+model User {
+    id String @id @default(cuid())
+    email String @unique
+    // Missing closing brace - syntax error
+        `;
+        const workDir = createProject(modelWithSyntaxError, false);
+
+        // Should throw an error due to syntax error
+        expect(() => runCli('validate', workDir)).toThrow();
+    });
+});