Observed Signal · Apr 20, 2026 · Technical Release · Source: DEV Community · Impact: 2/5 · Sentiment: Positive
VS Code Extension Validates VAST XML As You Type
An engineer published vastlint, an open-source VAST linter, and released a VS Code extension that validates VAST XML in-editor. vastlint-core is a Rust library with 108 rules; the VS Code extension loads it as a WebAssembly module so validation runs locally with no network calls. The extension highlights spec violations inline, auto-detects VAST versions, integrates with Problems panel, and supports per-rule configuration in settings.json. The same core powers a CLI, a RapidAPI REST endpoint, an MCP server, and an online validator at vastlint.org. The tool targets common failure modes in video/CTV tags to catch errors before QA or partner delivery.
Provides practical, open-source developer tooling that can reduce VAST-related delivery failures for video and CTV campaigns by catching spec violations earlier; useful to ad ops and engineering teams but not industry-shifting.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- vastlint is an open-source VAST linter with 108 rules written in Rust.
- A VS Code extension was released that runs the validator in-process via WebAssembly.
- The core library (vastlint-core) is published on crates.io and powers a CLI, a RapidAPI REST API, an MCP server, and an online validator at vastlint.org.
- The extension auto-detects VAST version, shows inline squiggles and hover tooltips with rule IDs, and integrates with the VS Code Problems panel.
- Typical validation of a real-world CTV tag takes under 100 microseconds (library); WASM overhead in the editor is imperceptible.
Connected Companies & Entities
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