fhir-validator-cli

Zero-config FHIR R4/R5 validator with bundled EU Implementation Guide packs. One pip install and you can validate Patient/Encounter/Observation/Bundle resources against HL7 Europe Base, IPS, mCSD, and the EHDS skeleton (when published) — no fetching IGs from six different registries first.

pip install fhir-validator-cli
fhirv validate patient.json --ig hl7-europe-base

Why this exists

The European Health Data Space (EHDS) regulation forces hospitals, regional health authorities, and digital-health vendors to submit FHIR resources conformant to a specific stack of EU-flavoured IGs:

• HL7 Europe Base — the floor profile for any EU-wide FHIR exchange.
• IPS (International Patient Summary) — cross-border patient summaries.
• mCSD (Care Services Discovery) — provider directory exchange.
• EHDS skeleton — the secondary-use submission profile (draft as of 2026; will be mandatory).

The existing toolchain is split:

• HAPI FHIR validator (Java) — heavy, server-grade, mature, but you have to fetch each IG package yourself from simplifier.net / build.fhir.org / various national registries. Wires up in 1-2 days the first time.
• fhir.js / fhirpath.js (Node) — runtime-validation oriented, no CLI-first DX.
• Inferno — testing harness for FHIR servers, not a CLI.

We close the gap. fhirv ships the EU IG packs bundled inside the wheel, with a tamper-evident manifest (sha256 of each pack + provenance URL), so CI pipelines can do pip install && fhirv validate and get a meaningful exit code in <2 seconds.

What it does

1. pip install fhir-validator-cli — single dependency, pure Python, no JVM.
2. fhirv validate resource.json --ig hl7-europe-base — validates a FHIR resource or Bundle against a named bundled IG.
3. Exit code 0 if valid; exit code 1 and structured-error JSON to stdout if not. Designed for CI: redirect stdout, parse with jq, fail the build.
4. fhirv list-igs — prints the bundled IGs with version + last-updated + sha256.
5. fhirv manifest — dumps the full IG manifest (source URL, version, sha256 of each pack) so you can audit provenance in your supply chain.

What it does NOT do

• Not a replacement for HAPI FHIR validator when you need server-side, terminology-server-backed, real-time validation. HAPI remains the reference for that path.
• No bundled FHIR server, no REST endpoints, no UI. CLI-first, single binary mindset.
• No terminology expansion against external $expand operations in v0.1. (v0.3 will allow plugging a tx-server URL.)
• No code-system normalisation. Garbage in, garbage out at the terminology layer.

Bundled IGs (v0.1)

v0.1 ships the manifest format and one placeholder IG (hl7-europe-base@0.0.1-placeholder) so the CLI surface is exercised end-to-end. v0.2 will bundle the real packs once the legal review on redistribution clears. The schedule below is the target for v0.2.

The actual values are kept in src/fhir_validator_cli/data/ig-manifest.json, which is the single source of truth. Run fhirv manifest to dump it.

Roadmap

• v0.1 (this release) — CLI surface, manifest format, placeholder IG, structured validation errors, JSON-Schema-level checks.
• v0.2 — Real EU IG packs bundled, full StructureDefinition walk.
• v0.3 — Optional terminology-server plug, SNOMED CT subset validation, custom-profile loading.
• v1.0 — Stable wire format for the structured-error JSON; semver guarantees.

Pricing

• CLI: MIT, free, forever.
• Hosted CI-as-a-service (planned) — €19/mo (solo) to €49/mo (team). Same validation, but webhook-driven, dashboards, slack alerts, audit log. Stripe-billed when the demand signal justifies it.

Audience

• FHIR engineers at EU hospital groups, regional health authorities, EHDS National Contact Points.
• HL7 Europe affiliate working groups.
• Digital-health vendors integrating to EU FHIR endpoints.
• Distribution channels: r/HL7, HL7 Europe Slack, dev.to, awesome-fhir GitHub list, EHDS engineering mailing lists.

Contributing

Open an issue with a real resource that fails validation but should pass (or vice versa). PRs welcome — especially for additional EU national IGs (Spain HL7-ES, France ANS, Germany MIO/KBV).

License

MIT. See LICENSE.