diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 5e1346e..153e354 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -9,6 +9,6 @@
 
 /web/frontend/public/build
 /web/frontend/node_modules
-.vscode/settings.json
+/.vscode/*
 /archive-migration
-.vscode/launch.json
+/archive-manager
diff --git a/pkg/archive/fsBackend.go b/pkg/archive/fsBackend.go
index 9668e5d..1bfa081 100644
--- a/pkg/archive/fsBackend.go
+++ b/pkg/archive/fsBackend.go
@@ -52,14 +52,18 @@ func getPath(
 
 func loadJobMeta(filename string) (*schema.JobMeta, error) {
 
-	f, err := os.Open(filename)
+	b, err := os.ReadFile(filename)
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Errorf("fsBackend loadJobMeta()- %v", err)
 		return &schema.JobMeta{}, err
 	}
-	defer f.Close()
+	if config.Keys.Validate {
+		if err := schema.Validate(schema.Meta, bytes.NewReader(b)); err != nil {
+			return &schema.JobMeta{}, fmt.Errorf("validate cluster config: %v", err)
+		}
+	}
 
-	return DecodeJobMeta(bufio.NewReader(f))
+	return DecodeJobMeta(bytes.NewReader(b))
 }
 
 func (fsa *FsArchive) Init(rawConfig json.RawMessage) (int, error) {
diff --git a/tools/archive-manager/main.go b/tools/archive-manager/main.go
index 3d0f513..9b58918 100644
--- a/tools/archive-manager/main.go
+++ b/tools/archive-manager/main.go
@@ -4,6 +4,32 @@
 // license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
 package main
 
-func main() {
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"flag"
+	"fmt"
+	"log"
 
+	"github.com/ClusterCockpit/cc-backend/internal/config"
+	"github.com/ClusterCockpit/cc-backend/pkg/archive"
+)
+
+func main() {
+	var srcPath, flagConfigFile string
+
+	flag.StringVar(&srcPath, "s", "./var/job-archive", "Specify the source job archive path. Default is ./var/job-archive")
+	flag.StringVar(&flagConfigFile, "config", "./config.json", "Specify alternative path to `config.json`")
+	flag.Parse()
+	archiveCfg := fmt.Sprintf("{\"kind\": \"file\",\"path\": \"%s\"}", srcPath)
+
+	config.Init(flagConfigFile)
+
+	if err := archive.Init(json.RawMessage(archiveCfg)); err != nil {
+		log.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	ar := archive.GetHandle()
+
+	for jobMeta := range ar.Iter() {
+		fmt.Printf("Validate %s - %d\n", jobMeta.Cluster, jobMeta.JobID)
+	}
 }
diff --git a/tools/archive-migration/main.go b/tools/archive-migration/main.go
index e644407..a1dd58d 100644
--- a/tools/archive-migration/main.go
+++ b/tools/archive-migration/main.go
@@ -180,6 +180,7 @@ func main() {
 
 	flag.StringVar(&srcPath, "s", "./var/job-archive", "Specify the source job archive path. Default is ./var/job-archive")
 	flag.StringVar(&dstPath, "d", "./var/job-archive-new", "Specify the destination job archive path. Default is ./var/job-archive-new")
+	flag.Parse()
 
 	if _, err := os.Stat(filepath.Join(srcPath, "version.txt")); !errors.Is(err, os.ErrNotExist) {
 		log.Fatal("Archive version exists!")