From 2c7283414ac68f9aa19450ecfcf3f2b7d364c9cd Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Griffen Fargo <3642037+gfargo@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 2026 16:31:41 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] fix(validate): honor effective env cascade

---
 lib/cmd_validate.sh | 5 +++--
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/lib/cmd_validate.sh b/lib/cmd_validate.sh
index f29c321..88a643f 100644
--- a/lib/cmd_validate.sh
+++ b/lib/cmd_validate.sh
@@ -338,8 +338,9 @@ _validate_required_vars() {
     return
   fi
 
-  # Parse env file to get values (safe_load_env: no shell execution of values)
-  safe_load_env "$env_file" 2>/dev/null || true
+  # Load the same effective env cascade used by deployment: common values,
+  # selected base env, active topology host layer, then generated secrets.
+  validate_env_file "$env_file" || true
 
   while IFS= read -r var || [ -n "$var" ]; do
     var=$(echo "$var" | xargs)