> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.datachecks.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Configure Validations

> Step-by-step guide to creating and configuring a validation on a dataset.

Follow these steps to create a new validation on a dataset.

## Steps

### 1. Open the creation form

Navigate to **Validations** in the left sidebar and click **New Validation**.

### 2. Select a validation type

Choose the type of check you want to run. Available types include:

* **Completeness** — Check for missing or null values
* **Uniqueness** — Detect duplicate entries
* **Validity** — Validate values against a format or list
* **Reliability** — Check row counts and freshness
* **Numeric Distribution** — Track statistical metrics (mean, median, percentiles)
* **Custom SQL** — Write a custom SQL expression to measure any metric
* **Delta Validation** — Compare metric values between runs

See [Validation Types](/validation/validation-types) for a full description of each.

### 3. Select your data source and dataset

Choose the **Data Source** and **Dataset** the validation will run against. Enter a name for the validation, or accept the auto-generated suggestion.

### 4. Configure filters (optional)

Apply a filter condition to restrict which rows are included in the metric calculation. For example, filter the `tr_volume` column to `Less Than 5000` to validate only low-volume transactions.

### 5. Define the threshold

Set a threshold to define what constitutes an incident. When the metric crosses this boundary, Datachecks creates an alert. See [Thresholds](/reference/thresholds) for the available threshold types.

### 6. Set the schedule

Choose how often the validation should run — hourly, daily, weekly, or a custom cron expression.

### 7. Create

Click **Create** to save the validation. It will appear in the validations list and run according to the schedule you set.

## What's next

* [View validation results](/validation/details) — Inspect the metrics graph and incidents list
* [Validation Types](/validation/validation-types) — Learn about each check type
* [Thresholds](/reference/thresholds) — Understand how alerting thresholds work