diff --git a/internal/codec/decoder.go b/internal/codec/decoder.go
index 9a03a03..730b411 100644
--- a/internal/codec/decoder.go
+++ b/internal/codec/decoder.go
@@ -59,7 +59,9 @@ type ProtoDecoder struct {
 func (p *ProtoDecoder) Decode(v any) (err error) {
 	var protoData []byte
 	protoData, err = io.ReadAll(p.reader)
-	err = proto.Unmarshal(protoData, v.(proto.Message))
+	if err == nil {
+		err = proto.Unmarshal(protoData, v.(proto.Message))
+	}
 	return 
 }
 
diff --git a/internal/codec/encoder_test.go b/internal/codec/encoder_test.go
index 4fddea2..b9db4a5 100644
--- a/internal/codec/encoder_test.go
+++ b/internal/codec/encoder_test.go
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ state: present
 		encoder := NewEncoder(v.writer,  v.format)
 		assert.NotNil(t, encoder)
 		assert.Nil(t, encoder.Encode(v.testuser))
-		assert.Equal(t, string(v.expected), string(v.writer.(*bytes.Buffer).Bytes()))
+		assert.Equal(t, string(v.expected), v.writer.(*bytes.Buffer).String())
 		assert.Equal(t, v.expected, v.writer.(*bytes.Buffer).Bytes())
 		assert.Nil(t, encoder.Close())
 	}
diff --git a/internal/schema/schema.go b/internal/schema/schema.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..62cf9e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/schema/schema.go
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+// Copyright 2024 Matthew Rich <matthewrich.conf@gmail.com>. All rights reserved.
+
+package schema
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"github.com/xeipuuv/gojsonschema"
+	"strings"
+	"embed"
+	"net/http"
+	"log/slog"
+	"io/fs"
+)
+
+//go:embed schemas/*.schema.json
+var schemaFiles embed.FS
+
+type Schema struct {
+	schema gojsonschema.JSONLoader
+}
+
+func New(name string, fs fs.FS) *Schema {
+	path := fmt.Sprintf("file://schemas/%s.schema.json", name)
+
+	return &Schema{schema: gojsonschema.NewReferenceLoaderFileSystem(path, http.FS(fs))}
+	//return &Schema{schema: gojsonschema.NewReferenceLoader(path)}
+}
+
+func (s *Schema) Validate(source string) error {
+	//	loader := gojsonschema.NewGoLoader(source)
+	loader := gojsonschema.NewStringLoader(source)
+	result, err := gojsonschema.Validate(s.schema, loader)
+
+	if err != nil {
+		slog.Info("schema error", "source", source, "schema", s.schema, "result", result, "err",  err)
+		return err
+	}
+	slog.Info("schema.Validate()", "schema", s.schema, "result", result, "err",  err)
+
+	if !result.Valid() {
+		schemaErrors := strings.Builder{}
+		for _, err := range result.Errors() {
+			schemaErrors.WriteString(err.String() + "\n")
+		}
+		schemaErrors.WriteString(source)
+		return errors.New(schemaErrors.String())
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (s *Schema) ValidateSchema() error {
+	sl := gojsonschema.NewSchemaLoader()
+	sl.Validate = true
+	schemaErr := sl.AddSchemas(s.schema)
+	slog.Info("validate schema definition", "schemaloader", sl, "err", schemaErr)
+	return schemaErr
+}
diff --git a/internal/schema/schema_test.go b/internal/schema/schema_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dc73dd3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/schema/schema_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+// Copyright 2024 Matthew Rich <matthewrich.conf@gmail.com>. All rights reserved.
+
+package schema
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+_	"fmt"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+_ "gopkg.in/yaml.v3"
+_ "io"
+_ "log"
+_ "net/http"
+_ "net/http/httptest"
+_ "net/url"
+_	"path/filepath"
+_ "strings"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+)
+
+type TestData struct {
+	Name string `json:"name"`
+	Len int `json:"len"`
+	Date time.Time `json:"date"`
+}
+
+func TestNewSchema(t *testing.T) {
+	s := New("testdata", schemaFiles)
+	assert.NotNil(t, s)
+}
+
+func TestSchemaValidateJSON(t *testing.T) {
+	s := New("testdata", schemaFiles)
+	assert.NotNil(t, s)
+
+//	file, _ := filepath.Abs(filepath.Join(TempDir, "fooread.txt"))
+
+	expectedAtime, atimeErr := time.Parse(time.RFC3339Nano, "2001-12-15T01:01:01.000000001Z")
+	assert.Nil(t, atimeErr)
+//	expectedTime := expectedAtime.Local().Format(time.RFC3339Nano)
+
+/*
+	declarationAttributes := `
+  name: "%s"
+  date: %s
+  len: 15
+`
+
+	decl := fmt.Sprintf(declarationAttributes, file, expectedTime)
+*/
+
+	testData := &TestData{ Name: "foo", Len: 20, Date: expectedAtime }
+
+	jsonDoc, jsonErr := json.Marshal(testData)
+	assert.Nil(t, jsonErr)
+
+	schemaErr := s.Validate(string(jsonDoc))
+	assert.Nil(t, schemaErr)
+}
+
+func TestSchemaValidateSchema(t *testing.T) {
+  s := New("testdata", schemaFiles)
+  assert.NotNil(t, s)
+
+	assert.Nil(t, s.ValidateSchema())
+}
diff --git a/internal/schema/schemas/testdata.schema.json b/internal/schema/schemas/testdata.schema.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..897b93d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/schema/schemas/testdata.schema.json
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+{
+  "$id": "testdata.schema.json",
+  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
+  "title": "testdata",
+  "type": "object",
+  "required": [ "name" ],
+  "properties": {
+    "name": {
+      "type": "string",
+      "description": "test name"
+    },
+    "len": {
+      "type": "integer",
+      "description": "test number",
+      "minimum": 5 
+    }
+  }
+}
+