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

# Validation & Safety

> How we ensure your backend is secure and cost-effective.

Generating code with AI is easy; generating **safe, production-ready** infrastructure is hard. Backdrift includes a dedicated Validation Engine that runs before deployment.

## The Validation Engine

We analyze your Blueprint against the **Well-Architected Framework**, scoring it across five pillars:

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="Security" icon="shield">
    PII detection, tenant isolation, access controls
  </Card>

  <Card title="Reliability" icon="server">
    Backups, recovery, fault tolerance
  </Card>

  <Card title="Performance" icon="gauge-high">
    Indexing, caching, query optimization
  </Card>

  <Card title="Cost" icon="dollar-sign">
    Resource sizing, usage estimates
  </Card>

  <Card title="Operations" icon="chart-line">
    Logging, metrics, health checks
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Validation Report

After running validation, you'll see a detailed report:

```
Overall Score: 85/100

Security (90/100)
├── ✅ Multi-tenant isolation configured
├── ✅ JWT authentication enabled
├── ⚠️ PII detected: email field on User entity
└── ⚠️ No audit logging configured

Reliability (80/100)
├── ✅ Point-in-time recovery enabled
├── ✅ created_at/updated_at timestamps present
└── ⚠️ No soft delete configured

Performance (95/100)
├── ✅ Primary key indexes created
├── ✅ Foreign key indexes created
└── ✅ Tenant key indexes created

Cost (75/100)
├── ✅ Pay-per-request billing (no over-provisioning)
└── ⚠️ Estimated monthly cost: $45-$120

Operations (85/100)
├── ✅ Health endpoint configured
├── ✅ Structured logging enabled
└── ⚠️ No custom alarms configured
```

## PII Detection

Backdrift automatically detects Personally Identifiable Information:

| Field Pattern            | Detection          |
| ------------------------ | ------------------ |
| `email`, `email_address` | Email PII          |
| `phone`, `phone_number`  | Phone PII          |
| `ssn`, `social_security` | SSN PII (Critical) |
| `address`, `street`      | Address PII        |
| `dob`, `birth_date`      | Date of Birth PII  |

When PII is detected, we recommend:

* Encryption at rest
* Access logging
* Data retention policies

## Auto-Fixes

Backdrift doesn't just complain—it fixes.

### Safe Fixes (Low Risk)

Applied automatically or with one click:

* Adding `created_at` and `updated_at` timestamps
* Enabling structured logging
* Adding missing indexes
* Setting default retention policies

### Medium Risk Fixes

Require confirmation:

* Enabling encryption on existing fields
* Adding audit logging
* Changing field types

### High Risk Fixes

Require explicit acknowledgment:

* Removing fields (data loss potential)
* Changing primary keys
* Modifying tenant isolation

## One-Click Fix All

For issues classified as **Safe**, you can apply all fixes at once:

```
Found 5 safe fixes:
├── Add created_at to Task entity
├── Add updated_at to Task entity
├── Enable point-in-time recovery on Task table
├── Add index on project_id field
└── Configure log retention (30 days)

[Apply All Safe Fixes]
```

## Cost Estimation

Before deploying, we estimate your monthly costs at two tiers:

| Tier           | Users       | Estimated Cost  |
| -------------- | ----------- | --------------- |
| **Starter**    | 0-100 users | $5-$25/month    |
| **Production** | 100k+ users | $150-$500/month |

This includes:

* Database storage and read/write operations
* API Gateway requests
* Lambda invocations
* Authentication operations
* File storage (if configured)

<Note>
  Estimates are based on typical usage patterns. Actual costs depend on your specific traffic and data volumes.
</Note>

## Non-Technical Summary

For stakeholders who don't speak "infrastructure", we generate plain-English summaries:

```
Your backend is ready for production with a few recommendations:

✅ Security is strong - user data is isolated by organization
✅ Performance is optimized - all queries will be fast
⚠️ Consider adding audit logging for compliance
⚠️ Email addresses should have additional protection

Estimated cost: $15-$45/month for typical startup usage
```

<Card title="Deployment" icon="rocket" href="/workflow/deployment">
  Ready to deploy? Learn about safe deployments and rollbacks.
</Card>