diff --git a/src/build.ts b/src/build.ts
index cd7dbc2..988f1ec 100644
--- a/src/build.ts
+++ b/src/build.ts
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ type BuildArgs = {
   markdown: string;
   yaml: string;
   output: string;
+  validate: boolean;
 };
 
 async function build(args: string[]) {
@@ -41,6 +42,9 @@ async function build(args: string[]) {
     // -o --output - default coderoad.json
     const output =
       getArg(args, { name: "output", alias: "o" }) || "tutorial.json";
+    const validate = getArg(args, { name: "validate", alias: "v" }) !== "false";
+
+    console.log("validate", validate);
 
     console.log(`Building CodeRoad ${output}...`);
 
@@ -49,6 +53,7 @@ async function build(args: string[]) {
       output,
       markdown,
       yaml,
+      validate,
     };
   } catch (e) {
     console.error("Error parsing build logs");
@@ -139,10 +144,14 @@ async function build(args: string[]) {
 
   // validate tutorial based on tutorial json schema
   try {
-    const valid = validateSchema(tutorialSchema, tutorial);
-    if (!valid) {
-      console.error("Tutorial validation failed. See above to see what to fix");
-      return;
+    if (options.validate) {
+      const valid = validateSchema(tutorialSchema, tutorial);
+      if (!valid) {
+        console.error(
+          "Tutorial validation failed. See above to see what to fix"
+        );
+        // continue rather than exiting early
+      }
     }
   } catch (e) {
     console.error("Error validating tutorial schema:");
diff --git a/src/help.ts b/src/help.ts
index f61a301..5cbc637 100644
--- a/src/help.ts
+++ b/src/help.ts
@@ -32,10 +32,10 @@ export function build() {
 Usage: coderoad build [path] [options]
 
 Options:
---help (-h)       display these help docs
---markdown (-m)   custom path to the tutorial markdown file (TUTORIAL.md)
---yaml (-y)       custom path to the tutorial yaml file (coderoad.yaml)
---output (-o)     custom path to tutorial json config file (coderoad.json)
+--help (-h)                         display these help docs
+--markdown (-m)   (TUTORIAL.md)     custom path to the tutorial markdown file 
+--yaml (-y)       (coderoad.yaml)   custom path to the tutorial yaml file 
+--output (-o)     (coderoad.json)   custom path to tutorial json config file 
 
 More docs at https://github.com/coderoad/coderoad-cli`);
 }
@@ -46,8 +46,9 @@ export function validate() {
 Usage: coderoad validate [path] [options]
 
 Options:
---help (-h)       display these help docs
---clean (-c)      set to false to preserve .tmp folder. Helpful for debugging
+--help (-h)               display these help docs
+--validate (-v)   (true)  run tutorial schema validation. Set to false to block validation.
+--clean (-c)      (false) set to false to preserve .tmp folder. Helpful for debugging
 
 More docs at https://github.com/coderoad/coderoad-cli`);
 }