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

# Validator Operations

Validators provide the critical function of objective design evaluation:

Functional Verification: Using Verilator, validators simulate designs against comprehensive test suites containing millions of instructions. Results are compared against golden references to determine functional correctness.

Synthesis Analysis: Employing Yosys and OpenLane, validators synthesize designs to gate-level netlists, extracting accurate area metrics and timing characteristics.

Score Calculation: Combining individual metrics using challenge-specific weights to generate overall scores that reflect the relative importance of different optimization objectives.