diff --git a/pkg/protocols/code/code.go b/pkg/protocols/code/code.go
index ef653ff13..4af590c77 100644
--- a/pkg/protocols/code/code.go
+++ b/pkg/protocols/code/code.go
@@ -94,9 +94,31 @@ func (request *Request) Compile(options *protocols.ExecutorOptions) error {
 
 	engine, err := gozero.New(gozeroOptions)
 	if err != nil {
-		return errorutil.NewWithErr(err).Msgf("[%s] engines '%s' not available on host", options.TemplateID, strings.Join(request.Engine, ","))
+		errMsg := fmt.Sprintf("[%s] engines '%s' not available on host", options.TemplateID, strings.Join(request.Engine, ","))
+
+		// NOTE(dwisiswant0): In validation mode, skip engine avail check to
+		// allow template validation w/o requiring all engines to be installed
+		// on the host.
+		//
+		// TODO: Ideally, error checking should be done at the highest level
+		// (e.g. runner, main function). For example, we can reuse errors[1][2]
+		// from the `projectdiscovery/gozero` package and wrap (yes, not string
+		// format[3][4]) em inside `projectdiscovery/utils/errors` package to
+		// preserve error semantics and enable runtime type assertion via
+		// builtin `errors.Is` func for granular err handling in the call stack.
+		//
+		// [1]: https://github.com/projectdiscovery/gozero/blob/v0.0.3/gozero.go#L20
+		// [2]: https://github.com/projectdiscovery/gozero/blob/v0.0.3/gozero.go#L35
+		// [3]: https://github.com/projectdiscovery/utils/blob/v0.4.21/errors/enriched.go#L85
+		// [4]: https://github.com/projectdiscovery/utils/blob/v0.4.21/errors/enriched.go#L137
+		if options.Options.Validate {
+			options.Logger.Error().Msgf("%s <- %s", errMsg, err)
+		} else {
+			return errorutil.NewWithErr(err).Msgf(errMsg)
+		}
+	} else {
+		request.gozero = engine
 	}
-	request.gozero = engine
 
 	var src *gozero.Source