diff --git a/infer/src/backend/infer.ml b/infer/src/backend/infer.ml
index fe169a5ec..0cc500fca 100644
--- a/infer/src/backend/infer.ml
+++ b/infer/src/backend/infer.ml
@@ -77,6 +77,12 @@ let setup_results_dir () =
    -> assert_results_dir "please run an infer analysis first"
 
 let () =
+  ( if Config.linters_validate_syntax_only then
+      match CTLParserHelper.validate_al_files () with
+      | Ok ()
+       -> exit 0
+      | Error e
+       -> print_endline e ; exit 3 ) ;
   if Config.print_builtins then Builtin.print_and_exit () ;
   setup_results_dir () ;
   if Config.debug_mode then L.progress "Logs in %s@." (Config.results_dir ^/ Config.log_file) ;
diff --git a/infer/src/base/Config.ml b/infer/src/base/Config.ml
index 4478437d7..dfe148b3a 100644
--- a/infer/src/base/Config.ml
+++ b/infer/src/base/Config.ml
@@ -1252,6 +1252,12 @@ and linters_ignore_clang_failures =
     ~in_help:CLOpt.([(Capture, manual_clang_linters)])
     ~default:false "Continue linting files even if some compilation fails."
 
+and linters_validate_syntax_only =
+  CLOpt.mk_bool ~long:"linters-validate-syntax-only"
+    ~in_help:CLOpt.([(Capture, manual_clang_linters)])
+    ~default:false
+    "Validate syntax of AL files, then emit possible errors in JSON format to stdout"
+
 and load_average =
   CLOpt.mk_float_opt ~long:"load-average" ~short:'l'
     ~in_help:CLOpt.([(Capture, manual_generic)])
@@ -2065,6 +2071,8 @@ and linters_developer_mode = !linters_developer_mode
 
 and linters_ignore_clang_failures = !linters_ignore_clang_failures
 
+and linters_validate_syntax_only = !linters_validate_syntax_only
+
 and liveness = !liveness
 
 and load_average =
diff --git a/infer/src/base/Config.mli b/infer/src/base/Config.mli
index 22b5a96b8..a1cad9f90 100644
--- a/infer/src/base/Config.mli
+++ b/infer/src/base/Config.mli
@@ -475,6 +475,8 @@ val linters_developer_mode : bool
 
 val linters_ignore_clang_failures : bool
 
+val linters_validate_syntax_only : bool
+
 val liveness : bool
 
 val load_analysis_results : string option
diff --git a/infer/src/clang/CTLExceptions.ml b/infer/src/clang/CTLExceptions.ml
index b6cc1902f..ee7ddf239 100644
--- a/infer/src/clang/CTLExceptions.ml
+++ b/infer/src/clang/CTLExceptions.ml
@@ -20,6 +20,12 @@ let create_exc_info description lexbuf =
   let pos = lexbuf.Lexing.lex_curr_p in
   {description; filename= pos.pos_fname; line= pos.pos_lnum}
 
+let json_of_exc_info exc_info =
+  `Assoc
+    [ ("description", `String exc_info.description)
+    ; ("filename", `String exc_info.filename)
+    ; ("line", `Int exc_info.line) ]
+
 let () =
   Caml.Printexc.register_printer (fun exc ->
       match exc with
diff --git a/infer/src/clang/CTLExceptions.mli b/infer/src/clang/CTLExceptions.mli
index 8da2794a4..b19138b23 100644
--- a/infer/src/clang/CTLExceptions.mli
+++ b/infer/src/clang/CTLExceptions.mli
@@ -21,3 +21,5 @@ val create_exc_info : string -> Lexing.lexbuf -> exc_info
 
 val hum_string_of_exc_info : exc_info -> string
 (** human-readable version of exc_info *)
+
+val json_of_exc_info : exc_info -> Yojson.Basic.json
diff --git a/infer/src/clang/CTLParserHelper.ml b/infer/src/clang/CTLParserHelper.ml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7a790c726
--- /dev/null
+++ b/infer/src/clang/CTLParserHelper.ml
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+(*
+ * Copyright (c) 2017 - present Facebook, Inc.
+ * All rights reserved.
+ *
+ * This source code is licensed under the BSD style license found in the
+ * LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree. An additional grant
+ * of patent rights can be found in the PATENTS file in the same directory.
+ *)
+
+open! IStd
+open Ctl_lexer
+open Lexing
+
+let parse_al_file fname channel =
+  let parse_with_error lexbuf =
+    try Some (Ctl_parser.al_file token lexbuf) with
+    | CTLExceptions.ALParserInvariantViolationException s
+     -> raise CTLExceptions.(ALFileException (create_exc_info s lexbuf))
+    | SyntaxError _ | Ctl_parser.Error
+     -> raise CTLExceptions.(ALFileException (create_exc_info "SYNTAX ERROR" lexbuf))
+  in
+  let lexbuf = Lexing.from_channel channel in
+  lexbuf.lex_curr_p <- {lexbuf.lex_curr_p with pos_fname= fname} ;
+  parse_with_error lexbuf
+
+let validate_al_files () =
+  let validate_al_file fname =
+    try
+      Utils.with_file_in ~f:(parse_al_file fname) fname |> ignore ;
+      None
+    with CTLExceptions.ALFileException exc_info -> Some (CTLExceptions.json_of_exc_info exc_info)
+  in
+  match List.filter_map ~f:validate_al_file Config.linters_def_file with
+  | []
+   -> Ok ()
+  | _ as errors
+   -> Error (Yojson.Basic.to_string (`List errors))
diff --git a/infer/src/clang/CTLParserHelper.mli b/infer/src/clang/CTLParserHelper.mli
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a718dd578
--- /dev/null
+++ b/infer/src/clang/CTLParserHelper.mli
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+(*
+ * Copyright (c) 2017 - present Facebook, Inc.
+ * All rights reserved.
+ *
+ * This source code is licensed under the BSD style license found in the
+ * LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree. An additional grant
+ * of patent rights can be found in the PATENTS file in the same directory.
+ *)
+
+open! IStd
+
+val parse_al_file : string -> In_channel.t -> CTL.al_file option
+
+val validate_al_files : unit -> (unit, string) Result.t
diff --git a/infer/src/clang/cFrontend_checkers_main.ml b/infer/src/clang/cFrontend_checkers_main.ml
index d22e20d94..42207b342 100644
--- a/infer/src/clang/cFrontend_checkers_main.ml
+++ b/infer/src/clang/cFrontend_checkers_main.ml
@@ -8,29 +8,15 @@
  *)
 
 open! IStd
-open Lexing
-open Ctl_lexer
 module L = Logging
 
-let parse_al_file fname channel : CTL.al_file option =
-  let parse_with_error lexbuf =
-    try Some (Ctl_parser.al_file token lexbuf) with
-    | CTLExceptions.ALParserInvariantViolationException s
-     -> raise CTLExceptions.(ALFileException (create_exc_info s lexbuf))
-    | SyntaxError _ | Ctl_parser.Error
-     -> raise CTLExceptions.(ALFileException (create_exc_info "SYNTAX ERROR" lexbuf))
-  in
-  let lexbuf = Lexing.from_channel channel in
-  lexbuf.lex_curr_p <- {lexbuf.lex_curr_p with pos_fname= fname} ;
-  parse_with_error lexbuf
-
 let already_imported_files = ref []
 
 let rec parse_import_file import_file channel =
   if List.mem ~equal:String.equal !already_imported_files import_file then
     failwith ("Cyclic imports: file '" ^ import_file ^ "' was already imported.")
   else
-    match parse_al_file import_file channel with
+    match CTLParserHelper.parse_al_file import_file channel with
     | Some
         { import_files= imports
         ; global_macros= curr_file_macros
@@ -63,7 +49,7 @@ and parse_imports imports_files =
   List.fold_right ~f:parse_one_import_file ~init:([], []) imports_files
 
 let parse_ctl_file linters_def_file channel : CFrontend_errors.linter list =
-  match parse_al_file linters_def_file channel with
+  match CTLParserHelper.parse_al_file linters_def_file channel with
   | Some
       { import_files= imports
       ; global_macros= curr_file_macros
diff --git a/infer/src/clang_stubs/CTLParserHelper.ml b/infer/src/clang_stubs/CTLParserHelper.ml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..30a4f3fc5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/infer/src/clang_stubs/CTLParserHelper.ml
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+(*
+ * Copyright (c) 2017 - present Facebook, Inc.
+ * All rights reserved.
+ *
+ * This source code is licensed under the BSD style license found in the
+ * LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree. An additional grant
+ * of patent rights can be found in the PATENTS file in the same directory.
+ *)
+
+let validate_al_files () = prerr_endline "ERROR: infer was built without clang support." ; exit 1
diff --git a/infer/src/clang_stubs/CTLParserHelper.mli b/infer/src/clang_stubs/CTLParserHelper.mli
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8f3381e87
--- /dev/null
+++ b/infer/src/clang_stubs/CTLParserHelper.mli
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+(*
+ * Copyright (c) 2016 - present Facebook, Inc.
+ * All rights reserved.
+ *
+ * This source code is licensed under the BSD style license found in the
+ * LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree. An additional grant
+ * of patent rights can be found in the PATENTS file in the same directory.
+ *)
+
+open! IStd
+
+val validate_al_files : unit -> (unit, string) Result.t