diff --git a/genkit-tools/common/src/eval/evaluate.ts b/genkit-tools/common/src/eval/evaluate.ts
index 1f9ab3158e..0b2a396579 100644
--- a/genkit-tools/common/src/eval/evaluate.ts
+++ b/genkit-tools/common/src/eval/evaluate.ts
@@ -26,10 +26,7 @@ import {
   EvalKeyAugments,
   EvalRun,
   EvalRunKey,
-  GenerateRequest,
-  GenerateRequestSchema,
   GenerateResponseSchema,
-  MessageData,
   RunNewEvaluationRequest,
   SpanData,
 } from '../types';
@@ -37,6 +34,7 @@ import {
   evaluatorName,
   generateTestCaseId,
   getEvalExtractors,
+  getModelInput,
   hasAction,
   isEvaluator,
   logger,
@@ -440,30 +438,3 @@ function isSupportedActionRef(actionRef: string) {
     actionRef.startsWith(`/${supportedType}`)
   );
 }
-
-function getModelInput(data: any, modelConfig: any): GenerateRequest {
-  let message: MessageData;
-  if (typeof data === 'string') {
-    message = {
-      role: 'user',
-      content: [
-        {
-          text: data,
-        },
-      ],
-    } as MessageData;
-    return {
-      messages: message ? [message] : [],
-      config: modelConfig,
-    };
-  } else {
-    const maybeRequest = GenerateRequestSchema.safeParse(data);
-    if (maybeRequest.success) {
-      return maybeRequest.data;
-    } else {
-      throw new Error(
-        `Unable to parse model input as MessageSchema as input. Details: ${maybeRequest.error}`
-      );
-    }
-  }
-}
diff --git a/genkit-tools/common/src/eval/validate.ts b/genkit-tools/common/src/eval/validate.ts
index 2cf0f0bf3d..911106ab40 100644
--- a/genkit-tools/common/src/eval/validate.ts
+++ b/genkit-tools/common/src/eval/validate.ts
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import {
   ValidateDataRequest,
   ValidateDataResponse,
 } from '../types';
+import { getModelInput } from '../utils';
 
 // Setup for AJV
 type JSONSchema = JSONSchemaType<any> | any;
@@ -61,8 +62,8 @@ export async function validateSchema(
     if (dataset.length === 0) {
       return { valid: true };
     }
-    dataset.forEach((sample, index) => {
-      const response = validate(targetSchema, sample.input);
+    dataset.forEach((sample) => {
+      const response = validate(actionRef, targetSchema, sample.input);
       if (!response.valid) {
         errorsMap[sample.testCaseId] = response.errors ?? [];
       }
@@ -74,7 +75,7 @@ export async function validateSchema(
   } else {
     const dataset = InferenceDatasetSchema.parse(data);
     dataset.forEach((sample, index) => {
-      const response = validate(targetSchema, sample.input);
+      const response = validate(actionRef, targetSchema, sample.input);
       if (!response.valid) {
         errorsMap[index.toString()] = response.errors ?? [];
       }
@@ -86,11 +87,16 @@ export async function validateSchema(
 }
 
 function validate(
+  actionRef: string,
   jsonSchema: JSONSchema,
   data: unknown
 ): { valid: boolean; errors?: ErrorDetail[] } {
+  const isModelAction = actionRef.startsWith('/model');
+  let input = isModelAction
+    ? getModelInput(data, /* modelConfig= */ undefined)
+    : data;
   const validator = ajv.compile(jsonSchema);
-  const valid = validator(data) as boolean;
+  const valid = validator(input) as boolean;
   const errors = validator.errors?.map((e) => e);
   return { valid, errors: errors?.map(toErrorDetail) };
 }
diff --git a/genkit-tools/common/src/utils/eval.ts b/genkit-tools/common/src/utils/eval.ts
index 1c3aa4bc73..c8b4a108ae 100644
--- a/genkit-tools/common/src/utils/eval.ts
+++ b/genkit-tools/common/src/utils/eval.ts
@@ -37,9 +37,12 @@ import {
   EvaluationDatasetSchema,
   EvaluationSample,
   EvaluationSampleSchema,
+  GenerateRequest,
+  GenerateRequestSchema,
   InferenceDatasetSchema,
   InferenceSample,
   InferenceSampleSchema,
+  MessageData,
 } from '../types';
 import { Action } from '../types/action';
 import { DocumentData, RetrieverResponse } from '../types/retrievers';
@@ -330,3 +333,31 @@ export async function hasAction(params: {
 
   return actionsRecord.hasOwnProperty(actionRef);
 }
+
+/** Helper function that maps string data to GenerateRequest */
+export function getModelInput(data: any, modelConfig: any): GenerateRequest {
+  let message: MessageData;
+  if (typeof data === 'string') {
+    message = {
+      role: 'user',
+      content: [
+        {
+          text: data,
+        },
+      ],
+    } as MessageData;
+    return {
+      messages: message ? [message] : [],
+      config: modelConfig,
+    };
+  } else {
+    const maybeRequest = GenerateRequestSchema.safeParse(data);
+    if (maybeRequest.success) {
+      return maybeRequest.data;
+    } else {
+      throw new Error(
+        `Unable to parse model input as MessageSchema as input. Details: ${maybeRequest.error}`
+      );
+    }
+  }
+}