diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 76be69509..428accc65 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/fatih/structs v1.1.0
 	github.com/glebarez/sqlite v1.8.0
 	github.com/go-http-utils/etag v0.0.0-20161124023236-513ea8f21eb1
+	github.com/go-playground/validator/v10 v10.14.1
 	github.com/go-telegram-bot-api/telegram-bot-api/v5 v5.5.1
 	github.com/godbus/dbus/v5 v5.1.0
 	github.com/gokrazy/updater v0.0.0-20230215172637-813ccc7f21e2
@@ -132,7 +133,6 @@ require (
 	github.com/go-logfmt/logfmt v0.6.0 // indirect
 	github.com/go-playground/locales v0.14.1 // indirect
 	github.com/go-playground/universal-translator v0.18.1 // indirect
-	github.com/go-playground/validator/v10 v10.14.1 // indirect
 	github.com/gobwas/httphead v0.1.0 // indirect
 	github.com/gobwas/pool v0.2.1 // indirect
 	github.com/gobwas/ws v1.2.1 // indirect
diff --git a/util/decoder.go b/util/decoder.go
index 068fb2c22..19cba3e43 100644
--- a/util/decoder.go
+++ b/util/decoder.go
@@ -1,9 +1,14 @@
 package util
 
 import (
+	"reflect"
+
+	"github.com/go-playground/validator/v10"
 	"github.com/mitchellh/mapstructure"
 )
 
+var validate = validator.New()
+
 // DecodeOther uses mapstructure to decode into target structure. Unused keys cause errors.
 func DecodeOther(other, cc interface{}) error {
 	decoderConfig := &mapstructure.DecoderConfig{
@@ -17,15 +22,20 @@ func DecodeOther(other, cc interface{}) error {
 	}
 
 	decoder, err := mapstructure.NewDecoder(decoderConfig)
-	if err == nil {
-		err = decoder.Decode(other)
-	}
-
 	if err != nil {
-		err = &ConfigError{err}
+		return err
 	}
 
-	return err
+	if err := decoder.Decode(other); err != nil {
+		return &ConfigError{err}
+	}
+
+	// validate structs
+	if rv := reflect.ValueOf(cc); rv.Kind() == reflect.Struct || rv.Kind() == reflect.Pointer && rv.Elem().Kind() == reflect.Struct {
+		return validate.Struct(cc)
+	}
+
+	return nil
 }
 
 // ConfigError wraps yaml configuration errors from mapstructure