diff --git a/commands/apps.go b/commands/apps.go
index c44f70397..32eccbdfd 100644
--- a/commands/apps.go
+++ b/commands/apps.go
@@ -704,15 +704,10 @@ Optionally, pass a deployment ID to get the spec of that specific deployment.`,
 	AddStringFlag(getCmd, doctl.ArgAppDeployment, "", "", "optional: a deployment ID")
 	AddStringFlag(getCmd, doctl.ArgFormat, "", "yaml", `the format to output the spec in; either "yaml" or "json"`)
 
-	validateCmd := CmdBuilder(cmd, RunAppsSpecValidate, "validate <spec file>", "Validate an application spec", `Use this command to check whether a given app spec (YAML or JSON) is valid.
-
-You may pass - as the filename to read from stdin.`, Writer)
-	AddBoolFlag(validateCmd, doctl.ArgSchemaOnly, "", false, "Only validate the spec schema and not the correctness of the spec.")
-
-	cmdBuilderWithInit(cmd, RunAppsSpecValidateOffline, "validate-offline <spec file>", "Validate an application spec offline (schema-only)", `Use this command to check whether a given app spec (YAML or JSON) is valid
-without connecting to DigitalOcean API. (schema-only)
+	validateCmd := cmdBuilderWithInit(cmd, RunAppsSpecValidate, "validate <spec file>", "Validate an application spec", `Use this command to check whether a given app spec (YAML or JSON) is valid.
 
 You may pass - as the filename to read from stdin.`, Writer, false)
+	AddBoolFlag(validateCmd, doctl.ArgSchemaOnly, "", false, "Only validate the spec schema and not the correctness of the spec.")
 
 	return cmd
 }
@@ -766,36 +761,8 @@ func RunAppsSpecGet(c *CmdConfig) error {
 	}
 }
 
-// ValidateAppSpecSchema validates an app spec (schema-only)
-// returns the marshaled yaml spec as a byte array, or error
-func ValidateAppSpecSchema(appSpec *godo.AppSpec) ([]byte, error) {
-	ymlSpec, err := yaml.Marshal(appSpec)
-	if err != nil {
-		return []byte{}, fmt.Errorf("marshaling the spec as yaml: %v", err)
-	}
-	return ymlSpec, err
-}
-
-// RunAppsSpecValidateOffline validates an app spec file without requiring auth & connection to the API
-func RunAppsSpecValidateOffline(c *CmdConfig) error {
-	if len(c.Args) < 1 {
-		return doctl.NewMissingArgsErr(c.NS)
-	}
-
-	specPath := c.Args[0]
-	appSpec, err := apps.ReadAppSpec(os.Stdin, specPath)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	ymlSpec, err := ValidateAppSpecSchema(appSpec)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	_, err = c.Out.Write(ymlSpec)
-	return err
-}
-
 // RunAppsSpecValidate validates an app spec file
+// doesn't require auth & connection to the API with doctl.ArgSchemaOnly flag
 func RunAppsSpecValidate(c *CmdConfig) error {
 	if len(c.Args) < 1 {
 		return doctl.NewMissingArgsErr(c.NS)
@@ -812,15 +779,20 @@ func RunAppsSpecValidate(c *CmdConfig) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	// validate schema only (offline)
 	if schemaOnly {
-		ymlSpec, err := ValidateAppSpecSchema(appSpec)
+		ymlSpec, err := yaml.Marshal(appSpec)
 		if err != nil {
-			return err
+			return fmt.Errorf("marshaling the spec as yaml: %v", err)
 		}
 		_, err = c.Out.Write(ymlSpec)
 		return err
 	}
 
+	// validate the spec against the API
+	if err := c.initServices(c); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
 	res, err := c.Apps().Propose(&godo.AppProposeRequest{
 		Spec: appSpec,
 	})
diff --git a/integration/apps_spec_test.go b/integration/apps_spec_test.go
index 281bc2a00..2b74fe156 100644
--- a/integration/apps_spec_test.go
+++ b/integration/apps_spec_test.go
@@ -238,50 +238,3 @@ services:
 		expect.Equal(expectedOutput, strings.TrimSpace(string(output)))
 	})
 })
-
-var _ = suite("apps/spec/validate-offline", func(t *testing.T, when spec.G, it spec.S) {
-	var (
-		expect *require.Assertions
-	)
-
-	it.Before(func() {
-		expect = require.New(t)
-	})
-
-	it("accepts a valid spec", func() {
-		cmd := exec.Command(builtBinaryPath,
-			"apps", "spec", "validate-offline",
-			"-",
-		)
-		byt, err := json.Marshal(testAppSpec)
-		expect.NoError(err)
-
-		cmd.Stdin = bytes.NewReader(byt)
-
-		output, err := cmd.CombinedOutput()
-		expect.NoError(err)
-
-		expectedOutput := "name: test\nservices:\n- github:\n    branch: main\n    repo: digitalocean/doctl\n  name: service"
-		expect.Equal(expectedOutput, strings.TrimSpace(string(output)))
-	})
-
-	it("fails on invalid specs", func() {
-		cmd := exec.Command(builtBinaryPath,
-			"apps", "spec", "validate-offline",
-			"-",
-		)
-		testSpec := `name: test
-services:
-  name: service
-  github:
-    repo: digitalocean/doctl
-`
-		cmd.Stdin = strings.NewReader(testSpec)
-
-		output, err := cmd.CombinedOutput()
-		expect.Equal("exit status 1", err.Error())
-
-		expectedOutput := "Error: parsing app spec: json: cannot unmarshal object into Go struct field AppSpec.services of type []*godo.AppServiceSpec"
-		expect.Equal(expectedOutput, strings.TrimSpace(string(output)))
-	})
-})