diff --git a/api/internal/plugins/execplugin/execplugin.go b/api/internal/plugins/execplugin/execplugin.go
index a7df41981..d780121e6 100644
--- a/api/internal/plugins/execplugin/execplugin.go
+++ b/api/internal/plugins/execplugin/execplugin.go
@@ -140,11 +140,6 @@ func (p *ExecPlugin) Transform(rm resmap.ResMap) error {
 	return p.updateResMapValues(output, rm)
 }
 
-func (p *ExecPlugin) Validate(rm resmap.ResMap) error {
-	// Validate works exactly same with Transformer
-	return p.Transform(rm)
-}
-
 // invokePlugin writes plugin config to a temp file, then
 // passes the full temp file path as the first arg to a process
 // running the plugin binary.  Process output is returned.
diff --git a/api/internal/plugins/loader/loader.go b/api/internal/plugins/loader/loader.go
index 1d1fe8e80..09dc3a167 100644
--- a/api/internal/plugins/loader/loader.go
+++ b/api/internal/plugins/loader/loader.go
@@ -87,32 +87,6 @@ func (l *Loader) LoadTransformer(
 	return t, nil
 }
 
-func (l *Loader) LoadValidators(
-	ldr ifc.Loader, v ifc.Validator, rm resmap.ResMap) ([]resmap.Validator, error) {
-	var result []resmap.Validator
-	for _, res := range rm.Resources() {
-		t, err := l.LoadValidator(ldr, v, res)
-		if err != nil {
-			return nil, err
-		}
-		result = append(result, t)
-	}
-	return result, nil
-}
-
-func (l *Loader) LoadValidator(
-	ldr ifc.Loader, v ifc.Validator, res *resource.Resource) (resmap.Validator, error) {
-	c, err := l.loadAndConfigurePlugin(ldr, v, res)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-	t, ok := c.(resmap.Validator)
-	if !ok {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("plugin %s not a validator", res.OrgId())
-	}
-	return t, nil
-}
-
 func relativePluginPath(id resid.ResId) string {
 	return filepath.Join(
 		id.Group,
diff --git a/api/internal/target/kusttarget.go b/api/internal/target/kusttarget.go
index 9337e5057..275ebc990 100644
--- a/api/internal/target/kusttarget.go
+++ b/api/internal/target/kusttarget.go
@@ -264,7 +264,7 @@ func (kt *KustTarget) runTransformers(ra *accumulator.ResAccumulator) error {
 		return err
 	}
 	r = append(r, lts...)
-	lts, err = kt.configureExternalTransformers()
+	lts, err = kt.configureExternalTransformers(kt.kustomization.Transformers)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -273,9 +273,10 @@ func (kt *KustTarget) runTransformers(ra *accumulator.ResAccumulator) error {
 	return ra.Transform(t)
 }
 
-func (kt *KustTarget) configureExternalTransformers() ([]resmap.Transformer, error) {
+func (kt *KustTarget) configureExternalTransformers(transformers []string) ([]resmap.Transformer, error) {
 	ra := accumulator.MakeEmptyAccumulator()
-	ra, err := kt.accumulateResources(ra, kt.kustomization.Transformers)
+	ra, err := kt.accumulateResources(ra, transformers)
+
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -283,14 +284,14 @@ func (kt *KustTarget) configureExternalTransformers() ([]resmap.Transformer, err
 }
 
 func (kt *KustTarget) runValidators(ra *accumulator.ResAccumulator) error {
-	validators, err := kt.configureExternalValidators()
+	validators, err := kt.configureExternalTransformers(kt.kustomization.Validators)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	for _, v := range validators {
 		// Validators shouldn't modify the resource map
 		orignal := ra.ResMap().DeepCopy()
-		err = v.Validate(ra.ResMap())
+		err = v.Transform(ra.ResMap())
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
@@ -304,15 +305,14 @@ func (kt *KustTarget) runValidators(ra *accumulator.ResAccumulator) error {
 }
 
 func (kt *KustTarget) removeValidatedByLabel(rm resmap.ResMap) {
-	var validatedByLabelName string = "validated-by"
 
 	resources := rm.Resources()
 	for _, r := range resources {
 		labels := r.GetLabels()
-		if _, found := labels[validatedByLabelName]; !found {
+		if _, found := labels[konfig.ValidatedByLabelKey]; !found {
 			continue
 		}
-		delete(labels, validatedByLabelName)
+		delete(labels, konfig.ValidatedByLabelKey)
 		if len(labels) == 0 {
 			r.SetLabels(nil)
 		} else {
@@ -321,15 +321,6 @@ func (kt *KustTarget) removeValidatedByLabel(rm resmap.ResMap) {
 	}
 }
 
-func (kt *KustTarget) configureExternalValidators() ([]resmap.Validator, error) {
-	ra := accumulator.MakeEmptyAccumulator()
-	ra, err := kt.accumulateResources(ra, kt.kustomization.Validators)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-	return kt.pLdr.LoadValidators(kt.ldr, kt.validator, ra.ResMap())
-}
-
 // accumulateResources fills the given resourceAccumulator
 // with resources read from the given list of paths.
 func (kt *KustTarget) accumulateResources(
diff --git a/api/konfig/general.go b/api/konfig/general.go
index 80a7d9be1..de0292415 100644
--- a/api/konfig/general.go
+++ b/api/konfig/general.go
@@ -36,4 +36,7 @@ const (
 
 	// An environment variable to turn on/off adding the ManagedByLabelKey
 	EnableManagedbyLabelEnv = "KUSTOMIZE_ENABLE_MANAGEDBY_LABEL"
+
+	// Label key that indicates the resources are validated by a validator
+	ValidatedByLabelKey = "validated-by"
 )
diff --git a/api/resmap/resmap.go b/api/resmap/resmap.go
index db971b462..91e87df66 100644
--- a/api/resmap/resmap.go
+++ b/api/resmap/resmap.go
@@ -30,12 +30,6 @@ type Generator interface {
 	Generate() (ResMap, error)
 }
 
-// A Validator checkes the ResMap and return an error
-// if it's not valid.
-type Validator interface {
-	Validate(m ResMap) error
-}
-
 // Something that's configurable accepts an
 // instance of PluginHelpers and a raw config
 // object (YAML in []byte form).
@@ -79,11 +73,6 @@ type TransformerPlugin interface {
 	Configurable
 }
 
-type ValidatorPlugin interface {
-	Validator
-	Configurable
-}
-
 // ResMap is an interface describing operations on the
 // core kustomize data structure, a list of Resources.
 //
diff --git a/examples/multibases/validatorPlugin.md b/examples/validatorPlugin.md
similarity index 100%
rename from examples/multibases/validatorPlugin.md
rename to examples/validatorPlugin.md