diff --git a/packages/cli/src/actions/action-utils.ts b/packages/cli/src/actions/action-utils.ts
index 7539c4ca0..aed343193 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/actions/action-utils.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/actions/action-utils.ts
@@ -1,13 +1,16 @@
+import { invariant } from '@zenstackhq/common-helpers';
 import { type ZModelServices, loadDocument } from '@zenstackhq/language';
-import { type Model, isDataSource } from '@zenstackhq/language/ast';
-import { PrismaSchemaGenerator } from '@zenstackhq/sdk';
+import { type Model, type Plugin, isDataSource, type LiteralExpr } from '@zenstackhq/language/ast';
+import { type CliPlugin, PrismaSchemaGenerator } from '@zenstackhq/sdk';
 import colors from 'colors';
+import { createJiti } from 'jiti';
 import fs from 'node:fs';
 import { createRequire } from 'node:module';
 import path from 'node:path';
-import { CliError } from '../cli-error';
+import { pathToFileURL } from 'node:url';
 import terminalLink from 'terminal-link';
 import { z } from 'zod';
+import { CliError } from '../cli-error';
 
 export function getSchemaFile(file?: string) {
     if (file) {
@@ -219,6 +222,89 @@ export async function getZenStackPackages(
     return result.filter((p) => !!p);
 }
 
+export function getPluginProvider(plugin: Plugin) {
+    const providerField = plugin.fields.find((f) => f.name === 'provider');
+    invariant(providerField, `Plugin ${plugin.name} does not have a provider field`);
+    const provider = (providerField.value as LiteralExpr).value as string;
+    return provider;
+}
+
+export async function loadPluginModule(provider: string, basePath: string) {
+    if (provider.toLowerCase().endsWith('.zmodel')) {
+        // provider is a zmodel file, no plugin code module to load
+        return undefined;
+    }
+
+    let moduleSpec = provider;
+    if (moduleSpec.startsWith('.')) {
+        // relative to schema's path
+        moduleSpec = path.resolve(basePath, moduleSpec);
+    }
+
+    const importAsEsm = async (spec: string) => {
+        try {
+            const result = (await import(spec)).default as CliPlugin;
+            return result;
+        } catch (err) {
+            throw new CliError(`Failed to load plugin module from ${spec}: ${(err as Error).message}`);
+        }
+    };
+
+    const jiti = createJiti(pathToFileURL(basePath).toString());
+    const importAsTs = async (spec: string) => {
+        try {
+            const result = (await jiti.import(spec, { default: true })) as CliPlugin;
+            return result;
+        } catch (err) {
+            throw new CliError(`Failed to load plugin module from ${spec}: ${(err as Error).message}`);
+        }
+    };
+
+    const esmSuffixes = ['.js', '.mjs'];
+    const tsSuffixes = ['.ts', '.mts'];
+
+    if (fs.existsSync(moduleSpec) && fs.statSync(moduleSpec).isFile()) {
+        // try provider as ESM file
+        if (esmSuffixes.some((suffix) => moduleSpec.endsWith(suffix))) {
+            return await importAsEsm(pathToFileURL(moduleSpec).toString());
+        }
+
+        // try provider as TS file
+        if (tsSuffixes.some((suffix) => moduleSpec.endsWith(suffix))) {
+            return await importAsTs(moduleSpec);
+        }
+    }
+
+    // try ESM index files in provider directory
+    for (const suffix of esmSuffixes) {
+        const indexPath = path.join(moduleSpec, `index${suffix}`);
+        if (fs.existsSync(indexPath)) {
+            return await importAsEsm(pathToFileURL(indexPath).toString());
+        }
+    }
+
+    // try TS index files in provider directory
+    for (const suffix of tsSuffixes) {
+        const indexPath = path.join(moduleSpec, `index${suffix}`);
+        if (fs.existsSync(indexPath)) {
+            return await importAsTs(indexPath);
+        }
+    }
+
+    // last resort, try to import as esm directly
+    try {
+        const mod = await import(moduleSpec);
+        // plugin may not export a generator, return undefined in that case
+        return mod.default as CliPlugin | undefined;
+    } catch (err) {
+        const errorCode = (err as NodeJS.ErrnoException)?.code;
+        if (errorCode === 'ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND' || errorCode === 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND') {
+            throw new CliError(`Cannot find plugin module "${provider}". Please make sure the package exists.`);
+        }
+        throw new CliError(`Failed to load plugin module "${provider}": ${(err as Error).message}`);
+    }
+}
+
 const FETCH_CLI_MAX_TIME = 1000;
 const CLI_CONFIG_ENDPOINT = 'https://zenstack.dev/config/cli-v3.json';
 
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/actions/check.ts b/packages/cli/src/actions/check.ts
index 10f063149..a7f765f36 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/actions/check.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/actions/check.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
+import { isPlugin, type Model } from '@zenstackhq/language/ast';
 import colors from 'colors';
-import { getSchemaFile, loadSchemaDocument } from './action-utils';
+import path from 'node:path';
+import { getPluginProvider, getSchemaFile, loadPluginModule, loadSchemaDocument } from './action-utils';
 
 type Options = {
     schema?: string;
@@ -12,7 +14,8 @@ export async function run(options: Options) {
     const schemaFile = getSchemaFile(options.schema);
 
     try {
-        await loadSchemaDocument(schemaFile);
+        const model = await loadSchemaDocument(schemaFile);
+        await checkPluginResolution(schemaFile, model);
         console.log(colors.green('✓ Schema validation completed successfully.'));
     } catch (error) {
         console.error(colors.red('✗ Schema validation failed.'));
@@ -20,3 +23,13 @@ export async function run(options: Options) {
         throw error;
     }
 }
+
+async function checkPluginResolution(schemaFile: string, model: Model) {
+    const plugins = model.declarations.filter(isPlugin);
+    for (const plugin of plugins) {
+        const provider = getPluginProvider(plugin);
+        if (!provider.startsWith('@core/')) {
+            await loadPluginModule(provider, path.dirname(schemaFile));
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/actions/generate.ts b/packages/cli/src/actions/generate.ts
index fe31688b8..ce499ef11 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/actions/generate.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/actions/generate.ts
@@ -1,22 +1,21 @@
 import { invariant, singleDebounce } from '@zenstackhq/common-helpers';
 import { ZModelLanguageMetaData } from '@zenstackhq/language';
-import { isPlugin, LiteralExpr, Plugin, type AbstractDeclaration, type Model } from '@zenstackhq/language/ast';
+import { isPlugin, type AbstractDeclaration, type Model } from '@zenstackhq/language/ast';
 import { getLiteral, getLiteralArray } from '@zenstackhq/language/utils';
 import { type CliPlugin } from '@zenstackhq/sdk';
 import { watch } from 'chokidar';
 import colors from 'colors';
-import { createJiti } from 'jiti';
-import fs from 'node:fs';
 import path from 'node:path';
-import { pathToFileURL } from 'node:url';
 import ora, { type Ora } from 'ora';
 import semver from 'semver';
 import { CliError } from '../cli-error';
 import * as corePlugins from '../plugins';
 import {
     getOutputPath,
+    getPluginProvider,
     getSchemaFile,
     getZenStackPackages,
+    loadPluginModule,
     loadSchemaDocument,
     startUsageTipsFetch,
 } from './action-utils';
@@ -258,14 +257,7 @@ async function runPlugins(schemaFile: string, model: Model, outputPath: string,
     }
 }
 
-function getPluginProvider(plugin: Plugin) {
-    const providerField = plugin.fields.find((f) => f.name === 'provider');
-    invariant(providerField, `Plugin ${plugin.name} does not have a provider field`);
-    const provider = (providerField.value as LiteralExpr).value as string;
-    return provider;
-}
-
-function getPluginOptions(plugin: Plugin): Record<string, unknown> {
+function getPluginOptions(plugin: Parameters<typeof getPluginProvider>[0]): Record<string, unknown> {
     const result: Record<string, unknown> = {};
     for (const field of plugin.fields) {
         if (field.name === 'provider') {
@@ -281,72 +273,6 @@ function getPluginOptions(plugin: Plugin): Record<string, unknown> {
     return result;
 }
 
-async function loadPluginModule(provider: string, basePath: string) {
-    let moduleSpec = provider;
-    if (moduleSpec.startsWith('.')) {
-        // relative to schema's path
-        moduleSpec = path.resolve(basePath, moduleSpec);
-    }
-
-    const importAsEsm = async (spec: string) => {
-        try {
-            const result = (await import(spec)).default as CliPlugin;
-            return result;
-        } catch (err) {
-            throw new CliError(`Failed to load plugin module from ${spec}: ${(err as Error).message}`);
-        }
-    };
-
-    const jiti = createJiti(pathToFileURL(basePath).toString());
-    const importAsTs = async (spec: string) => {
-        try {
-            const result = (await jiti.import(spec, { default: true })) as CliPlugin;
-            return result;
-        } catch (err) {
-            throw new CliError(`Failed to load plugin module from ${spec}: ${(err as Error).message}`);
-        }
-    };
-
-    const esmSuffixes = ['.js', '.mjs'];
-    const tsSuffixes = ['.ts', '.mts'];
-
-    if (fs.existsSync(moduleSpec) && fs.statSync(moduleSpec).isFile()) {
-        // try provider as ESM file
-        if (esmSuffixes.some((suffix) => moduleSpec.endsWith(suffix))) {
-            return await importAsEsm(pathToFileURL(moduleSpec).toString());
-        }
-
-        // try provider as TS file
-        if (tsSuffixes.some((suffix) => moduleSpec.endsWith(suffix))) {
-            return await importAsTs(moduleSpec);
-        }
-    }
-
-    // try ESM index files in provider directory
-    for (const suffix of esmSuffixes) {
-        const indexPath = path.join(moduleSpec, `index${suffix}`);
-        if (fs.existsSync(indexPath)) {
-            return await importAsEsm(pathToFileURL(indexPath).toString());
-        }
-    }
-
-    // try TS index files in provider directory
-    for (const suffix of tsSuffixes) {
-        const indexPath = path.join(moduleSpec, `index${suffix}`);
-        if (fs.existsSync(indexPath)) {
-            return await importAsTs(indexPath);
-        }
-    }
-
-    // last resort, try to import as esm directly
-    try {
-        return (await import(moduleSpec)).default as CliPlugin;
-    } catch {
-        // plugin may not export a generator so we simply ignore the error here
-        return undefined;
-    }
-}
-
 async function checkForMismatchedPackages(projectPath: string) {
     const packages = await getZenStackPackages(projectPath);
     if (!packages.length) {
diff --git a/packages/cli/test/check.test.ts b/packages/cli/test/check.test.ts
index 99d31ecda..becc9dfd7 100644
--- a/packages/cli/test/check.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/test/check.test.ts
@@ -81,6 +81,39 @@ describe('CLI validate command test', () => {
         expect(() => runCli('check', workDir)).not.toThrow();
     });
 
+    it('should succeed when plugin module is resolvable', async () => {
+        const modelWithPlugin = `
+plugin myPlugin {
+    provider = './my-plugin'
+}
+
+model User {
+    id String @id @default(cuid())
+    @@custom
+}
+`;
+        const { workDir } = await createProject(modelWithPlugin);
+        const pluginDir = path.join(workDir, 'zenstack/my-plugin');
+        fs.mkdirSync(pluginDir, { recursive: true });
+        fs.writeFileSync(path.join(pluginDir, 'index.mjs'), 'export const name = "my-plugin";');
+        fs.writeFileSync(path.join(pluginDir, 'plugin.zmodel'), 'attribute @@custom()');
+        expect(() => runCli('check', workDir)).not.toThrow();
+    });
+
+    it('should report error for unresolvable plugin module', async () => {
+        const modelWithMissingPlugin = `
+plugin foo {
+    provider = '@zenstackhq/nonexistent-plugin'
+}
+
+model User {
+    id String @id @default(cuid())
+}
+`;
+        const { workDir } = await createProject(modelWithMissingPlugin);
+        expect(() => runCli('check', workDir)).toThrow(/Cannot find plugin module/);
+    });
+
     it('should validate schema with syntax errors', async () => {
         const modelWithSyntaxError = `
 model User {
diff --git a/packages/cli/test/generate.test.ts b/packages/cli/test/generate.test.ts
index 646cbb680..291f0e734 100644
--- a/packages/cli/test/generate.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/test/generate.test.ts
@@ -199,6 +199,79 @@ model User {
         expect(fs.existsSync(path.join(workDir, 'zenstack/input.ts'))).toBe(false);
     });
 
+    it('should report error for unresolvable plugin module', async () => {
+        const modelWithMissingPlugin = `
+plugin foo {
+    provider = '@zenstackhq/nonexistent-plugin'
+}
+
+model User {
+    id String @id @default(cuid())
+}
+`;
+        const { workDir } = await createProject(modelWithMissingPlugin);
+        expect(() => runCli('generate', workDir)).toThrow(/Cannot find plugin module/);
+    });
+
+    it('should succeed when plugin module exists but has no CLI generator', async () => {
+        const modelWithNoGeneratorPlugin = `
+plugin foo {
+    provider = './my-plugin.mjs'
+}
+
+model User {
+    id String @id @default(cuid())
+}
+`;
+        const { workDir } = await createProject(modelWithNoGeneratorPlugin);
+        // Create a plugin module that doesn't export a default CLI generator
+        fs.writeFileSync(path.join(workDir, 'zenstack/my-plugin.mjs'), 'export const name = "no-generator";');
+        runCli('generate', workDir);
+        // Should succeed without error, generating the default typescript output
+        expect(fs.existsSync(path.join(workDir, 'zenstack/schema.ts'))).toBe(true);
+    });
+
+    it('should succeed when plugin only provides a plugin.zmodel for custom attributes', async () => {
+        const modelWithZmodelOnlyPlugin = `
+plugin myPlugin {
+    provider = './my-plugin'
+}
+
+model User {
+    id String @id @default(cuid())
+    @@custom
+}
+`;
+        const { workDir } = await createProject(modelWithZmodelOnlyPlugin);
+        // Create a plugin directory with index.mjs (no default export) and a plugin.zmodel defining a custom attribute
+        const pluginDir = path.join(workDir, 'zenstack/my-plugin');
+        fs.mkdirSync(pluginDir, { recursive: true });
+        fs.writeFileSync(path.join(pluginDir, 'index.mjs'), 'export const name = "my-plugin";');
+        fs.writeFileSync(path.join(pluginDir, 'plugin.zmodel'), 'attribute @@custom()');
+        runCli('generate', workDir);
+        // Should succeed without error, generating the default typescript output
+        expect(fs.existsSync(path.join(workDir, 'zenstack/schema.ts'))).toBe(true);
+    });
+
+    it('should succeed when plugin provider is a .zmodel file', async () => {
+        const modelWithZmodelProvider = `
+plugin myPlugin {
+    provider = './custom-attrs/plugin.zmodel'
+}
+
+model User {
+    id String @id @default(cuid())
+    @@custom
+}
+`;
+        const { workDir } = await createProject(modelWithZmodelProvider);
+        const pluginDir = path.join(workDir, 'zenstack/custom-attrs');
+        fs.mkdirSync(pluginDir, { recursive: true });
+        fs.writeFileSync(path.join(pluginDir, 'plugin.zmodel'), 'attribute @@custom()');
+        runCli('generate', workDir);
+        expect(fs.existsSync(path.join(workDir, 'zenstack/schema.ts'))).toBe(true);
+    });
+
     it('should prefer CLI options over @core/typescript plugin settings for generateModels and generateInput', async () => {
         const modelWithPlugin = `
 plugin typescript {
diff --git a/tests/runtimes/bun/schemas/schema.zmodel b/tests/runtimes/bun/schemas/schema.zmodel
index ee491c084..f9abf4160 100644
--- a/tests/runtimes/bun/schemas/schema.zmodel
+++ b/tests/runtimes/bun/schemas/schema.zmodel
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ datasource db {
 }
 
 plugin policy {
-    provider = "../../../packages/plugins/policy"
+    provider = "../../../../packages/plugins/policy/plugin.zmodel"
 }
 
 model User {
diff --git a/tests/runtimes/edge-runtime/schemas/schema.zmodel b/tests/runtimes/edge-runtime/schemas/schema.zmodel
index 7872ce263..9842dc4ca 100644
--- a/tests/runtimes/edge-runtime/schemas/schema.zmodel
+++ b/tests/runtimes/edge-runtime/schemas/schema.zmodel
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ datasource db {
 }
 
 plugin policy {
-    provider = "../../../packages/plugins/policy"
+    provider = "../../../../packages/plugins/policy/plugin.zmodel"
 }
 
 model User {