diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-docs.yml b/.github/workflows/release-docs.yml
index 8921ac0aea..3b4fd8c31c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-docs.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-docs.yml
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v3
+      with:
+        ref: main
     - name: Setup Python
       uses: actions/setup-python@v3
       with:
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 3ba8950d17..cd0b2c8488 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ should change the heading of the (upcoming) version to include a major version b
 
 ## @rjsf/core
 - Updated the `FieldErrorTemplate` to remove the explicit typing of the `error` to string to support the two options 
+- Implemented programmatic validation via new `validateForm()` method on `Form`, fixing (https://github.com/rjsf-team/react-jsonschema-form/issues/2755, https://github.com/rjsf-team/react-jsonschema-form/issues/2552, https://github.com/rjsf-team/react-jsonschema-form/issues/2381, https://github.com/rjsf-team/react-jsonschema-form/issues/2343, https://github.com/rjsf-team/react-jsonschema-form/issues/1006, https://github.com/rjsf-team/react-jsonschema-form/issues/246)
 
 ## @rjsf/semantic-ui
 - Updated the `FieldErrorTemplate` to use the `children` variation of the `List.Item` that supports ReactElement
@@ -31,6 +32,8 @@ should change the heading of the (upcoming) version to include a major version b
 
 ## Dev / docs / playground
 - Updated the `custom-templates.md` file to add the missing asterisk to the new `FieldErrorTemplate` and `FieldHelpTemplate`
+- Updated the playground to add a new button for programmatically validating a form
+- Also updated the `validation.md` documentation to describe how to programmatically validate a form
 
 # 5.0.0-beta.8
 
diff --git a/docs/usage/validation.md b/docs/usage/validation.md
index 51b5af227b..f5e9bbad6e 100644
--- a/docs/usage/validation.md
+++ b/docs/usage/validation.md
@@ -34,6 +34,33 @@ render((
 ), document.getElementById("app"));
 ```
 
+## Validate form programmatically
+
+It is possible to programmatically validate a form using the `validateForm()` function on `Form`.
+Add a `ref` to your `Form` component and call the `validateForm()` method to validate the form programmatically.
+The `validateForm()` method returns true if the form is valid, false otherwise.
+If you have provided an `onError` callback it will be called with the list of errors when the `validatorForm()` method returns false.
+
+```jsx
+import { createRef } from "react"
+import validator from "@rjsf/validator-ajv6";
+
+const formRef = createRef();
+const onError = (errors) => alert(errors);
+
+const schema = {
+    type: "string"
+};
+
+render((
+  <Form schema={schema} validator={validator} onError={onError} ref={formRef}/>
+), document.getElementById("app"));
+
+if (formRef.current.validateForm()) {
+  alert("Form is valid");
+}
+```
+
 ## HTML5 Validation
 
 By default, the form uses HTML5 validation. This may cause unintuitive results because the HTML5 validation errors (such as when a field is `required`) may be displayed before the form is submitted, and thus these errors will display differently from the react-jsonschema-form validation errors. You can turn off HTML validation by setting the `noHtml5Validate` to `true`.
diff --git a/packages/core/src/components/Form.tsx b/packages/core/src/components/Form.tsx
index 8fbde31526..7476dd8a1a 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/components/Form.tsx
+++ b/packages/core/src/components/Form.tsx
@@ -613,8 +613,7 @@ export default class Form<T = any, F = any> extends Component<
     }
 
     event.persist();
-    const { omitExtraData, extraErrors, noValidate, onSubmit, onError } =
-      this.props;
+    const { omitExtraData, extraErrors, noValidate, onSubmit } = this.props;
     let { formData: newFormData } = this.state;
     const { schema, schemaUtils } = this.state;
 
@@ -631,63 +630,31 @@ export default class Form<T = any, F = any> extends Component<
       newFormData = this.getUsedFormData(newFormData, fieldNames);
     }
 
-    if (!noValidate) {
-      const schemaValidation = this.validate(schemaUtils, newFormData);
-      let errors = schemaValidation.errors;
-      let errorSchema = schemaValidation.errorSchema;
-      const schemaValidationErrors = errors;
-      const schemaValidationErrorSchema = errorSchema;
-      if (errors.length > 0) {
-        if (extraErrors) {
-          const merged = schemaUtils.mergeValidationData(
-            schemaValidation,
-            extraErrors
-          );
-          errorSchema = merged.errorSchema;
-          errors = merged.errors;
-        }
-        this.setState(
-          {
-            errors,
-            errorSchema,
-            schemaValidationErrors,
-            schemaValidationErrorSchema,
-          },
-          () => {
-            if (onError) {
-              onError(errors);
-            } else {
-              console.error("Form validation failed", errors);
-            }
+    if (noValidate || this.validateForm()) {
+      // There are no errors generated through schema validation.
+      // Check for user provided errors and update state accordingly.
+      const errorSchema = extraErrors || {};
+      const errors = extraErrors
+        ? schemaUtils.getValidator().toErrorList(extraErrors)
+        : [];
+      this.setState(
+        {
+          formData: newFormData,
+          errors,
+          errorSchema,
+          schemaValidationErrors: [],
+          schemaValidationErrorSchema: {},
+        },
+        () => {
+          if (onSubmit) {
+            onSubmit(
+              { ...this.state, formData: newFormData, status: "submitted" },
+              event
+            );
           }
-        );
-        return;
-      }
-    }
-
-    // There are no errors generated through schema validation.
-    // Check for user provided errors and update state accordingly.
-    const errorSchema = extraErrors || {};
-    const errors = extraErrors
-      ? schemaUtils.getValidator().toErrorList(extraErrors)
-      : [];
-    this.setState(
-      {
-        formData: newFormData,
-        errors,
-        errorSchema,
-        schemaValidationErrors: [],
-        schemaValidationErrorSchema: {},
-      },
-      () => {
-        if (onSubmit) {
-          onSubmit(
-            { ...this.state, formData: newFormData, status: "submitted" },
-            event
-          );
         }
-      }
-    );
+      );
+    }
   };
 
   /** Returns the registry for the form */
@@ -723,6 +690,49 @@ export default class Form<T = any, F = any> extends Component<
     }
   }
 
+  /** Programmatically validate the form. If `onError` is provided, then it will be called with the list of errors the
+   * same way as would happen on form submission.
+   *
+   * @returns - True if the form is valid, false otherwise.
+   */
+  validateForm() {
+    const { extraErrors, onError } = this.props;
+    const { formData } = this.state;
+    const { schemaUtils } = this.state;
+    const schemaValidation = this.validate(schemaUtils, formData);
+    let errors = schemaValidation.errors;
+    let errorSchema = schemaValidation.errorSchema;
+    const schemaValidationErrors = errors;
+    const schemaValidationErrorSchema = errorSchema;
+    if (errors.length > 0) {
+      if (extraErrors) {
+        const merged = schemaUtils.mergeValidationData(
+          schemaValidation,
+          extraErrors
+        );
+        errorSchema = merged.errorSchema;
+        errors = merged.errors;
+      }
+      this.setState(
+        {
+          errors,
+          errorSchema,
+          schemaValidationErrors,
+          schemaValidationErrorSchema,
+        },
+        () => {
+          if (onError) {
+            onError(errors);
+          } else {
+            console.error("Form validation failed", errors);
+          }
+        }
+      );
+      return false;
+    }
+    return true;
+  }
+
   /** Renders the `Form` fields inside the <form> | `tagName` or `_internalFormWrapper`, rendering any errors if
    * needed along with the submit button or any children of the form.
    */
diff --git a/packages/playground/src/app.js b/packages/playground/src/app.js
index aea6cce4e0..1ef4d36cde 100644
--- a/packages/playground/src/app.js
+++ b/packages/playground/src/app.js
@@ -487,16 +487,28 @@ class Playground extends Component {
                 validator={validator}
                 select={this.onValidatorSelected}
               />
-              <CopyLink shareURL={this.state.shareURL} onShare={this.onShare} />
-              <span> </span>
               <button
                 title="Click me to submit the form programmatically."
                 className="btn btn-default"
                 type="button"
                 onClick={() => this.playGroundForm.current.submit()}
               >
-                Programmatic Submit
+                Prog. Submit
+              </button>
+              <span> </span>
+              <button
+                title="Click me to validate the form programmatically."
+                className="btn btn-default"
+                type="button"
+                onClick={() => {
+                  const valid = this.playGroundForm.current.validateForm();
+                  alert(valid ? "Form is valid" : "Form has errors");
+                }}
+              >
+                Prog. Validate
               </button>
+              <div style={{ marginTop: "5px" }} />
+              <CopyLink shareURL={this.state.shareURL} onShare={this.onShare} />
             </div>
           </div>
         </div>
@@ -578,6 +590,7 @@ class Playground extends Component {
                 onSubmit={({ formData }, e) => {
                   console.log("submitted formData", formData);
                   console.log("submit event", e);
+                  window.alert("Form submitted");
                 }}
                 fields={{ geo: GeoPosition }}
                 customValidate={validate}