diff --git a/src/plugins/kibana/server/lib/converters/ingest_pipeline_api_kibana_to_es_converter.js b/src/plugins/kibana/server/lib/converters/ingest_pipeline_api_kibana_to_es_converter.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..7c62bb973dfa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/plugins/kibana/server/lib/converters/ingest_pipeline_api_kibana_to_es_converter.js
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+import _ from 'lodash';
+import * as ingestProcessorApiKibanaToEsConverters from './ingest_processor_api_kibana_to_es_converters';
+
+export default function ingestPipelineApiKibanaToEsConverter(pipelineApiDocument) {
+  return {
+    processors: _.map(pipelineApiDocument, (processor) => {
+      return ingestProcessorApiKibanaToEsConverters[processor.type_id](processor);
+    })
+  };
+}
diff --git a/src/plugins/kibana/server/lib/converters/ingest_simulate_api_kibana_to_es_converter.js b/src/plugins/kibana/server/lib/converters/ingest_simulate_api_kibana_to_es_converter.js
index 229050fd38b5..7859d21fc2e7 100644
--- a/src/plugins/kibana/server/lib/converters/ingest_simulate_api_kibana_to_es_converter.js
+++ b/src/plugins/kibana/server/lib/converters/ingest_simulate_api_kibana_to_es_converter.js
@@ -1,13 +1,9 @@
 import _ from 'lodash';
-import * as ingestProcessorApiKibanaToEsConverters from './ingest_processor_api_kibana_to_es_converters';
+import ingestPipelineApiKibanaToEsConverter from './ingest_pipeline_api_kibana_to_es_converter';
 
 export default function ingestSimulateApiKibanaToEsConverter(simulateApiDocument) {
   return {
-    pipeline: {
-      processors: _.map(simulateApiDocument.processors, (processor) => {
-        return ingestProcessorApiKibanaToEsConverters[processor.type_id](processor);
-      })
-    },
+    pipeline: ingestPipelineApiKibanaToEsConverter(simulateApiDocument.processors),
     docs: [
       {
         _source: simulateApiDocument.input
diff --git a/src/plugins/kibana/server/lib/schemas/resources/pipeline_schema.js b/src/plugins/kibana/server/lib/schemas/resources/pipeline_schema.js
index 10769cbbddb0..847646a3243e 100644
--- a/src/plugins/kibana/server/lib/schemas/resources/pipeline_schema.js
+++ b/src/plugins/kibana/server/lib/schemas/resources/pipeline_schema.js
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
-const Joi = require('joi');
+import _ from 'lodash';
+import Joi from 'joi';
+import * as ingestProcessorSchemas from './ingest_processor_schemas';
 
-module.exports = Joi.array().items(Joi.object());
+module.exports = Joi.array().items(_.values(ingestProcessorSchemas));
diff --git a/src/plugins/kibana/server/routes/api/ingest/register_post.js b/src/plugins/kibana/server/routes/api/ingest/register_post.js
index 37650776033b..b20594f1ccce 100644
--- a/src/plugins/kibana/server/routes/api/ingest/register_post.js
+++ b/src/plugins/kibana/server/routes/api/ingest/register_post.js
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import createMappingsFromPatternFields from '../../../lib/create_mappings_from_p
 import initDefaultFieldProps from '../../../lib/init_default_field_props';
 import {ingestToPattern, patternToIngest} from '../../../../common/lib/convert_pattern_and_ingest_name';
 import { keysToCamelCaseShallow } from '../../../../common/lib/case_conversion';
+import ingestPipelineApiKibanaToEsConverter from '../../../lib/converters/ingest_pipeline_api_kibana_to_es_converter';
 
 module.exports = function registerPost(server) {
   const kibanaIndex = server.config().get('kibana.index');
@@ -77,9 +78,7 @@ module.exports = function registerPost(server) {
       indexPattern.fields = JSON.stringify(indexPattern.fields);
       indexPattern.fieldFormatMap = JSON.stringify(indexPattern.fieldFormatMap);
 
-      const pipeline = {
-        processors: requestDocument.pipeline
-      };
+      const pipeline = ingestPipelineApiKibanaToEsConverter(requestDocument.pipeline);
 
       // Set up call with request params
       const patternCreateParams = {
diff --git a/test/unit/api/ingest/_post.js b/test/unit/api/ingest/_post.js
index 7af56e401423..919493763a08 100644
--- a/test/unit/api/ingest/_post.js
+++ b/test/unit/api/ingest/_post.js
@@ -38,6 +38,11 @@ define(function (require) {
           // Fields must have a name and type
           request.post('/kibana/ingest')
             .send(_.set(createTestData(), 'index_pattern.fields', [{count: 0}]))
+            .expect(400),
+
+          // should validate pipeline processors
+          request.post('/kibana/ingest')
+            .send(_.set(createTestData(), 'pipeline[0]', {bad: 'processor'}))
             .expect(400)
         ]);
       });
diff --git a/test/unit/api/ingest/data.js b/test/unit/api/ingest/data.js
index f04f4175e4b2..60a7389a8682 100644
--- a/test/unit/api/ingest/data.js
+++ b/test/unit/api/ingest/data.js
@@ -24,13 +24,11 @@ module.exports = function createTestData() {
         }
       ]
     },
-    pipeline: [
-      {
-        date: {
-          match_field: 'initialDate',
-          match_formats: ['dd/MM/yyyy hh:mm:ss']
-        }
-      }
-    ]
+    pipeline: [{
+      processor_id: 'processor1',
+      type_id: 'set',
+      target_field: 'foo',
+      value: 'bar'
+    }]
   };
 };