The analyzer is a generic crate aimed to implement a visitor-like infrastructure, where it's possible to inspect a piece of AST and emit diagnostics or actions based on a static check.
The analyzer allows implementors to create four different types of rules:
- Syntax: This rule checks the syntax according to the language specification and emits error diagnostics accordingly.
- Lint: This rule performs static analysis of the source code to detect invalid or error-prone patterns, and emits diagnostics along with proposed fixes.
- Assist: This rule detects refactoring opportunities and emits code action signals.
- Transformation: This rule detects transformations that should be applied to the code.
When creating or updating a lint rule, you need to be aware that there's a lot of generated code inside our toolchain. Our CI ensures that this code is not out of sync and fails otherwise. See the code generation section for more details.
To create a new rule, you have to create and update several files. Because it is a bit tedious, Biome provides an easy way to create and test your rule using Just. Just is not part of the rust toolchain, you have to install it with a package manager.
Biome follows a naming convention according to what the rule does:
-
Forbid a concept
no<Concept>
When a rule's sole intention is to forbid a single concept - such as disallowing the use of
debugger
statements - the rule should be named using theno
prefix. For example, the rule to disallow the use ofdebugger
statements is namednoDebugger
. -
Mandate a concept
use<Concept>
When a rule's sole intention is to mandate a single concept - such as forcing the use of camel-casing - the rule should be named using the
use
prefix. For example, the rule to mandating the use of camel-cased variable names is nameduseCamelCase
.
A rule should be informative to the user, and give as much explanation as possible.
When writing a rule, you must adhere to the following pillars:
- Explain to the user the error. Generally, this is the message of the diagnostic.
- Explain to the user why the error is triggered. Generally, this is implemented with an additional node.
- Tell the user what they should do. Generally, this is implemented using a code action. If a code action is not applicable a note should tell the user what they should do to fix the error.
New rules must be placed inside the nursery
group. This group is meant as an incubation space, exempt from semantic versioning. Once a rule is stable, it's promoted to a group that fits it. This is done in a minor/major release.
Tip
As a developer, you aren't forced to make a rule perfect in one PR. Instead, you are encouraged to lay out a plan and to split the work into multiple PRs.
If you aren't familiar with Biome's APIs, this is an option that you have. If you decide to use this option, you should make sure to describe your plan in an issue.
Let's say we want to create a new lint rule called useMyRuleName
, follow these steps:
-
Run the command
just new-js-lintrule useMyRuleName
The script will generate a bunch of files for the JavaScript language, inside the
biome_js_analyze
crate. Among the other files, you'll find a file calleduse_my_new_rule_name.rs
inside thebiome_js_analyze/lib/src/lint/nursery
folder. You'll implement your rule in this file.If you want to create a CSS lint rule, run this script. It will generate a new lint rule in
biome_css_analyze
just new-css-lintrule useMyRuleName
-
The
Ast
query type allows you to query the CST of a program. -
The
State
type doesn't have to be used, so it can be considered optional. However, it has to be defined astype State = ()
. -
Implement the
run
function:This function is called every time the analyzer finds a match for the query specified by the rule, and may return zero or more "signals".
-
Implement the
diagnostic
function. Follow the pillars when writing the message of a diagnostic:impl Rule for UseAwesomeTricks { // .. code fn diagnostic(_ctx: &RuleContext<Self>, _state: &Self::State) -> Option<RuleDiagnostic> {} }
While implementing the diagnostic, please keep Biome's technical principals in mind.
-
Implement the optional
action
function, if we are able to provide a code action:impl Rule for UseAwesomeTricks { // .. code fn action(ctx: &RuleContext<Self>, _state: &Self::State) -> Option<JsRuleAction> { let mut mutation = ctx.root().mutation(); Some(JsRuleAction::new( ctx.action_category(ctx.category(), ctx.group()), ctx.metadata().applicability(), markup! { "<MESSAGE>" }.to_owned(), mutation, )) } }
It may return zero or one code action. Rules can return a code action that can be safe or unsafe. If a rule returns a code action, you must add
fix_kind
to the macrodeclare_lint_rule
.use biome_analyze::FixKind; declare_lint_rule!{ fix_kind: FixKind::Safe, }
When returning a code action, you must pass the
category
and theapplicability
fields.category
must bectx.action_category(ctx.category(), ctx.group())
.applicability
is derived from the metadatafix_kind
. In other words, the code transformation should always result in code that doesn't change the behavior of the logic. In the case ofnoVar
, it is not always safe to turnvar
toconst
orlet
.
Don't forget to format your code with just f
and lint with just l
.
That's it! Now, let's test the rule.
Some rules may allow customization using options. We try to keep rule options to a minimum and only when needed. Before adding an option, it's worth a discussion. Options should follow our technical philosophy.
Let's assume that the rule we implement support the following options:
behavior
: a string among"A"
,"B"
, and"C"
;threshold
: an integer between 0 and 255;behaviorExceptions
: an array of strings.
We would like to set the options in the biome.json
configuration file:
{
"linter": {
"rules": {
"recommended": true,
"nursery": {
"my-rule": {
"behavior": "A",
"threshold": 30,
"behaviorExceptions": ["f"],
}
}
}
}
}
The first step is to create the Rust data representation of the rule's options.
use biome_deserialize_macros::Deserializable;
#[derive(Clone, Debug, Default, Deserializable)]
pub struct MyRuleOptions {
behavior: Behavior,
threshold: u8,
behavior_exceptions: Box<[Box<str>]>
}
#[derive(Clone, Debug, Default, Deserializable)]
pub enum Behavior {
#[default]
A,
B,
C,
}
Note that we use a boxed slice Box<[Box<str>]>
instead of Vec<String>
.
This allows saving memory: boxed slices and boxed str use 2 words instead of three words.
To allow deserializing instances of the types MyRuleOptions
and Behavior
,
they have to implement the Deserializable
trait from the biome_deserialize
crate.
This is what the Deserializable
keyword in the #[derive]
statements above did.
It's a so-called derive macros, which generates the implementation for the Deserializable
trait
for you.
With these types in place, you can set the associated type Options
of the rule:
impl Rule for MyRule {
type Query = Semantic<JsCallExpression>;
type State = Fix;
type Signals = Vec<Self::State>;
type Options = MyRuleOptions;
}
A rule can retrieve its options with:
let options = ctx.options();
The compiler should warn you that MyRuleOptions
does not implement some required types.
We currently require implementing serde's traits Deserialize
/Serialize
.
Also, we use other serde
macros to adjust the JSON configuration:
rename_all = "camelCase"
: it renames all fields in camel-case, so they are in line with the naming style of thebiome.json
.deny_unknown_fields
: it raises an error if the configuration contains extraneous fields.default
: it uses theDefault
value when the field is missing frombiome.json
. This macro makes the field optional.
You can simply use a derive macros:
#[derive(Debug, Default, Clone, Serialize, Deserialize)]
#[cfg_attr(feature = "schemars", derive(JsonSchema))]
#[serde(rename_all = "camelCase", deny_unknown_fields, default)]
pub struct MyRuleOptions {
#[serde(default, skip_serializing_if = "is_default")]
main_behavior: Behavior,
#[serde(default, skip_serializing_if = "is_default")]
extra_behaviors: Vec<Behavior>,
}
#[derive(Debug, Default, Clone)]
#[cfg_attr(feature = "schemars", derive(JsonSchema))]
pub enum Behavior {
#[default]
A,
B,
C,
}
Below, there are many tips and guidelines on how to create a lint rule using Biome infrastructure.
This macro is used to declare an analyzer rule type, and implement the [RuleMeta] trait for it.
The macro itself expects the following syntax:
use biome_analyze::declare_lint_rule;
declare_lint_rule! {
/// Documentation
pub(crate) ExampleRule {
version: "next",
name: "myRuleName",
language: "js",
recommended: false,
}
}
If a lint rule is inspired by an existing rule from other ecosystems (ESLint, ESLint plugins, clippy, etc.), you can add a new metadata to the macro called source
. Its value is &'static [RuleSource]
, which is a reference to a slice of RuleSource
elements, each representing a different source.
If you're implementing a lint rule that matches the behaviour of the ESLint rule no-debugger
, you'll use the variant ::ESLint
and pass the name of the rule:
use biome_analyze::{declare_lint_rule, RuleSource};
declare_lint_rule! {
/// Documentation
pub(crate) ExampleRule {
version: "next",
name: "myRuleName",
language: "js",
recommended: false,
sources: &[RuleSource::Eslint("no-debugger")],
}
}
If the rule you're implementing has a different behaviour or option, you can add the source_kind
metadata and use the RuleSourceKind::Inspired
type. If there are multiple sources, we assume that each source has the same source_kind
.
use biome_analyze::{declare_lint_rule, RuleSource, RuleSourceKind};
declare_lint_rule! {
/// Documentation
pub(crate) ExampleRule {
version: "next",
name: "myRuleName",
language: "js",
recommended: false,
sources: &[RuleSource::Eslint("no-debugger")],
source_kind: RuleSourceKind::Inspired,
}
}
By default, source_kind
is always RuleSourceKind::SameLogic
.
Declaring a rule using declare_lint_rule!
will cause a new rule_category!
macro to be declared in the surrounding module. This macro can be used to
refer to the corresponding diagnostic category for this lint rule, if it
has one. Using this macro instead of getting the category for a diagnostic
by dynamically parsing its string name has the advantage of statically
injecting the category at compile time and checking that it is correctly
registered to the biome_diagnostics
library.
declare_lint_rule! {
/// Documentation
pub(crate) ExampleRule {
version: "next",
name: "myRuleName",
language: "js",
recommended: false,
}
}
impl Rule for ExampleRule {
fn diagnostic(ctx: &RuleContext<Self>, _state: &Self::State) -> Option<RuleDiagnostic> {
Some(RuleDiagnostic::new(
rule_category!(),
ctx.query().text_trimmed_range(),
"message",
))
}
}
When navigating the nodes and tokens of certain nodes, you will notice straight away that the majority of those methods will return a Result
(SyntaxResult
).
Generally, you will end up navigating the CST inside the run
function, and this function will usually return an Option
or a Vec
.
-
If the
run
function returns anOption
, you're encouraged to transform theResult
into anOption
and use the try operator?
. This will make your coding way easier:fn run() -> Self::Signals { let prev_val = js_object_member.value().ok()?; }
-
If the
run
function returns aVec
, you're encouraged to use thelet else
trick to reduce code branching:fn run() -> Self::Signals { let Ok(prev_val) = js_object_member.value() else { return vec![] }; }
There are times when you might need to query multiple nodes at once. Instead of querying the root of the CST, you can use the macro declare_node_union!
to "join" multiple nodes into an enum
:
use biome_rowan::{declare_node_union, AstNode};
use biome_js_syntax::{AnyJsFunction, JsMethodObjectMember, JsMethodClassMember};
declare_node_union! {
pub AnyFunctionLike = AnyJsFunction | JsMethodObjectMember | JsMethodClassMember
}
When creating a new node like this, we internally prefix them with Any*
and postfix them with *Like
. This is our internal naming convention.
The type AnyFunctionLike
implements the trait AstNode
, which means that it implements all methods such as syntax
, children
, etc.
The semantic model provides information about the references of a binding (declaration) within a program, indicating if it is written (e.g., const a = 4
), read (e.g., const b = a
, where a
is read), or exported.
We have a for loop that creates an index i, and we need to identify where this index is used inside the body of the loop
for (let i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
array[i] = i
}
To get started we need to create a new rule using the semantic type type Query = Semantic<JsForStatement>;
We can now use the ctx.model()
to get information about bindings in the for loop.
impl Rule for ForLoopCountReferences {
type Query = Semantic<JsForStatement>;
type State = ();
type Signals = Option<Self::State>;
type Options = ();
fn run(ctx: &RuleContext<Self>) -> Self::Signals {
let node = ctx.query();
// The model holds all informations about the semantic, like scopes and declarations
let model = ctx.model();
// Here we are extracting the `let i = 0;` declaration in for loop
let initializer = node.initializer()?;
let declarators = initializer.as_js_variable_declaration()?.declarators();
let initializer = declarators.first()?.ok()?;
let initializer_id = initializer.id().ok()?;
// Now we have the binding of this declaration
let binding = initializer_id
.as_any_js_binding()?
.as_js_identifier_binding()?;
// How many times this variable appers in the code
let count = binding.all_references(model).count();
// Get all read references
let readonly_references = binding.all_reads(model);
// Get all write references
let write_references = binding.all_writes(model);
}
}
Some rules require you to find all possible cases upfront in run
function.
To achieve that you can change Signals type from Option<Self::State>
to an iterable data structure such as Vec<Self::State>
or Box<[Self::State]>
.
This will call the diagnostic/action function for every item of the data structure.
We prefer to use Box<[_]>
over Vec<_>
because it takes less memory.
You can easily convert a Vec<_>
into a Box<[_]>
using the Vec::into_boxed_slice()
method.
Taking previous example and modifying it a bit we can apply diagnostic for each item easily.
impl Rule for ForLoopCountReferences {
type Query = Semantic<JsForStatement>;
type State = TextRange;
type Signals = Box<[Self::State]>;
type Options = ();
fn run(ctx: &RuleContext<Self>) -> Self::Signals {
let node = ctx.query();
let model = ctx.model();
...
// Get all write references
let write_references = binding.all_writes(model);
// Find all places where variable is being written to and get node ranges
let write_ranges = write_references.into_iter().map(|write| {
let syntax = write.syntax();
let range = syntax.text_range();
Some(range)
}).collect::<Vec<_>>();
write_ranges.into_boxed_slice()
}
fn diagnostic(_: &RuleContext<Self>, range: &Self::State) -> Option<RuleDiagnostic> {
// This will be called for each vector item
}
}
A rule can implement a code action. A code action provides to the final user the option to fix or change their code.
In a lint rule, for example, it signals an opportunity for the user to fix the diagnostic emitted by the rule.
First, you have to add a new metadata called fix_kind
, its value is the FixKind
.
use biome_analyze::{declare_lint_rule, FixKind};
declare_lint_rule! {
/// Documentation
pub(crate) ExampleRule {
version: "next",
name: "myRuleName",
language: "js",
recommended: false,
fix_kind: FixKind::Safe,
}
}
Then, you'll have to implement the action
function of the trait Rule
and return a JsRuleAction
.
JsRuleAction
needs, among other things, a mutation
type, which you will use to store all additions, deletions and replacements that you will execute inside the action:
impl Rule for ExampleRule {
fn action(ctx: &RuleContext<Self>, _state: &Self::State) -> Option<JsRuleAction> {
let mut mutation = ctx.root().begin();
Some(JsRuleAction::new(
ctx.action_category(ctx.category(), ctx.group()),
ctx.metadata().applicability(),
markup! { "Remove the '"{name.text_trimmed()}"' element." }.to_owned(),
mutation,
))
}
}
The function ctx.metadata().applicability()
will compute the Applicability
type from the fix_kind
value you provided at the beginning, inside the macro.
Some lint rules may need to deeply inspect the child nodes of a query match
before deciding on whether they should emit a signal or not. These rules can be
inefficient to implement using the query system, as they will lead to redundant
traversal passes being executed over the same syntax tree. To make this more
efficient, you can implement a custom Queryable
type and associated
Visitor
to emit it as part of the analyzer's main traversal pass. As an
example, here's how this could be done to implement the useYield
rule:
// First, create a visitor struct that holds a stack of function syntax nodes and booleans
#[derive(Default)]
struct MissingYieldVisitor {
stack: Vec<(AnyFunctionLike, bool)>,
}
// Implement the `Visitor` trait for this struct
impl Visitor for MissingYieldVisitor {
type Language = JsLanguage;
fn visit(
&mut self,
event: &WalkEvent<SyntaxNode<Self::Language>>,
mut ctx: VisitorContext<Self::Language>,
) {
match event {
WalkEvent::Enter(node) => {
// When the visitor enters a function node, push a new entry on the stack
if let Some(node) = AnyFunctionLike::cast_ref(node) {
self.stack.push((node, false));
}
if let Some((_, has_yield)) = self.stack.last_mut() {
// When the visitor enters a `yield` expression, set the
// `has_yield` flag for the top entry on the stack to `true`
if JsYieldExpression::can_cast(node.kind()) {
*has_yield = true;
}
}
}
WalkEvent::Leave(node) => {
// When the visitor exits a function, if it matches the node of the top-most
// entry of the stack and the `has_yield` flag is `false`, emit a query match
if let Some(exit_node) = AnyFunctionLike::cast_ref(node) {
if let Some((enter_node, has_yield)) = self.stack.pop() {
debug_assert_eq!(enter_node, exit_node);
if !has_yield {
ctx.match_query(MissingYield(enter_node));
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
// Declare a query match struct type containing a JavaScript function node
pub(crate) struct MissingYield(AnyFunctionLike);
impl QueryMatch for MissingYield {
fn text_range(&self) -> TextRange {
self.0.range()
}
}
// Implement the `Queryable` trait for this type
impl Queryable for MissingYield {
// `Input` is the type that `ctx.match_query()` is called with in the visitor
type Input = Self;
type Language = JsLanguage;
// `Output` if the type that `ctx.query()` will return in the rule
type Output = AnyFunctionLike;
type Services = ();
fn build_visitor(
analyzer: &mut impl AddVisitor<Self::Language>,
_: &<Self::Language as Language>::Root,
) {
// Register our custom visitor to run in the `Syntax` phase
analyzer.add_visitor(Phases::Syntax, MissingYieldVisitor::default);
}
// Extract the output object from the input type
fn unwrap_match(services: &ServiceBag, query: &Self::Input) -> Self::Output {
query.0.clone()
}
}
impl Rule for UseYield {
// Declare the custom `MissingYield` queryable as the rule's query
type Query = MissingYield;
fn run(ctx: &RuleContext<Self>) -> Self::Signals {
// Read the function's root node from the queryable output
let query: &AnyFunctionLike = ctx.query();
// ...
}
}
There are some common mistakes that can lead to bugs or false positives in lint rules. These tips should help you avoid them and write more robust rules.
Some rules aim to ban certain functions or variables (eg. noConsoleLog
bans console.log
). A common mistake make this check without considering if the variable is global or not. This can lead to false positives if the variable is declared in a local scope.
console.log(); // <-- This should be reported because `console` is a global variable
const console = { log() {} };
console.log(); // <-- This should not be reported because `console` is redeclared as a local variable
To avoid this, you should consult the semantic model to check if the variable is global or not.
A swift way to test your rule is to go inside the biome_js_analyze/src/lib.rs
file (this will change based on where you're implementing the rule) and modify the quick_test
function.
Usually this test is ignored, so remove comment the macro #[ignore]
macro, change the let SOURCE
variable to whatever source code you need to test. Then update the rule filter, and add your rule:
let rule_filter = RuleFilter::Rule("nursery", "useAwesomeTrick");
Now from your terminal, go inside the biome_js_analyze
folder and run the test using cargo
:
cargo t quick_test
Remember that, in case you add dbg!
macros inside your source code, you'll have to use --show-output
:
cargo t quick_test -- --show-output
The test is designed to show diagnostics and code actions if the rule correctly emits the signal. If nothing is shown, your logic didn't emit any signal.
Inside the tests/specs/
folder, rules are divided by group and rule name.
The test infrastructure is rigid around the association of the pair "group/rule name", which means that
your test cases are placed inside the wrong group, you won't see any diagnostics.
Since each new rule will start from nursery
, that's where we start.
If you used just new-js-lintrule
, a folder that use the name of the rule should exist.
Otherwise, create a folder called myRuleName/
, and then create one or more files where you want to create different cases.
A common pattern is to create files prefixed by invalid
or valid
.
The files prefixed by invalid
contain code that are reported by the rule.
The files prefixed by valid
contain code that are not reported by the rule.
Files ending with the extension .jsonc
are differently handled.
These files should contain an array of strings where each string is a code snippet.
For instance, for the rule noVar
, the file invalidScript.jsonc
contains:
["var x = 1; foo(x);", "for (var x of [1,2,3]) { foo(x); }"]
Note that code in a file ending with the extension .jsonc
are in a script environment.
This means that you cannot use syntax that belongs to ECMAScript modules such as import
and export
.
Run the command:
just test-lintrule myRuleName
and if you've done everything correctly, you should see some snapshots emitted with diagnostics and code actions.
Check our main contribution document to know how to deal with the snapshot tests.
The documentation needs to adhere to the following rules:
- The first paragraph of the documentation is used as brief description of the rule, and it must be written in one single line. Breaking the paragraph in multiple lines will break the table content of the rules page.
- The next paragraphs can be used to further document the rule with as many details as you see fit.
- The documentation must have a
## Examples
header, followed by two headers:### Invalid
and### Valid
.### Invalid
must go first because we need to show when the rule is triggered. - Rule options if any, must be documented in the
## Options
section. - Each code block must have a language defined.
- When adding invalid snippets in the
### Invalid
section, you must use theexpect_diagnostic
code block property. We use this property to generate a diagnostic and attach it to the snippet. A snippet must emit only ONE diagnostic. - When adding valid snippets in the
### Valid
section, you can use one single snippet. - You can use the code block property
ignore
to tell the code generation script to not generate a diagnostic for an invalid snippet. - Update the
language
field in thedeclare_lint_rule!
macro to the language the rule primarily applies to.- If your rule applies to any JavaScript, you can leave it as
js
. - If your rule only makes sense in a specific JavaScript dialect, you should set it to
jsx
,ts
, ortsx
, whichever is most appropriate.
- If your rule applies to any JavaScript, you can leave it as
Here's an example of how the documentation could look like:
use biome_analyze::declare_lint_rule;
declare_lint_rule! {
/// Disallow the use of `var`.
///
/// _ES2015_ allows to create variables with block scope instead of function scope
/// using the `let` and `const` keywords.
/// Block scope is common in many other programming languages and help to avoid mistakes.
///
/// Source: https://eslint.org/docs/latest/rules/no-var
///
/// ## Examples
///
/// ### Invalid
///
/// ```js,expect_diagnostic
/// var foo = 1;
/// ```
///
/// ```js,expect_diagnostic
/// var bar = 1;
/// ```
///
/// ### Valid
///
/// ```js
/// const foo = 1;
/// let bar = 1;
///```
pub(crate) NoVar {
version: "next",
name: "noVar",
language: "js",
recommended: false,
}
}
This will cause the documentation generator to ensure the rule does emit exactly one diagnostic for this code, and to include a snapshot for the diagnostic in the resulting documentation page.
For simplicity, use just
to run all the commands with:
just gen-lint
Once the rule implemented, tested, and documented, you are ready to open a pull request!
Stage and commit your changes:
> git add -A
> git commit -m 'feat(biome_js_analyze): myRuleName'
There are occasions when a rule must be deprecated, to avoid breaking changes. The reason of deprecation can be multiple.
In order to do, the macro allows adding additional field to add the reason for deprecation
use biome_analyze::declare_lint_rule;
declare_lint_rule! {
/// Disallow the use of `var`.
///
/// ## Examples
///
/// ### Invalid
///
/// ```js,expect_diagnostic
/// var a, b;
/// ```
pub(crate) NoVar {
version: "1.0.0",
name: "noVar",
language: "js",
deprecated: "Use the rule `noAnotherVar`",
recommended: false,
}
}