Nu-Lint

Linter for the innovative Nu shell.

Learning to use a new shell is a radical change that can use some assistance. This project is aimed at helping new and intermediate users of the Nu shell. Nu shell has a lot of useful features not found in other scripting languages. This linter will give you hints to use all of them and even offer automatic fixes.

Example

The rule turn_positional_into_stream_input recommends to use pipelines instead of positional arguments:

def filter-positive [numbers] {
    $numbers | where $it > 0
}

def filter-positive [] {
    where $it > 0
}

This encourages lazy pipeline input: a positional list argument loads all data into memory at once, while implicit pipeline input processes elements one at a time.

Usage

Lint all Nu files in working directory with:

nu-lint

To see all options and get help:

nu-lint --help

Rules

All rules are optional and can be disabled with a configuration file. The rule definitions are compatible with:

• The official Nu parser nu-parser.
• The TreeSitter-based Nu formatter topiary-nushell.
• The official Nu style guide

Some of the rules need further testing and improvement. Please make an issue on the issue tracker to report any bugs. In early stages of development some rules may be replaced or renamed.

+120 rules are defined and most have automatic fixes available (list may be out-of-date):

idioms - Simplifications unique to the Nu language.

• use_is_not_empty (auto-fix)
• columns_in_to_has (auto-fix)
• columns_not_in_to_not_has (auto-fix)
• dispatch_with_subcommands
• get_optional_to_has (auto-fix)
• get_optional_to_not_has (auto-fix)
• hardcoded_math_constants (auto-fix)
• transpose_items (auto-fix)
• merge_get_cell_path (auto-fix)
• merge_multiline_print (auto-fix)
• turn_positional_into_stream_input (auto-fix)
• use_over_source
• shorten_with_compound_assignment (auto-fix)
• contains_to_like_regex_operators (auto-fix)
• ansi_over_escape_codes (auto-fix)
• append_to_concat_assign (auto-fix)
• custom_log_command (auto-fix)

parsing - Better ways to parse and transform text data.

• lines_instead_of_split (auto-fix)
• never_space_split (auto-fix)
• lines_each_to_parse (auto-fix)
• simplify_regex_parse (auto-fix)
• split_row_get_multistatement (auto-fix)
• split_row_first_last (auto-fix)
• split_row_get_inline (auto-fix)

filesystem - Simplify file and path operations.

• from_after_parsed_open (auto-fix)
• open_raw_from_to_open (auto-fix)
• string_param_as_path (auto-fix)

dead-code - Remove unused or redundant code

• avoid_self_import
• unnecessary_accumulate
• unnecessary_variable_before_return (auto-fix)
• redundant_ignore (auto-fix)
• unnecessary_mut (auto-fix)
• unused_helper_functions (auto-fix)
• script_export_main (auto-fix)
• string_may_be_bare (auto-fix)
• inline_single_use_function (auto-fix)
• append_to_concat_assign (auto-fix)

posix - Replace common bash/POSIX patterns.

• ignore_over_dev_null (auto-fix)
• use_builtin_awk (auto-fix)
• use_builtin_bat (auto-fix)
• use_builtin_cat (auto-fix)
• use_builtin_date (auto-fix)
• use_sys_disks_instead_of_df (auto-fix)
• echo_just_identity (auto-fix)
• find_to_glob (auto-fix)
• use_sys_mem_instead_of_free (auto-fix)
• use_builtin_grep (auto-fix)
• head_to_first (auto-fix)
• use_sys_host_instead_of_hostname (auto-fix)
• use_builtin_cd (auto-fix)
• use_builtin_ls (auto-fix)
• use_builtin_pager (auto-fix)
• use_builtin_read (auto-fix)
• sed_to_str_replace (auto-fix)
• use_builtin_sort (auto-fix)
• use_builtin_tac (auto-fix)
• tail_to_last (auto-fix)
• use_sys_host_instead_of_uname (auto-fix)
• use_builtin_uniq (auto-fix)
• use_sys_host_instead_of_uptime (auto-fix)
• use_sys_users_instead_of_users (auto-fix)
• use_sys_users_instead_of_w (auto-fix)
• use_builtin_wc (auto-fix)
• use_sys_users_instead_of_who (auto-fix)

iteration - Better patterns for loops and iteration.

• replace_loop_counter_with_range
• replace_counter_while_with_each

runtime-errors - Preventing unexpected runtime behaviour.

• avoid_last_exit_code (auto-fix)
• check_complete_exit_code
• descriptive_error_messages
• escape_string_interpolation_operators
• exit_only_in_main
• check_typed_flag_before_use
• non_final_failure_check
• error_make_for_non_fatal (auto-fix)
• try_instead_of_do
• unsafe_dynamic_record_access (auto-fix)
• missing_stdin_in_shebang (auto-fix)
• dynamic_script_import
• catch_builtin_error_try
• unchecked_cell_path_index (auto-fix)
• unchecked_get_index (auto-fix)
• unchecked_first_last (auto-fix)
• wrap_external_with_complete
• use_over_source
• spread_list_to_external (auto-fix)

filtering - Better patterns for filtering and selecting data.

• each_if_to_where (auto-fix)
• for_filter_to_where
• omit_it_in_row_condition (auto-fix)
• slice_to_drop (auto-fix)
• slice_to_last (auto-fix)
• slice_to_skip (auto-fix)
• slice_to_take (auto-fix)
• where_closure_drop_parameter (auto-fix)
• remove_redundant_in (auto-fix)

performance - Rules with potential performance impact

• avoid_nu_subprocess
• dispatch_with_subcommands
• avoid_self_import
• turn_positional_into_stream_input (auto-fix)
• unnecessary_accumulate
• merge_multiline_print (auto-fix)
• chained_str_replace (auto-fix)
• streaming_hidden_by_complete (auto-fix)

type-safety - Annotate with type hints where possible.

• external_script_as_argument
• nothing_outside_function_signature (auto-fix)
• add_type_hints_arguments (auto-fix)
• string_param_as_path (auto-fix)
• missing_output_type (auto-fix)
• missing_in_type (auto-fix)
• avoid_nu_subprocess
• dynamic_script_import

documentation - Improve actionability of user-facing messages.

• add_doc_comment_exported_fn
• descriptive_error_messages
• add_label_to_error
• add_help_to_error
• add_span_to_label
• add_url_to_error
• main_positional_args_docs
• main_named_args_docs
• max_positional_params
• explicit_long_flags (auto-fix)

effects - Handle built-in and external commands with side-effects.

• dangerous_file_operations
• errors_to_stderr
• dont_mix_different_effects
• print_and_return_data
• each_nothing_to_for_loop (auto-fix)
• silence_stderr_data

external - Replace common external CLI tools.

• use_builtin_curl (auto-fix)
• use_builtin_fd (auto-fix)
• replace_jq_with_nu_get (auto-fix)
• use_builtin_wget (auto-fix)
• use_builtin_which (auto-fix)

formatting - Formatting according to Nushell guidelines.

• ansi_over_escape_codes (auto-fix)
• collapsible_if (auto-fix)
• forbid_excessive_nesting
• max_function_body_length
• replace_if_else_chain_with_match (auto-fix)
• block_brace_spacing (auto-fix)
• closure_brace_pipe_spacing (auto-fix)
• no_trailing_spaces (auto-fix)
• omit_list_commas (auto-fix)
• pipe_spacing (auto-fix)
• record_brace_spacing (auto-fix)
• reflow_wide_pipelines (auto-fix)
• reflow_wide_lists (auto-fix)
• wrap_wide_records (auto-fix)

naming - Follow official naming conventions

• kebab_case_commands
• screaming_snake_constants
• snake_case_variables (auto-fix)
• add_label_to_error

upstream - Forward warnings and errors of the upstream Nushell parser.

• dynamic_script_import
• nu_deprecated (auto-fix)
• nu_parse_error

Installation

From crates.io:

cargo install nu-lint

Source

Build from source:

cargo install --path .

Nix

Run without installing (using flakes):

nix run git+https://codeberg.org/wvhulle/nu-lint

Editor extension

VS Code extension

Available at VS Code Marketplace.

Helix

Add to your ~/.config/helix/languages.toml:

[language-server.nu-lint]
command = "nu-lint"
args = ["--lsp"]

[[language]]
name = "nu"
language-servers = ["nu-lint"]

The official Nu LSP server offers completion and some other hints. It should be configured out of the box for new Helix installations and environments that have Nushell installed.

Neovim

Add to your Neovim configuration (Lua):

vim.lsp.config['nu-lint'] = {
  cmd = { 'nu-lint', '--lsp' },
  filetypes = { 'nu' },
  root_markers = { '.git' }
}
vim.lsp.enable('nu-lint')

You may want to configure official Nu language server in addition to this linter, see nu --lsp command.

Emacs

Add to your Emacs configuration (with Eglot, built-in since Emacs 29):

(with-eval-after-load 'eglot
  (add-to-list 'eglot-server-programs
               '(nushell-mode "nu-lint" "--lsp")))

Kate

Add to your ~/.config/kate/lspclient/settings.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "nushell": {
      "command": ["nu-lint", "--lsp"],
      "highlightingModeRegex": "^Nushell$"
    }
  }
}

Other

You can also implement your own editor extensions using the --lsp flag as in: nu-lint --lsp. This will spawn a language server compliant with the Language Server Protocol.

Configuration

Some rules are deactivated by default. Usually because they are too noisy or annoy people. You should activate them with the config file and a level override.

A configuration file is optional and should be named .nu-lint.toml in your project root. It may look like this:

# Some rules are configurable
max_pipeline_length = 80
pipeline_placement = "start"

# Set lint level of a set of rules at once.
[groups]
performance = "warning"
type-safety = "error"

# Override a single rule level
[rules]
dispatch_with_subcommands = "hint"

In this particular case, the user overrides the 'level' of certain groups and individual rules.

For any setting you don't set in that file, the defaults set in ./src/config.rs will be used. If you specify the option in the configuration file, it will override the defaults.