List of Nix linters

[schuelermine]

Here’s a list of linters I’ve found for Nix. Feel free to reply with any I’ve missed.
I’ve added some comments saying what I find unique about some of them.

List of linting tools for Nix

• statix
  • Source: GitHub - nerdypepper/statix: lints and suggestions for the nix programming language
  • Nixpkgs attribute: statix
  • Flake URI: github:NixOS/nixpkgs#statix
  • Pretty output
• nix-lint
  • Source: Supposedly GitHub - Warbo/nix-lint: Mirror of http://chriswarbo.net/git/nix-lint.git, but that’s unavailable,
    mirror at GitHub - Warbo/nix-lint: Mirror of http://chriswarbo.net/git/nix-lint.git
  • Highly minimal, no batch processing or other niceties
• nixpkgs-lint
  • Source: GitHub - nix-community/nixpkgs-lint: A fast semantic linter for Nix using tree-sitter 🌳 + ❄️. [maintainers=@Artturin,@siraben]
  • Flake URI: github:nix-community/nix-lint
  • Uses JavaScript & is meant for nixpkgs specifically
• nix-linter
  • Source: GitHub - Synthetica9/nix-linter: Linter for the Nix expression language
  • Nixpkgs attribute: nix-linter
  • Flake URI: github:NixOS/nixpkgs#nix-linter
  • Seems the most popular
• nixpkgs-hammering
  • Source: GitHub - jtojnar/nixpkgs-hammering: Beat your package expressions into a shape
  • Flake URI: github:jtojnar/nixpkgs-hammering
  • Specifically for nixpkgs packages
• nixpkgs-lint
  • Source: nixpkgs/maintainers/scripts/nixpkgs-lint.pl at master · NixOS/nixpkgs · GitHub
  • Nixpkgs attribute: nixpkgs-lint
  • Flake URI: github:NixOS/nixpkgs#nixpkgs-lint
  • Built into and specifically for nixpkgs
• nil
  • Source: GitHub - oxalica/nil: NIx Language server, an incremental analysis assistant for writing in Nix.
  • Nixpkgs attribute nil
  • Flake URI: github:oxalica/nil#
  • This is a language server, not a linter, but it does provide lints
• nixd
  • Source: GitHub - nix-community/nixd: Nix language server, based on nix libraries [maintainer=@inclyc]
  • Nixpkgs attribute: nixd
  • Flake URI: github:nix-community/nixd#
  • This is a language server, not a linter. I haven’t checked if it provides lints.
• deadnix
  • Source: GitHub - astro/deadnix: Scan Nix files for dead code
  • Nixpkgs attribute: deadnix
  • Flake URI: github:astro/deadnix#
  • Scans for dead code (unused variable bindings) in Nix files

[ryantm]

nixpkgs-hammering is a linter specifically for nixpkgs derivations.

[schuelermine]

Thanks, I’ve added it

[Lord-Valen]

GitHub - nix-community/nixpkgs-lint: A fast semantic linter for Nix using tree-sitter 🌳 + ❄️. [maintainers=@Artturin,@siraben] (not to be confused with the old nixpkgs script) is made for nixpkgs.

[futile]

Since this was bumped, can probably also add nixd:

Nixd: nix language server

Recently I wrote a brand new nix language server, which links with official NixOS/nix library. Home page: GitHub - nix-community/nixd: Nix language server, based on nix libraries [maintainer=@inclyc] About Nixd is a Nix language server that directly uses (i.e., is linked with) the official Nix library (GitHub - NixOS/nix: Nix, the purely functional package manager). Some notable features provided by linking with the Nix library include: Nixpkgs option support, for all option system (NixOS/…

[figsoda]

This is already listed as nix-lint, which is the name before it was renamed

[figsoda]

I would also like to add GitHub - astro/deadnix: Scan Nix files for dead code

[schuelermine]

Thank you for the recommendations, I have added them.

[inclyc]

We added a linter to Nixpkgs checking workflows

This linter, nixf is part of nixd, a nix language server. By using it, we will output the same diagnostic message as nixd, mainly: Better parsing error in some cases, like missing semicolon and unexpected character at line end Unused code, like arguments, variables, rec, with, etc Escaping with (use of external variables inside with, which can easily cause ambiguity). This can be part of avoiding overuse of with. (This may be postponed until we reach consensus on handling with in many aspects…