antislop

README

anti-slop-go

Opinionated go/analysis rules that reject low-evidence Go patterns.

This project is a Go companion to dmmulroy/anti-slop. The upstream project targets TypeScript and JavaScript through Oxlint. This project applies the same philosophy to Go.

Status

Implementation phase. Two analyzers are available, and both run by default: safetyassert (rule G01) and nountypedmap (rule G02). Read the specification in docs/spec:

1. Overview: philosophy, goals, and scope.
2. Rules: the rule catalogue with examples.
3. Implementation: architecture, distribution, and configuration.

The idea in one paragraph

Code generators produce code that compiles but carries no evidence. A type assertion with no stated invariant, an any parameter, or a map[string]any field moves a proof obligation from the author to the reader. These rules reject such patterns. The author must decode input at its I/O boundary, keep concrete types inside the program, and write a // SAFETY: justification where an assertion is the correct tool.

Use with golangci-lint

golangci-lint loads these rules as a module plugin. A module plugin is Go code, so you build a golangci-lint binary that contains it. Put a .custom-gcl.yml in the root of your project:

version: v2.10.1
name: custom-gcl
destination: .
plugins:
  - module: github.com/JacobJNilsson/anti-slop-go
    import: github.com/JacobJNilsson/anti-slop-go/plugin
    version: v0.2.0

The import line is necessary. The registration lives in the plugin subpackage, not in the module root. The version line takes a tag of this repository; v0.2.0 is the release that this section shipped in.

Run golangci-lint custom in that directory. The command clones golangci-lint, adds this module, and writes a custom-gcl binary. It needs network access, git, and a Go toolchain that satisfies the go directive of this module (see go.mod; Go 1.26 today).

Then configure the linter in .golangci.yml:

version: "2"
linters:
  enable:
    - antislop
  settings:
    custom:
      antislop:
        type: module
        description: Rejects low-evidence Go patterns.
        original-url: github.com/JacobJNilsson/anti-slop-go
        settings:
          disable:
            - nountypedmap

Four points about this file:

• type: module is necessary. Without it, golangci-lint looks for a shared object file.
• antislop joins the standard group of linters, so a configuration that keeps the default linters.default: standard runs it without the linters.enable entry. The entry becomes necessary when the configuration sets linters.default: none. The example keeps it, because it states the intention.
• All rules arrive as one linter named antislop. You select the individual rules with the plugin's own enable and disable settings, not with linters.enable. An unknown rule name in either plugin setting stops the run.
• disable drops a rule from the default set: safetyassert and nountypedmap today. A configuration that disables every rule is legal, and the linter then reports nothing. enable turns on an opt-in rule. No rule is opt-in yet, so enable takes no name today, and a name that is on by default stops the run.

Run the new binary with ./custom-gcl run ./....

Supported golangci-lint versions: the plugin is verified against v2.10.1. The v2.9 line shares the same plugin register API and the same golang.org/x/tools requirement, so it works too. Earlier v2 releases are untested.

Development

Run make setup once per clone; it installs the tracked git hooks. make check is the definition of green: tidy check, vet, lint, the coverage-gate self-test, race-enabled tests behind a statement coverage gate (COVERAGE_MIN, default 90%), and the build. Read AGENTS.md before your first commit and REVIEW.md before your first pull request.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.

Documentation

Overview

Package antislop provides go/analysis analyzers that reject low-evidence Go patterns. The rule catalogue lives in docs/spec.

Index

• func Analyzers() []*analysis.Analyzer

Functions

func Analyzers

func Analyzers() []*analysis.Analyzer

Analyzers returns every analyzer this module provides. Consumers register the full list; rule toggles happen in the consumer's configuration, not here.