Highly extensible Go source code linter providing checks currently missing from other linters.

There is never too much static code analysis. Try it out.

• Almost 100 diagnostics that check for bugs, performance and style issues
• Extensible without re-compilation with dynamic rules
• Includes #opinionated checks with very strict and specific requirements
• Self-documented: go-critic doc <checkname> gives a checker description

The latest documentation is available at go-critic.com.

For most users, using go-critic under golangci-lint is enough.

Precompiled go-critic binaries can be found at releases page.

It can be installed in the usual Go way by running:

go install -v github.com/go-critic/go-critic/cmd/go-critic@latest

To build go-critic from sources, clone this repository and run make go-critic.

On macOS, you can also install go-critic using either Homebrew or MacPorts:

Homebrew

brew install go-critic

MacPorts

sudo port install go-critic

Be sure go-critic executable is under your $PATH.

Usage of go-critic: go-critic [sub-command] [sub-command args...] Run go-critic without arguments to get help output.

Supported sub-commands:
	check - run linter over specified targets
		$ go-critic check -help
		$ go-critic check -v -enable='paramTypeCombine,unslice' strings bytes
		$ go-critic check -v -enable='#diagnostic' -disable='#experimental,#opinionated' ./...
	version - print linter version
		$ go-critic version
	doc - get installed checkers documentation
		$ go-critic doc -help
		$ go-critic doc
		$ go-critic doc checkerName

check sub-command examples:

# Runs all stable checkers on `fmt` package:
go-critic check fmt
# Run all stable checkers on `pkg1` and `pkg2`
go-critic check pkg1 pkg2
# Run all stable checkers on `fmt` package and configure rangeExprCopy checker
go-critic check -@rangeExprCopy.sizeThreshold 128 fmt
# Runs specified checkers on `fmt` package:
go-critic check -enable elseif,paramName fmt
# Run all stable checkers on current dir and all its children recursively:
go-critic check ./...
# Like above, but without `appendAssign` check:
go-critic check -disable=appendAssign ./...
# Run all stable checkers on `foo.go` file:
go-critic check foo.go
# Run stable diagnostics over `strings` package:
go-critic check -enable='#diagnostic' -disable='#experimental' strings
# Run all stable and non-opinionated checks:
go-critic check -enableAll -disable='#experimental,#opinionated' ./src/...

To get a list of available checker parameters, run go-critic doc <checkerName>.

In place of a single name, tag can be used. Tag is a named checkers group.

Tags:

• #diagnostic - kind of checks that detect various errors in code
• #style - kind of checks that find style issues in code
• #performance - kind of checks that detect potential performance issues in code
• #experimental - check is under testing and development. Disabled by default
• #opinionated - check can be unwanted for some people. Disabled by default
• #security - kind of checks that find security issues in code. Disabled by default and empty, so will fail if enabled.

This project aims to be contribution-friendly.

Our chats: English or Russian (Telegram website)

We're using an optimistic merging strategy most of the time. In short, this means that if your contribution has some flaws, we can still merge it and then fix them by ourselves. Experimental and work-in-progress checkers are isolated, so nothing bad will happen.

Code style is the same as in Go project, see CodeReviewComments.

See CONTRIBUTING.md for more details. It also describes how to develop a new checker for the linter.