lint

Introduction

Redocly CLI can identify and report on problems found in OpenAPI descriptions. This helps you avoid bugs and make API descriptions more consistent.

The lint command reports on problems and executes preprocessors and rules. Unlike the bundle command, lint doesn't execute decorators.

Usage

redocly lint
redocly lint <apis>...
redocly lint [--max-problems=<n>] [--config=<path>] [--format=<value>]
redocly lint [--generate-ignore-file] [--help]
redocly lint --version

Options

Examples

Lint APIs

The lint command behaves differently depending on how you pass apis to it and whether the configuration file exists.

Pass an API directly

redocly lint openapi/openapi.yaml

In this case, lint validates the API description(s) passed to the command. If you have no configuration file defined, the recommended ruleset is used. If you have extends or rules defined in redocly.yaml, those are used when linting.

The apis argument can also use any glob format supported by your file system. For example, redocly lint ./root-documents/*.yaml.

An API from the configuration file

Instead of full paths, you can use names listed in the apis section of your Redocly configuration file. The example redocly.yaml file below shows an API alias core@v1 defined:

apis:
  core@v1:
    root: ./openapi/api-description.json

Use the alias with the lint command as shown:

redocly lint core@v1

In this case, after resolving the path behind the core@v1 name (see the Configuration file tab), lint validates the api-description.json file. The presence of the Redocly configuration file is mandatory.

All configured APIs

You can omit apis completely when executing the lint command to check all APIs defined in the configuration file. Run redocly lint with no arguments to lint all defined APIs; an example redocly.yaml file is shown below:

apis:
  core@v1:
    root: ./openapi/api-description.json
  production:
    root: ./openapi/production.yaml
  sandbox:
    root: ./openapi/sandbox.yaml

Custom configuration file

By default, the CLI tool looks for the Redocly configuration file in the current working directory. Use the optional --config argument to provide an alternative path to a configuration file.

redocly lint --config=./another/directory/config.yaml

Extend configuration

The --extends option allows you to extend the existing configuration. This option accepts one of the following values: minimal, recommended, recommended-strict or all. Each of the values is a base set of rules that the lint command uses. You can further modify this set in cases when you want to have your own set of rules based on the existing one, including particular rules that cover your specific needs.

Format lint output

The standard codeframe output format works well in most situations, but redocly can also produce output to integrate with other tools.

Codeframe (default)

The command redocly lint --format=codeframe lints the file and uses the default format of codeframe. It produces the same output as below if you omit the --format parameter.

[1] museum-with-errors.yaml:19:7 at #/paths/~1museum-hours/get/operationIds

Property `operationIds` is not expected here.

Did you mean: operationId ?

17 | summary: Get museum hours
18 | description: Get upcoming museum operating hours
19 | operationIds: getMuseumHours
20 | tags:
21 |   -  Operations

Error was generated by the spec rule.

Note that the problems are displayed in the following format: file:line:column. For example, museum-with-errors.yaml:19:7.

Depending on the terminal emulator you use, it may be possible to directly click this indicator to edit the file in place.

Stylish

The command redocly lint --format=stylish gives a more condensed output that is useful for summarizing the linting results, as seen below:

museum-with-errors.yaml:
  19:7   error    spec                   Property `operationIds` is not expected here.
  29:11  error    spec                   Property `require` is not expected here.
  16:5   warning  operation-operationId  Operation object should contain `operationId` field.

In this format, lint shows the file name, line number, and column where the problem occurred. However, the output is compressed and omits other contexts and suggestions.

JSON

It can be useful to get the output in JSON format to be processed by other tools. Use a command like redocly lint --format=json to get the following output:

{
  "totals": {
    "errors": 2,
    "warnings": 1,
    "ignored": 0
  },
  "version": "1.7.0",
  "problems": [
    {
      "ruleId": "spec",
      "severity": "error",
      "message": "Property `operationIds` is not expected here.",
      "suggest": [
        "operationId"
      ],
      "location": [
        {
          "source": {
            "ref": "museum-with-errors.yaml"
          },
          "pointer": "#/paths/~1museum-hours/get/operationIds",
          "reportOnKey": true
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "ruleId": "spec",
      "severity": "error",
      "message": "Property `require` is not expected here.",
      "suggest": [],
      "location": [
        {
          "source": {
            "ref": "museum-with-errors.yaml"
          },
          "pointer": "#/paths/~1museum-hours/get/responses/200/require",
          "reportOnKey": true
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "ruleId": "operation-operationId",
      "severity": "warn",
      "message": "Operation object should contain `operationId` field.",
      "location": [
        {
          "source": {
            "ref": "museum-with-errors.yaml"
          },
          "pointer": "#/paths/~1museum-hours/get/operationId",
          "reportOnKey": true
        }
      ],
      "suggest": []
    }
  ]
}

Checkstyle

The lint command also supports the Checkstyle XML report format Use a command like redocly lint --format=checkstyle to get this standard format output to use with your other tools.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<checkstyle version="4.3">
<file name="museum-with-errors.yaml">
<error line="19" column="7" severity="error" message="Property `operationIds` is not expected here." source="spec" />
<error line="29" column="11" severity="error" message="Property `require` is not expected here." source="spec" />
<error line="16" column="5" severity="warning" message="Operation object should contain `operationId` field." source="operation-operationId" />
</file>
</checkstyle>

Due to the limitations of this format, only file name, line, column, severity, and rule ID (in the source attribute) are included. All other information is omitted.

GitHub Actions

The lint command also comes with support for a GitHub Actions specific formatting. Use redocly lint --format=github-actions to have any encountered problem annotated on the affected files.

::error title=spec,file=museum-with-errors.yaml,line=19,endLine=19,col=7,endColumn=7::Property `operationIds` is not expected here.
::error title=spec,file=museum-with-errors.yaml,line=29,endLine=29,col=11,endColumn=11::Property `require` is not expected here.
::warning title=operation-operationId,file=museum-with-errors.yaml,line=16,endLine=16,col=5,endColumn=5::Operation object should contain `operationId` field.

Limit the problem count

With the --max-problems option, you can limit the number of problems displayed in the command output. If the number of detected problems exceeds the specified threshold, the remaining problems are hidden under the "spoiler message" that lets you know how many problems were hidden.

< ... 2 more problems hidden > increase with `--max-problems N`

The default value is 100.

Generate ignore file

With this option, you can generate the .redocly.lint-ignore.yaml file to suppress error and warning severity problems in the output. You still receive visual feedback to let you know how many problems were ignored.

This option is useful when you have an API design standard, but have some exceptions to the rule (for example, a legacy API operation). It allows for highly granular control.

redocly lint museum-with-errors.yaml --generate-ignore-file runs the lint command and adds all the errors to an ignore file.

Generated ignore file with 3 problems.

The errors in the ignore file .redocly.lint-ignore.yaml are ignored when the lint command is run.

To generate an ignore file for multiple API descriptions, pass them as arguments:

redocly lint v1.yaml v2.yaml --generate-ignore-file

Example of an ignore file:

# This file instructs Redocly's linter to ignore the rules contained for specific parts of your API.
# See https://redoc.ly/docs/cli/ for more information.
museum-with-errors.yaml:
  spec:
    - '#/paths/~1museum-hours/get/operationIds'
    - '#/paths/~1museum-hours/get/responses/200/require'
  operation-operationId:
    - '#/paths/~1museum-hours/get/operationId'

The rule in the example is named spec, which indicates compliance with the OpenAPI spec. You can also manually add problems that should be ignored to specific rules.

Skip preprocessor or rule

You may want to skip specific preprocessors or rules upon running the command. Examples for each option are as follows:

• redocly lint --skip-preprocessor=discriminator-mapping-to-one-of --skip-preprocessor=another-example

• redocly lint --skip-rule=no-sibling-refs --skip-rule=no-parent-tags

Lint config file

The lint command also validates the configuration file. You may want to set severity level by using the --lint-config option. This option accepts one of the following values: warn,error,off. Default value is warn.