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Configuring code patterns#

By default, Codacy uses a subset of the supported static analysis tools and code patterns to analyze your repositories. These default settings result from community feedback or existing coding standards. However, you can adapt the default settings to your scenario by configuring the tools and code patterns that Codacy uses to analyze your repository.

Note

  • Organization owners can change who is allowed to configure code patterns.

  • If your repository is following an organization coding standard, changes made to any tool or code pattern cause the repository to stop following the coding standard. In this case Codacy asks for your confirmation before accepting the changes, and then copies the coding standard configurations to your repository so you can customize them.

To configure the tools and code patterns for your repository:

  1. Open your repository Code patterns page.

    Code patterns page

  2. Toggle the tools that Codacy will use to analyze your repository.

    Toggling tools

  3. Select each tool to configure and toggle the corresponding code patterns using the checkbox next to each pattern.

    Tip

    Codacy displays the tag New for one month next to the name of any recently added code patterns.

    Configuring code patterns

    To see an explanation of the issues that a pattern detects and how to fix them, click Show details. Some patterns also allow you to configure the rules for detecting issues.

    Code pattern details

  4. Optionally, manually reanalyze your repository to immediately take the changes into account. Otherwise, Codacy will use the new configuration when it analyzes a new commit or pull request.

Pattern filters#

To make it easier to find relevant code patterns, you can use the sidebar to filter the patterns by language (only for tools that support multiple languages), category, or status:

Filtering code patterns

Tip

To enable all code patterns matching a specific category, use the filter to select the relevant patterns and click Enable all.

For example, to enable all Security patterns of a tool, you can use the Security filter and click Enable all.

Issues detected by Codacy belong to one of the following categories:

  • Code Style: Code formatting and syntax problems, such as variable names style and enforcing the use of brackets and quotation marks
  • Error Prone: Code that may hide bugs and language keywords that should be used with caution, such as the operator == in JavaScript or Option.get in Scala
  • Code Complexity: High complexity methods and classes that should be refactored
  • Performance: Code that can have performance problems
  • Compatibility: Mainly for frontend code, compatibility problems across different browser versions
  • Unused Code: Unused variables and methods, code that can't be reached
  • Security: All security problems
  • Documentation: Methods and classes that don't have the correct comment annotations

Importing pattern configurations from another repository#

Importing tool and code pattern configurations from another repository can help you bootstrap and standardize the tool and code pattern configurations across your repositories.

For example, when adding a new repository on Codacy you can copy the tool and code pattern configurations from an existing repository that's already configured, and then tweak and adapt the settings for your new repository.

Tip

To ensure that multiple repositories consistently follow the same global tool and code pattern configurations, use an organization coding standard instead.

Alternatively, you can also copy the tool and code pattern configurations from one repository to multiple target repositories.

Important

Consider the following when using this feature:

  • Tool matching: Codacy only copies settings for tools that are available on both the source and target repositories, and overwrites the existing settings for these tools on the target repository.
  • Toggle status: Codacy copies the enabled or disabled status of the matching tools from the source to the target repository.
  • Configuration files: Codacy copies the UI configuration of all matching tools, even those set to use configuration files. However, the import doesn't include the configuration mode itself and doesn't copy configuration files across repositories.

The following example illustrates the points above:

Source repository Target repository Target repository after import
Source repository Target repository Target repository after import

To import the tool and code pattern configurations from another repository:

  1. Open your repository Code patterns and click Import patterns.

    Importing code patterns from another repository

  2. Follow the instructions to select the source repository and complete the import.

  3. Review and adjust your tool and code pattern configurations if necessary.

Codacy will use the updated configurations on the next analysis.

Using your own tool configuration files#

Codacy supports configuration files for several tools. To use a configuration file for your static analysis tool:

  1. Push the configuration file to the root of the branch configured as the main branch on Codacy.

  2. Open your repository Code patterns page, select the tool that will use the configuration file, and select the option Configuration file.

    Using a configuration file

After activating the option to use the configuration file:

  • Codacy will use the version of the configuration file in the branch being analyzed. For example, if you open a pull request that includes changes to the configuration file, the analysis results will take those changes into account.
  • If Codacy analyzes a branch that doesn't include the configuration file, Codacy reverts to using the code patterns configured for the tool before you selected the option Configuration file on the Code patterns page.

The table below lists the configuration file names that Codacy detects and supports for each tool:

Tool name Language Files detected Other info
Ameba Crystal .ameba.yml
Bandit Python bandit.yml, .bandit To solve flagged valid Python "assert" statements, create a bandit.yml on the root of the repository containing: skips: \['B101'\]
Brakeman Ruby config/brakeman.yml
Checkstyle Java checkstyle.xml Supports configuration file in directories other than root and can search up to 5 directories into the repository.
CodeNarc Groovy .codenarcrc
Credo Elixir .credo.exs, config/.credo.exs
CSSLint CSS .csslintrc
dartanalyzer Dart analysis_options.yml Customizing static analysis
detekt Kotlin default-detekt-config.yml, detekt.yml Supports configuration file in directories other than root and can search up to 5 directories into the repository.
ESLint JavaScript, TypeScript .eslintrc.js, .eslintrc.cjs, .eslintrc.yaml, .eslintrc.yml, .eslintrc.json, .eslintrc, .prettierrc, .prettierrc.yaml, .prettierrc.yml, .prettierrc.json, prettier.config.js, .prettierrc.js Plugins configurable on the Codacy UI
Other supported plugins

If you're using module-level ESLint configuration files, you must also include a ESLint configuration file on the root of your repository for Codacy to detect that you're using configuration files. For example, add the following minimal .eslintrc.json configuration file:

{ "root": true }
Hadolint Dockerfile .hadolint.yaml
JSHint JavaScript .jshintrc
markdownlint Markdown .markdownlint.json
PHP_CodeSniffer PHP phpcs.xml, phpcs.xml.dist
PHP Mess Detector PHP codesize.xml, phpmd.xml, phpmd.xml.dist
PMD Apex, Java, JavaScript, JSP, PL/SQL, XML, Velocity and Visualforce ruleset.xml, apex-ruleset.xml Supports configuration file in directories other than root and can search up to 5 directories into the repository.
Prospector Python .prospector.yml, .prospector.yaml, prospector.yml, prospector.yaml, .landscape.yml, .landscape.yaml, landscape.yml, landscape.yaml
Pylint Python pylintrc, .pylintrc Plugins
remark-lint Markdown .remarkrc, .remarkrc.json, .remarkrc.yaml, .remarkrc.yml, .remarkrc.js
Revive Go revive.toml
RuboCop Ruby .rubocop.yml
Scalastyle Scala scalastyle-config.xml, scalastyle_config.xml
SonarC# C# SonarLint.xml
SonarVB Visual Basic SonarLint.xml
Spectral AsyncAPI, OpenAPI .spectral.yaml, .spectral.yml, .spectral.json
SpotBugs Java, Scala findbugs.xml, findbugs-includes.xml, findbugs-excludes.xml, spotbugs.xml, spotbugs-includes.xml, spotbugs-excludes.xml Supports configuration file in directories other than root and can search up to 5 directories into the repository.
Stylelint CSS, LESS, SASS .stylelintrc, stylelint.config.js, .stylelintrc.json, .stylelintrc.yaml, .stylelintrc.yml, .stylelintrc.js Supports configuration file in directories other than root and can search up to 5 directories into the repository.
SwiftLint Swift .swiftlint.yml
Tailor Swift .tailor.yml
TSLint TypeScript tslint.json
TSQLLint Transact-SQL .tsqllintrc

Note

Codacy doesn't support configuration files for the following tools:

  • aligncheck
  • bundler-audit
  • Checkov
  • Clang-Tidy
  • Codacy Scalameta Pro
  • CoffeeLint
  • Cppcheck
  • deadcode
  • Faux Pas
  • Flawfinder
  • Gosec
  • Jackson Linter
  • PSScriptAnalyzer
  • Unity Roslyn Analyzers
  • ShellCheck
  • SQLint
  • Staticcheck

For performance reasons, if you make changes to pattern settings using configuration files, Codacy may display outdated messages for issues that have already been identified by those patterns.

See also#

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Last modified May 23, 2023