The quiet linter for a quiet shell.

Static analysis and auto-fix for the setopts, hooks, and globs Bash never learned.

Install · User guide · Katas · Integrations · Roadmap · Changelog

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See it in action

Install

# macOS, Linux, WSL
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/afadesigns/zshellcheck/main/install.sh | bash

# Windows
irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/afadesigns/zshellcheck/main/install.ps1 | iex

# Anywhere Go is installed
go install github.com/afadesigns/zshellcheck/cmd/zshellcheck@latest

--uninstall reverses any of them.

Native .deb, .rpm, .apk, and a multi-arch container at ghcr.io/afadesigns/zshellcheck ship on every release tag.

Pinning, cosign verification, and distro one-liners are in INSTALL.md.

Run

# Lint
zshellcheck path/to/script.zsh

# Write SARIF for GitHub Code Scanning
zshellcheck -severity warning -format sarif ./scripts > zshellcheck.sarif

# Preview every auto-fix as a unified diff
zshellcheck -diff path/to/script.zsh

# Apply the fixes
zshellcheck -fix path/to/script.zsh

Exits 0 on a clean run, 1 when anything was flagged. zshellcheck -h lists every flag, grouped by intent.

Silence inline with # noka: ZC1234. Bare # noka silences every kata on the line. Trailing, preceding, and file-wide forms are documented in USER_GUIDE.md.

CI/CD

The published action checks out your repository, installs a signed release binary, runs it, and fails the job on any finding. Add the SARIF upload to surface results in the repository Security tab:

# .github/workflows/lint.yml
name: zshellcheck
on: [push, pull_request]
permissions:
  contents: read
  security-events: write
jobs:
  zshellcheck:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: afadesigns/zshellcheck@latest
        with:
          args: -format sarif -severity warning ./scripts > zshellcheck.sarif
      - uses: github/codeql-action/upload-sarif@v3
        if: always()
        with:
          sarif_file: zshellcheck.sarif

Run it as a pre-commit hook instead:

# .pre-commit-config.yaml
-   repo: https://github.com/afadesigns/zshellcheck
    rev: latest
    hooks:
      - id: zshellcheck

Pin @latest and rev: latest to a tag from Releases for reproducible CI.

Integrations

ZShellCheck is verified against widely used Zsh frameworks, plugin managers, plugins, and prompts on every release. Each runs a parse-and-findings sweep: zero parser errors, zero crashes, and kata findings locked to a reviewed baseline. The full catalog with file counts lives in INTEGRATIONS.md.

Category	Examples
Frameworks	oh-my-zsh, prezto, prezto-contrib, zephyr, zimfw
Plugin managers	antidote, zinit
Plugins	zsh-syntax-highlighting, zsh-autosuggestions, zsh-autocomplete, atuin, zsh-help
Prompts	powerlevel10k, spaceship-prompt, starship, gitstatus
Tooling	fzf, fzf-tab, fast-syntax-highlighting

Quality

Every release replays the linter over the pinned integration corpora and gates on two snapshots:

• Parser errors and crashes stay at zero.
• Kata findings match a reviewed baseline; a new finding on known-good code fails the build as a candidate false positive.

Semantic-preserving rewrites — added blank lines, comments, or variable renames — must not change which katas fire. See the local checks for the commands.

Documentation

Use it

• INSTALL.md — install and uninstall paths for macOS, Windows, Linux, and Docker.
• USER_GUIDE.md — CLI reference, configuration, inline directives, FAQ.
• KATAS.md — every kata with description, severity, and auto-fix status.
• INTEGRATIONS.md — verified Zsh frameworks, plugins, and prompts.

Develop with it

• DEVELOPER.md — architecture, AST reference, kata authoring, auto-fix catalog.
• REFERENCE.md — governance, glossary, ShellCheck comparison.
• ROADMAP.md — LSP, distribution channels, plugin system.
• CHANGELOG.md — per-release history.

Contribute

• CONTRIBUTING.md — workflow, signing requirements, kata standards.
• CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md — community expectations.
• SECURITY.md — vulnerability disclosure.
• SUPPORT.md — bug, kata, and discussion routing.

Contributing

Contributions of all kinds are welcome. Start with CONTRIBUTING.md.

• A question or idea? Open a discussion.
• A bug? File an issue.
• A new kata? See the kata-authoring guide in CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

ZShellCheck is licensed under the MIT License.

Credits

Authored and maintained by Andreas Fahl (@afadesigns). Inspired by ShellCheck.