Getting Started

Check your Vue and Nuxt projects for code smells and best practice violations with Vue Mess Detector.

TIP

👉 You are welcome to join our discord server

💡What is Static Code Analysis?

Static code analysis is a crucial tool for developers to automatically examine source code without executing it, helping identify potential bugs, vulnerabilities, and code quality issues early in the development process. By scanning for problematic patterns, it can catch best practice violations, all code paths, not just those executed during testing. While it has limitations like potential false positives and inability to detect runtime errors, static analysis tools are invaluable for improving code quality, maintainability, and security before the code ever runs.

❗Why Should You Care?

By incorporating static code analysis into your development workflow, you can:

• Improve Code Quality: Identify and address code smells, ensuring your codebase is maintainable, efficient, and easy to understand.
• Reduce Bugs and Errors: Catch potential issues before they become problems, saving time and resources in the long run.
• Streamline Development: Automate the process of checking for best practices and coding standards, freeing up time for more important tasks.
• Foster Collaboration: Establish a common understanding of coding standards and best practices among team members, promoting a culture of quality and consistency.
• Reduce Technical Debt: Identify areas of the codebase that need refactoring or improvement, allowing you to address them proactively and avoid accumulating technical debt.
• Monitor Codebase Health: Continuously track and assess the quality of your code to maintain high standards.

⬇️ Installation

As a vscode extension

Launch VS Code Quick Open (Ctrl+P), paste the following command, and press enter.

ext install WebMania.vue-mess-detector

👉 https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=WebMania.vue-mess-detector

From npm registry

pnpm

pnpm add vue-mess-detector -D

yarn

yarn add vue-mess-detector -D

npm

npm install vue-mess-detector --save-dev

bun

bun add @rrd/vue-mess-detector --dev

From JSR registry

deno

deno add @rrd/vue-mess-detector

pnpm

pnpm dlx jsr add @rrd/vue-mess-detector -D

yarn

yarn dlx jsr add @rrd/vue-mess-detector -D

npm

npx jsr add @rrd/vue-mess-detector --save-dev

bun

bunx jsr add @rrd/vue-mess-detector --dev

TIP

✨ Well done! A browser window should automatically open for http://localhost:3000

⚙️ Usage

Basic usage:

npx vue-mess-detector analyze [path]

Options:

Option	Description	Default	Example
[path]	Specify directory or file to analyze	./src	./src/components/AppHeader.vue
--exclude	Exclude directories or files (comma-separated)	None	--exclude=components,Gauranga.vue
--apply	Apply only specific rulesets or rules (comma-separated)	All rules	--apply=vue-essential,magicNumbers
--ignore	Ignore only specific rulesets or rules (comma-separated)	-	--ignore=vue-caution,functionSize
--group	Group results by file or rule	rule	--group=file
--sort	Order results asc or desc	asc	--sort=desc
--level	Show only specific level error or all	all	--level=error
--output	Output format text or table or json	text	--output=table
--file-output	The name of the file to save output to	None	--file-output=analysis.txt

If you want to store your flags in a configuration file, you can create a vue-mess-detector.json file in the root of your project with the following content:

{
  "apply": "vue-strong,rrd",
  "level": "error"
}

Then you can run the command without flags:

npx vue-mess-detector analyze

All flags will be read from the configuration file. All missing flags will be set to their default values except if you provide them as flags in the command line.

📊 Example output

Without --group flag (default behavior is to group per rule) ⬇️

With --group=file flag ⬇️

🧾 Output explanation

Group by Rule: In this view, the first line is highlighted in blue, representing the rule being evaluated. Following this, you'll see blocks of information structured as follows: file path, description, and message.

Group by File: In this view, the first line displays the file path being evaluated. Below this, you'll see blocks of information with the following structure: rule, description, and message.

• Rule: The blue line that defines the specific rule being evaluated.
• File: Shows the path to the file where the rule is applied.
• Description: A concise explanation of the rule, often accompanied by a link to relevant documentation for further details.
• Message: Indicates the line of code where the rule was violated.

IMPORTANT

Yellow messages are warnings, suggesting best practices, while red messages highlight errors that must be corrected.

📈 Code Health

According to the number of errors and warnings, and the lines of code in your project, we calculate a health score for your project. The code health is:

• low if the score is under 75%
• medium if the score is between 75% and 85%
• ok if the score is between 86% and 95%
• good if the score is above 95%

📋 Rulesets

There are five rulesets available in Vue Mess Detector. Each ruleset has a different purpose and level of strictness.

⭐ Vue Essential Ruleset ~ vue-essential

These rules help prevent errors, so learn and abide by them at all costs. Exceptions may exist, but should be very rare and only be made by those with expert knowledge of both JavaScript and Vue.

👍 Vue Strongly Recommended Ruleset ~ vue-strong

Strongly Recommended rules have been found to improve readability and/or developer experience in most projects. Your code will still run if you violate them, but violations should be rare and well-justified.

✅ Vue Recommended Ruleset ~ vue-recommended

Where multiple, equally good options exist, an arbitrary choice can be made to ensure consistency. In these rules, we describe each acceptable option and suggest a default choice. That means you can feel free to make a different choice in your own codebase, as long as you're consistent and have a good reason. Please do have a good reason though!

⚠️ Vue Caution Ruleset ~ vue-caution

Some features of Vue exist to accommodate rare edge cases or smoother migrations from a legacy code base. When overused however, they can make your code more difficult to maintain or even become a source of bugs. These rules shine a light on potentially risky features, describing when and why they should be avoided.

💻 rrd Ruleset ~ rrd

A collection of rules that balances widely accepted best practices with more specific, opinionated guidelines, offering a comprehensive approach to code quality, allowing developers to choose the rules that best align with their project's style and goals.