Linting WoW Addons Skill

Linting WoW Addons

Expert guidance for code quality and formatting in WoW addon development.

Related Commands

c-lint - Lint and format workflow
c-review - Full code review (includes lint step)
c-clean - Cleanup workflow (dead code, stale docs)

MCP Tools

| Task | MCP Tool | |------|----------| | Lint Addon | addon.lint(addon="MyAddon") | | Format Addon | addon.format(addon="MyAddon") | | Check Format Only | addon.format(addon="MyAddon", check=true) | | Security Analysis | addon.security(addon="MyAddon") | | Complexity Analysis | addon.complexity(addon="MyAddon") |

Capabilities

Luacheck Linting — Detect syntax errors, undefined globals, unused variables
StyLua Formatting — Consistent code style across all files
Error Resolution — Fix common linting issues systematically
Security Analysis — Detect combat lockdown violations, secret leaks, taint risks
Complexity Analysis — Find deep nesting, long functions, magic numbers
Dead Code Detection — For unused function analysis, use addon.deadcode (see s-clean)

Common Luacheck Warnings

| Code | Meaning | Fix | |------|---------|-----| | W111 | Setting undefined global | Add to .luacheckrc globals or fix typo | | W112 | Mutating undefined global | Same as W111 | | W113 | Accessing undefined global | Check if API exists, add to read_globals | | W211 | Unused local variable | Remove or prefix with _ | | W212 | Unused argument | Prefix with _ (e.g., _event) | | W213 | Unused loop variable | Prefix with _ | | W311 | Value assigned but never used | Remove assignment or use the value | | W431 | Shadowing upvalue | Rename the local variable |

.luacheckrc Configuration

Standard WoW addon configuration:

std = "lua51"
max_line_length = false

globals = {
    -- Addon globals
    "MyAddon",
}

read_globals = {
    -- WoW API
    "C_Timer", "C_Spell", "CreateFrame",
    -- Ace3
    "LibStub",
}

StyLua Configuration

Standard .stylua.toml:

column_width = 120
line_endings = "Unix"
indent_type = "Tabs"
indent_width = 4
quote_style = "AutoPreferDouble"
call_parentheses = "Always"

Quick Reference

Lint Then Format

# Check for issues
addon.lint(addon="MyAddon")

# Auto-format
addon.format(addon="MyAddon")

# Verify clean
addon.lint(addon="MyAddon")

Best Practices

Run lint before commit — Catch issues early
Format consistently — Use StyLua for all files
Configure globals — Add addon-specific globals to .luacheckrc
Prefix unused — Use _ prefix for intentionally unused variables

Security Analysis

Beyond syntax linting, use addon.security to detect runtime safety issues:

| Category | Description | |----------|-------------| | combat_violation | Protected API calls without InCombatLockdown() guard | | secret_leak | Logging/printing secret values (12.0+) | | taint_risk | Unsafe global modifications (_G without namespace) | | unsafe_eval | loadstring/RunScript with unsanitized input |

Complexity Analysis

Use addon.complexity to identify maintainability issues:

| Category | Threshold | Description | |----------|-----------|-------------| | deep_nesting | > 5 levels | Excessive if/for/while nesting | | long_function | > 100 lines | Functions that should be split | | long_file | > 500 lines | Files that need restructuring | | magic_number | pattern-based | Unexplained numeric literals |

For comprehensive analysis, use c-audit.

Agent Skills: Linting WoW Addons

Install this agent skill to your local

Skill Files