stylelint expects a configuration object.
stylelint uses cosmiconfig to find and load your configuration object. Starting from the current working directory, it looks for the following possible sources:
- a
stylelint
property inpackage.json
- a
.stylelintrc
file - a
stylelint.config.js
file exporting a JS object
The search stops when one of these is found, and stylelint uses that object. You can use the --config
or configFile
option to short-circuit the search.
The .stylelintrc
file (without extension) can be in JSON or YAML format. You can add a filename extension to help your text editor provide syntax checking and highlighting:
.stylelintrc.json
.stylelintrc.yaml
/.stylelintrc.yml
.stylelintrc.js
The configuration object has the following properties:
Rules determine what the linter looks for and complains about. There are over 170 rules built into stylelint.
No rules are turned on by default and there are no default values. You must explicitly configure each rule to turn it on.
The rules
property is an object whose keys are rule names and values are rule configurations. For example:
{
"rules": {
"color-no-invalid-hex": true
}
}
Each rule configuration fits one of the following formats:
null
(to turn the rule off)- a single value (the primary option)
- an array with two values (
[primary option, secondary options]
)
Specifying a primary option turns on a rule.
Many rules provide secondary options for further customization. To set secondary options, use a two-member array. For example:
{
"rules": {
"selector-pseudo-class-no-unknown": [
true,
{
"ignorePseudoClasses": ["global"]
}
]
}
}
You can add any number of keys in the object. For example, you can:
- turn off
block-no-empty
- turn on
comment-empty-line-before
with a primary and secondary option - turn on
max-empty-lines
andunit-allowed-list
with primary options
{
"rules": {
"block-no-empty": null,
"comment-empty-line-before": [
"always",
{
"ignore": ["stylelint-commands", "after-comment"]
}
],
"max-empty-lines": 2,
"unit-allowed-list": ["em", "rem", "%", "s"]
}
}
You can use the message
secondary option to deliver a custom message when a rule is violated.
For example, the following rule configuration would substitute in custom messages:
{
"rules": {
"color-hex-case": [
"lower",
{
"message": "Lowercase letters are easier to distinguish from numbers"
}
],
"indentation": [
2,
{
"except": ["block"],
"message": "Please use 2 spaces for indentation.",
"severity": "warning"
}
]
}
}
Alternately, you can write a custom formatter for maximum control if you need serious customization.
You can use the severity
secondary option to adjust any specific rule's severity.
The available values for severity
are:
"warning"
"error"
(default)
For example:
{
"rules": {
"indentation": [
2,
{
"except": ["value"],
"severity": "warning"
}
]
}
}
Reporters may use these severity levels to display violations or exit the process differently.
You can set the reportDisables
secondary option to report any stylelint-disable
comments for this rule, effectively disallowing authors to opt out of it.
For example:
{
"rules": {
"indentation": [
2,
{
"except": ["value"],
"reportDisables": true
}
]
}
}
The report is considered to be a lint error.
You can set the default severity level for all rules that do not have a severity specified in their secondary options. For example, you can set the default severity to "warning"
:
{
"defaultSeverity": "warning"
}
You can extend an existing configuration (whether your own or a third-party one).
Popular configurations include:
stylelint-config-recommended
- turns on just possible error rulesstylelint-config-standard
- extends recommended one by turning on 60 stylistic rules
You'll find more in awesome stylelint.
When one configuration extends another, it starts with the other's properties then adds to and overrides what's there.
For example, you can extend the stylelint-config-standard
and then change the indentation to tabs and turn off the number-leading-zero
rule:
{
"extends": "stylelint-config-standard",
"rules": {
"indentation": "tab",
"number-leading-zero": null
}
}
You can extend an array of existing configurations, with each item in the array taking precedence over the previous item (so the second item overrides rules in the first, the third item overrides rules in the first and the second, and so on, the last item overrides everything else).
For example, with stylelint-config-standard
, then layer myExtendableConfig
on top of that, and then override the indentation rule:
{
"extends": ["stylelint-config-standard", "./myExtendableConfig"],
"rules": {
"indentation": "tab"
}
}
The value of "extends"
is a "locater" (or an array of "locaters") that is ultimately require()
d. It can fit whatever format works with Node's require.resolve()
algorithm. That means a "locater" can be:
- the name of a module in
node_modules
(e.g.stylelint-config-standard
; that module'smain
file must be a valid JSON configuration) - an absolute path to a file (which makes sense if you're creating a JS object in a Node.js context and passing it in) with a
.js
or.json
extension. - a relative path to a file with a
.js
or.json
extension, relative to the referencing configuration (e.g. if configA hasextends: "../configB"
, we'll look forconfigB
relative to configA).
Plugins are rules or sets of rules built by the community that support methodologies, toolsets, non-standard CSS features, or very specific use cases.
Popular plugin packs include:
stylelint-order
- specify the ordering of things, e.g. properties within declaration blocksstylelint-scss
- enforce a wide variety of linting rules for SCSS-like syntax
You'll find more in awesome stylelint.
To use one, add a "plugins"
array to your config, containing "locaters" identifying the plugins you want to use. As with extends
, above, a "locater" can be either a:
- npm module name
- absolute path
- path relative to the invoking configuration file
Once the plugin is declared, within your "rules"
object you'll need to add options for the plugin's rule(s), just like any standard rule. Look at the plugin's documentation to know what the rule name should be.
{
"plugins": ["../special-rule.js"],
"rules": {
"plugin-namespace/special-rule": "everything"
}
}
A "plugin" can provide a single rule or a set of rules. If the plugin you use provides a set, invoke the module in your "plugins"
configuration value, and use the rules it provides in "rules"
. For example:
{
"plugins": ["../some-rule-set.js"],
"rules": {
"some-rule-set/first-rule": "everything",
"some-rule-set/second-rule": "nothing",
"some-rule-set/third-rule": "everything"
}
}
Processors are functions built by the community that hook into stylelint's pipeline, modifying code on its way into stylelint and modifying results on their way out.
We discourage their use in favor of using the built-in syntaxes as processors are incompatible with the autofix feature.
To use one, add a "processors"
array to your config, containing "locaters" identifying the processors you want to use. As with extends
, above, a "locater" can be either an npm module name, an absolute path, or a path relative to the invoking configuration file.
{
"processors": ["stylelint-my-processor"],
"rules": {}
}
If your processor has options, make that item an array whose first item is the "locator" and second item is the options object.
{
"processors": [
"stylelint-my-processor",
["some-other-processor", { "optionOne": true, "optionTwo": false }]
],
"rules": {}
}
Processors can also only be used with the CLI and the Node.js API, not with the PostCSS plugin. (The PostCSS plugin ignores them.)
You can provide a glob or array of globs to ignore specific files.
For example, you can ignore all JavaScript files:
{
"ignoreFiles": ["**/*.js"]
}
stylelint ignores the node_modules
directory by default. However, this is overridden if ignoreFiles
is set.
If the globs are absolute paths, they are used as is. If they are relative, they are analyzed relative to
configBasedir
, if it's provided;- the config's filepath, if the config is a file that stylelint found a loaded;
- or
process.cwd()
.
The ignoreFiles
property is stripped from extended configs: only the root-level config can ignore files.
Note that this is not an efficient method for ignoring lots of files. If you want to ignore a lot of files efficiently, use .stylelintignore
or adjust your files globs.