BEbehnamoh·Dec 30, 2025Submission
3 points · Open discussionkoalaman
shellcheck
Haskell2013–2025
koalaman / shellcheck
shellcheck
ShellCheck, a static analysis tool for shell scripts
92Distinct people
100Mentions
5Explicit recommenders
40.3KGitHub stars
What to know before exploring
What it is
ShellCheck, a static analysis tool for shell scripts
GitHub
Where it is used
- GitLab — GitLab uses ShellCheck to lint its shell scripts. It also prescribes a GitLab CI/CD job configuration to run it across projects. Source
- ShellCheck for Visual Studio Code — ShellCheck for Visual Studio Code bundles the ShellCheck tool and uses it to lint shell scripts, showing ShellCheck warnings in the editor and the Problems view. Source
What people are saying
One of my favorite things about Shellcheck is that the error messages come with a link to a wiki page about the problem. Does anyone know other programs that have a similar…
ufo used a recommendation phrase. 5 indexed comments match. This is a phrase match, not a verdict.
No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.
Also in these discussions
- mvdan/sh · linked in 3 of the same discussions
- bash-lsp/bash-language-server · linked in 2 of the same discussions
- hadolint/hadolint · linked in 2 of the same discussions
Mentioned in the same Hacker News threads. That is not proof they are substitutes.
This week on Hacker News
Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 1:49:46 PM UTC.
No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by year100 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2013-11-18 12:25:12 UTC to 2025-12-30 22:10:57 UTC.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 2013-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2014 | 2014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 6 | 2 | 4 |
| 2015 | 2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 2016 | 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 8 | 2 | 6 |
| 2017 | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 9 | 2 | 7 |
| 2018 | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 10 | 1 | 9 |
| 2019 | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 6 | 1 | 5 |
| 2020 | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 13 | 1 | 12 |
| 2021 | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 13 | 2 | 11 |
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 15 | 2 | 13 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 9 | 0 | 9 |
| 2024 | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 2025 | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 1 | 2 |
What Hacker News says
100 sourcesI don't have the same impression, but
https://github.com/PostgREST/postgrest
and
https://github.com/koalaman/shellcheck
are some popular ones that may be useful to hn'ers.
And
https://github.com/mchav/dataframe?tab=readme-ov-file#datafr... is a library/framework that has had quite some velocity lately
In GHC now runs in the browserUp to you but I think the way shellcheck wants that problem solved is by using _ as in
for _ in
https://github.com/koalaman/shellcheck/wiki/SC2034#intention...
In TIL: timeout in Bash scriptsThere's now an issue for it https://github.com/koalaman/shellcheck/issues/3088
In TIL: Some surprising code execution sources in bashIt's been so long since I used it seriously I couldn't tell you.
There's over 1000 open issues on the GitHub repo, and over 100 contain "false positive". I recognize several of these at first glance.
https://github.com/koalaman/shellcheck/issues?q=is%3Aissue+i...
In Techniques I use to create a great user experience for shell scriptsAssuming using same account, use history command to show past commands[0a, 0b]
'load random example' on shellcheck using own custom examples from history command.[1]
ncurse, dialog, zenity[2].
"Gooey: Turn command line programs into GUI applications"[3]
Many command line programs were not designed with i/o buffering in mind.[4a,4b]
describe what want bashgpt[5] to write/display using aforementioned zenity/Gooey.
chatgp shellmaster[6]
--------
[6] : http://community.openai.com/t/introducing-chatgpt-shellmaste...
[5] : http://github.com/dtegunov/bashgpt
[4a] : http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/html_node/stdbu...
[4b] : http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/25372/how-to-turn-of...
[3] : http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8218785
[2] : http//funprojects.blog/2021/01/25/zenity-command-line-dialogs/
[1a] : http://www.shellchec
Read the rest
k.net/
[1b] : http://github.com/koalaman/shellcheck
[0a] : http://www.tecmint.com/history-command-examples/
[0b] : http://www.tecmint.com/remember-linux-commands/
web based documentation: https://www.tecmint.com/linux-commands-cheat-sheet/
commands grouped by typical usage patterns : https://www.tecmint.com/essential-linux-commands/
ShellCheck: https://github.com/koalaman/shellcheck
In Ask HN: Popular open source tool originally written in Haskell?Shellcheck is great, but requires some investment to tailor to your style
Disable default checks or enable optional ones using directives: https://www.shellcheck.net/wiki/Directive
The error checks can be pretty arcane: https://github.com/koalaman/shellcheck/wiki/Checks
I appreciate that the text for each check is brief and usually includes a suggestion. I end up disabling 26xx's a lot (for unquoted variables to be interpreted as multiple values).
Python is probably the best alternative to bash, but Swift is getting surprisingly good.
With shwift[1] you get NIO/async APIs, operator overloading for shell-like locutions, and trivial access to existing executables:
/// Piping between two executables
try await echo("Foo", "Bar") | sed("s/Bar/Baz/")
/// Piping to a builtin
try await echo("Foo", "Bar")
| map { $0.replac
Read the rest
ingOccurrences(of: "Bar", with: "Baz") }
Scripts can easily be configured with libraries and run pre-compiled by using clutch[2].
For cross-platform use, be sure only use libraries on all platforms (i.e., not Foundation). It's a pain, but at least the error shows up typically at compile-time instead of run-time.
[1] - [shwift](https://github.com/GeorgeLyon/Shwift)
[2] - [clutch - any Swift scripts in a common nest](https://github.com/swift-nest/clutch)
zsh was originally supported, but unceremoniously removed: https://github.com/koalaman/shellcheck/issues/298
I've had great experiences with this tool, but, for some reason, this issue always makes me question taking too great a dependency on it.
In Shellcheck finds bugs in your shell scriptsshellcheck, whilst not a script itself, I do find it useful when writing them.
- https://github.com/koalaman/shellcheck
In Ask HN: Share a shell script you like> Also when you do that you get all the benefits of using your riced-out, LSP-enabled editor
https://github.com/bash-lsp/bash-language-server
https://github.com/koalaman/shellcheck
https://github.com/idank/explainshell
In Oils 0.17.0 – YSH Is Becoming RealThere's an issue already about it: https://github.com/koalaman/shellcheck/issues/760
In Tell HN: People forget that you can stick any data at the end of a bash scriptDirectives apply line by line. The only ones that apply to a bigger scope are mandated to be the next line right after shebang and apply to the whole file.
https://github.com/koalaman/shellcheck/wiki/Directive
> Directives that replace or are immediately after the shebang apply to the entire script. Otherwise, they are scoped to the command that follows it
https://github.com/koalaman/shellcheck/wiki/Ignore
> Note that the directive must be on the first line after the shebang with versions before 0.4.6. As of 0.4.6 comments and whitespace are allowed before file-wide directives.
In Tell HN: People forget that you can stick any data at the end of a bash script>The secret sauce is a pseudo-signal provided by bash, called EXIT, that you can trap; commands or functions trapped on it will execute when the script exits for any reason.
"Secret Sauce", why is this secret at all.
Nothing against the author who's helping the ecosystem here, but is there an authoritative guide on Bash that anyone can recommend?
Hopefully something that's portable between Mac & Linux.
The web is full of contradictory guides and shellcheck seems to be the last line of defense.
- https://github.com/koalaman/shellcheck
In “Exit traps” can make your Bash scripts more robust and reliable (2013)Beware -- command -v does not have the same semantics as which, and is not a substitute for it in shell scripts. There is no direct substitute. See: https://github.com/koalaman/shellcheck/issues/1162
In Debian 12 “Bookworm” Enters Its Soft FreezeShowing the 15 most recent of 100 sources. Enable JavaScript to search and browse every indexed mention.