# yamllint

Asserts that files parse as valid YAML. Unlike yaml, it makes no assertions about the contents — it only reports files that cannot be decoded. Use it as a cheap syntax gate over a directory of config before other checks try to read it.

Check type: yamllint

# Fields

yamllint accepts the same file-selection fields as yaml, since it embeds the same check:

Field	Type	Required	Description
`name`	string	yes	Label shown in output
`severity`	string	no	`low`, `normal`, `high`, or `critical` (default: `normal`)
`path`	string	one of path/file/files/pattern	Directory to search in
`file`	string	one of path/file/files/pattern	Single file name
`files`	list	one of path/file/files/pattern	Explicit list of file names
`pattern`	string	one of path/file/files/pattern	Regex pattern to match file names
`exclude-pattern`	string	no	Regex pattern — matching files are skipped
`ignore-missing`	bool	no	If `true`, pass instead of failing when a file or path does not exist

A values: list, if supplied, is ignored — this check does not evaluate assertions.

# Example

checks:
  yamllint:
    - name: Exported config is valid YAML
      path: config/default
      pattern: '.*\.yml$'

A single file:

checks:
  yamllint:
    - name: CI workflow parses
      file: .github/workflows/ci.yml

# Behaviour

Each selected file is unmarshalled with gopkg.in/yaml.v3 into a generic interface{}. A file that decodes cleanly adds a pass (<file> has valid yaml.); a file that fails adds a breach. Two breach shapes are distinguished:

cannot decode yaml: <file> — a yaml.TypeError, meaning the document parsed but contained type conflicts. All reported type errors are joined into the breach value.
yaml error: <file> — any other unmarshal error, typically a syntax error. The underlying parser message is the breach value.

The check passes when no file produced a breach.

# Remediation

This check does not support automatic remediation. Fix the reported YAML manually.

← yaml json →