lint Command

Overview

Run abaplint static analysis on changed ABAP files. Scopes the check to only the files that changed (relative to a base branch or the last commit) so feedback is fast even in large repos.

Does not require an ABAP connection — runs entirely offline against local source files.

Command

# Lint changed files (auto-detected from git)
abapgit-agent lint

# Lint changed files relative to a specific base branch
abapgit-agent lint --base main

# Lint specific files explicitly
abapgit-agent lint --files src/zcl_my_class.clas.abap,src/zcl_my_class.clas.testclasses.abap

# Use a custom abaplint config file
abapgit-agent lint --config path/to/.abaplint.json

# Output results in CheckStyle XML format (for CI reporting)
abapgit-agent lint --outformat checkstyle --outfile reports/abaplint-results.xml

Prerequisites

.abaplint.json must exist in the project root (or pass --config)
npx must be available (Node.js installed)
No ABAP connection required

Parameters

Parameter	Required	Default	Description
`--config`	No	`.abaplint.json`	Path to abaplint config file
`--base`	No	auto-detected	Base branch for git diff (e.g. `main`)
`--files`	No	auto-detected	Comma-separated list of `.abap` files to lint
`--outformat`	No	—	Output format (e.g. `checkstyle`)
`--outfile`	No	—	Write output to this file instead of stdout

File Detection

When --files is not given, changed files are detected automatically:

Context	Detection Method
CI with `CHANGE_TARGET` env var set (PR build)	`git diff origin/$CHANGE_TARGET...HEAD -- '*.abap'`
`--base <branch>` given	`git diff <branch>...HEAD -- '*.abap'`
Local with uncommitted changes	`git diff HEAD -- *.abap`
Local with no uncommitted changes	`git diff HEAD~1 HEAD -- '*.abap'`

Only files matching name.type.abap or name.type.subtype.abap patterns are included (e.g. .clas.abap, .clas.testclasses.abap). Plain .abap filenames are excluded.

How It Works

Resolve the list of .abap files to lint (from --files or git diff)
Load the abaplint config (.abaplint.json by default)
Override global.files in the config with only the resolved files
Write the scoped config to a temporary .abaplint-local.json
Run npx @abaplint/cli@latest .abaplint-local.json [--outformat ...] [--outfile ...]
Delete the temporary config file
Exit with the same exit code as abaplint (non-zero = issues found)

Output

No Issues

Linting 2 file(s):
  src/zcl_my_class.clas.abap
  src/zcl_my_class.clas.testclasses.abap

(abaplint output — no issues reported)

With Issues

Linting 1 file(s):
  src/zcl_my_class.clas.abap

src/zcl_my_class.clas.abap(42): keyword_case: Expected upper case keyword
src/zcl_my_class.clas.abap(87): prefer_inline: use inline declaration

No Changed Files

No changed .abap files found — nothing to lint.

CheckStyle output (CI)

abapgit-agent lint --base main --outformat checkstyle --outfile reports/abaplint-results.xml

Produces a standard CheckStyle XML file consumable by Jenkins, GitHub Actions, etc.

Error Handling

Error	Message
Config not found	`Error: abaplint config not found: <path>`
No config at default path	`Error: abaplint config not found: .abaplint.json` — `Run from the project root, or pass --config <path>.`

When to Use

Use lint as part of the development workflow after making changes, before committing:

syntax → lint → commit → push → pull --sync-xml

lint complements syntax:

syntax — checks ABAP syntax by sending the file to the ABAP system (requires connection)
lint — checks static analysis rules offline (no connection needed, catches style/quality issues)

lint is also used by CI pipelines to report abaplint findings per pull request.

Example — Daily Workflow

# 1. Edit ABAP file
# 2. Check syntax against ABAP system
abapgit-agent syntax --files src/zcl_my_class.clas.abap

# 3. Run static analysis offline
abapgit-agent lint

# 4. Commit and push
git add src/zcl_my_class.clas.abap
git commit -m "feat: ..."
git push

# 5. Pull and activate
abapgit-agent pull --files src/zcl_my_class.clas.abap --sync-xml

Example — CI Pipeline

# Lint only files changed in this PR (CHANGE_TARGET is set automatically by Jenkins)
abapgit-agent lint --outformat checkstyle --outfile reports/abaplint-results.xml