Check modes and baselines

Decide how strict the checks are, and let a repository with existing findings adopt Xaden without failing on what was already there.

The three modes

The mode in xaden/xaden.conf decides what a new finding does:

Changing the mode is an approval point: loosening a gate needs the team’s agreement, so make the change in a pull request.

Baselines

When a repository is adopted, Xaden runs your check commands once and records what they report in xaden/baselines/, one list per check. A finding in the baseline never fails a check, in any mode.

A baseline only shrinks. When you fix a finding, the next full run on your machine removes it from the list and tells you to commit the smaller file. In CI the run only warns, because CI does not change files. A new finding is never added to a baseline; it fails the check in the mode you chose. Letting a baseline grow is an approval point.

A failure that names no file, such as a failing test, cannot be baselined. In advisory it warns; in the other modes it fails.

Commit convention

If your repository does not use Conventional Commits, the Refs: checks only advise. Set commit-convention = conventional in xaden/xaden.conf when the team opts in.

Gaps: no tests or linters yet

If the repository lacks tests, linters or a type checker for its stack, xaden adopt --scan lists each gap. A gap is reported by xaden check: a warning in advisory and changed-files, an error in strict.

You can close a gap in two ways:

• Name your own command: add check.test = <command> (or check.lint, check.typecheck) to xaden/xaden.conf.
• Use Xaden’s preset for Python or Node: xaden adopt --preset while adopting, or later:

xaden preset python

• xaden preset python: writes the preset’s configuration at the repository root where its tools expect it, maps the check commands in xaden/xaden.conf, and prints the command that installs the tools. You run that command yourself. A file you already have is never overwritten; Xaden shows the difference and asks before it saves its version next to yours as <file>.xaden-new.

Next

Kick off with your assistant.