Real-time code quality scoring, secret detection, and vulnerability scanning — right in your editor.
AILINTER is the VS Code companion for the AILINTER open-source safety visor. It turns your editor into a code health dashboard: every file gets a quality score, every secret gets caught before commit, and every code smell comes with step-by-step refactoring guidance.
Each file you save gets a 0–100 quality score displayed in the status bar:
| Score | Label | What It Means |
|---|---|---|
| 80–100 | 🟢 Go Ahead | Safe for AI modification |
| 60–79 | 🟡 Proceed with Care | Small isolated changes, re-check after each |
| 40–59 | 🟠 Needs Work | Significant issues — refactor incrementally |
| 0–39 | 🔴 Stop & Refactor | Must refactor before AI touches this file |
Problems appear directly in your code with severity-coded decorations:
- Red wavy underline — Critical vulnerability or secret
- Orange wavy underline — Error or high-severity quality issue
- Yellow squiggle — Warning or moderate quality concern
- Gutter icons — Visual severity indicators in the line number gutter
Hover over any underlined code to see:
- What the issue is and why it matters
- Which category: quality, secret, vulnerability, or metalinter
- The specific smell type (e.g.,
deep_nesting,brain_method)
Press Cmd+. (Mac) or Ctrl+. (Windows/Linux) on any issue line to access:
- Get Refactoring Strategy — Opens detailed fix guidance for code smells
- Replace Secret — Converts hardcoded secrets to environment variables
- Suppress Warning — Adds an
ailinter:disablecomment
See each function's quality score right above its definition. CodeLens annotations appear automatically after scanning.
Every issue appears in VS Code's Problems panel (View → Problems) with severity, file, line, and description — filterable and clickable.
Open the AILINTER sidebar in the Explorer panel (View → Explorer → AILINTER) to see:
- Overall project health score
- File count and issue statistics
- Trending hotspots (files with most issues)
- Top code smells across your project
The extension automatically downloads and installs the AILINTER CLI when first activated — no terminal commands required.
- Install the extension from the VS Code Marketplace
- Open any Go, Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, or Java file
- Save (
Cmd+S) — if the CLI isn't found, AILINTER will offer to download it automatically - That's it — no
brew, no manual install, no PATH configuration
If you prefer to manage the CLI yourself:
# macOS (Homebrew)
brew install ailinter/ailinter/ailinter
# Linux / Windows — download from GitHub Releases
# https://github.com/ailinter/ailinter/releases- Install the extension from the VS Code Marketplace
- Open any Go, Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, or Java file
- Save (
Cmd+S) — AILINTER scans automatically and shows your quality score in the status bar - Click the status bar score to see file details
- Hover over underlined issues for explanations
- Click the lightbulb to fix issues with one click
All commands are available via the Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P / Ctrl+Shift+P):
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
AILINTER: Scan current file |
Manually trigger a scan on the active file |
AILINTER: Show file quality details |
Display score and issue count for current file |
AILINTER: Get refactoring strategy |
Open detailed fix guidance for a code smell |
AILINTER: Replace secret with environment variable |
Convert a hardcoded secret to process.env |
AILINTER: Suppress warning on this line |
Add ailinter:disable comment to skip a finding |
AILINTER: Show vulnerability details |
View full details of a security vulnerability |
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
ailinter.path |
"" (auto-detect) |
Path to the AILINTER binary. Leave blank to auto-detect or auto-download. |
ailinter.enable |
true |
Enable scanning on file save |
ailinter.scanOnOpen |
true |
Automatically scan files when opened |
ailinter.qualityThreshold |
80 |
Minimum score (0–100). Files below this show warnings. |
ailinter.showGutterIcons |
true |
Show severity icons in the gutter |
ailinter.showCodeLens |
true |
Show function-level score annotations |
ailinter.cliUpdateChannel |
"stable" |
Update channel: "stable" (recommended) or "latest" (pre-releases) |
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
Cmd+. / Ctrl+. |
Open Quick Fix (lightbulb) on current issue line |
Cmd+S / Ctrl+S |
Save file → triggers automatic scan |
Cmd+Shift+P → type AILINTER |
List all AILINTER commands |
- VS Code 1.86.0 or later
- AILINTER CLI — auto-downloaded on first activation (or install manually via brew / GitHub Releases)
- Supported languages: Go, Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Java, C#, PHP (more coming)
- Auto-install: If the CLI isn't found, AILINTER offers to download it. Accept once — it's cached for all future sessions.
- Manual CLI: Want to manage versions yourself? Install via
brewor download from GitHub Releases. The extension will detect it automatically.
- Windows: The extension has been tested on macOS and Linux. Windows support is experimental. Report issues on GitHub.
- Large files: Files over 1000 lines may take a few seconds to scan. Performance optimizations are in progress.
- First scan delay: On first activation, the extension downloads the AILINTER CLI (~30 MB). Subsequent scans are instant.
To configure AILINTER in VS Code:
{
"ailinter.path": "",
"ailinter.enable": true,
"ailinter.scanOnOpen": true,
"ailinter.qualityThreshold": 75,
"ailinter.showGutterIcons": true,
"ailinter.showCodeLens": true,
"ailinter.cliUpdateChannel": "stable"
}Found a bug? Have a feature request? We'd love to hear from you:
MIT © AILINTER
- 🚀 Auto-install CLI — The extension downloads and installs the AILINTER binary automatically. No more manual
brew install. - Zero-config setup — Install the extension, save a file, done. The CLI is detected, downloaded, and configured for you.
- Graceful offline handling — Clear messaging when no internet connection is available.
- Project health sidebar — overview of your entire workspace's code health
- Before/after delta tracking — see if your score improved or regressed
- Hover provider — rich explanations on every issue
- Quick Fix: Replace secret — one-click secret-to-env-var conversion
- CodeLens annotations — function-level scores inline
- Configurable gutter icons — toggle decorations in settings