lint-creator

Imported from zed-industries/zed (.agents/skills/lint-creator/SKILL.md). Install upstream with npx skills add zed-industries/zed --skill lint-creator. Copyright stays with the author.

Adding a dylint to tooling/lints

Before writing anything

1. Check whether clippy already covers the pattern (search https://rust-lang.github.io/rust-clippy/master/). If it does, stop and report that to the user instead of writing a redundant lint.

Layout

• One module per lint: src/<lint_name>.rs, declared in src/lib.rs.
• Register the lint in register_lints in src/lib.rs: add it to the lint_store.register_lints(&[...]) slice and add a register_late_pass call.
• Use src/notify_in_render.rs as the template: rustc_session::declare_lint! with ### What it does / ### Why is this bad? doc sections, impl_lint_pass!, and a LateLintPass impl that bails early with let ... else / early returns.
• Do NOT copy the diagnostics style of shared_string_from_str_literal in lib.rs — it predates the rules below (it emits a machine-applicable suggestion). The two lints living directly in lib.rs also predate the one-module-per-lint rule.
• Reuse the helpers in src/render_helpers.rs (is_directly_in_render_method, is_gpui_context) for render/gpui checks.

Diagnostics rules

• Flag only; never suggest how to fix, and never use Applicability::MachineApplicable.
• Keep detection and reporting as simple as possible: prefer span_lint with a one-sentence message over span_lint_and_then with notes.
• Skip macro-expanded code (expr.span.from_expansion()).

UI tests (required)

• Every lint needs ui/<lint_name>.rs and ui/<lint_name>.stderr.

• The .rs file must include negative cases: code that resembles the bad pattern but must produce no diagnostic. Their absence from the .stderr file is the assertion.

• UI tests that need gpui types use the fake gpui crate in test_fixture/ (wired up by gpui_fixture_rustc_flags in lib.rs). Extend the fixture if a type or method is missing — never add real gpui as a dependency.

• The crate is deliberately not part of the zed workspace and pins its own nightly (rust-toolchain.toml). Run tests from inside the crate:

  cd tooling/lints && cargo test
  

• To update a .stderr file after an intentional change: run the test, find the Actual stderr saved to PATH line in the failure report, and copy that file over the checked-in .stderr. There is no bless env var. A correct .stderr typically ends with one blank line.

After the lint works

• Add the lint to the "Current lints" list in tooling/lints/README.md.

• Smoke-test it against the real codebase:

  tooling/lints/single-lint <lint_name> -p <crate>
  

  (defaults to --workspace if no package is given; the script handles the --force-warn and cache-cleaning gotchas documented in the README).

UI fixture sections

Every lint-specific ui/*.rs fixture MUST put cases expected to trigger the lint first, followed by cases expected not to trigger it, using exactly these headings:

// ==================== SHOULD FIRE ====================
// ================== SHOULD NOT FIRE ==================