Introduction to textlint
textlint is a versatile linting tool designed to improve the quality of natural language text and markdown documents. Its functionality is reminiscent of ESLint, but instead of focusing on JavaScript, it targets written content, helping writers maintain consistency and correctness across different types of documents.
Features
One of textlint's distinguishing features is its pluggable nature. Unlike many other linting tools, textlint does not come with any pre-bundled rules. Instead, users are encouraged to customize their experience by selecting rules from a vast repository of plugins available via npm. This allows users to install specific rules that cater to their unique needs, such as textlint-rule-no-todo and others.
Out of the box, textlint supports Markdown and plain text formats. However, its capabilities are easily extendable to other formats like HTML through additional plugins. It also supports custom formatters which can be tailored to display the linting results in a preferred format.
Installation and Configuration
To get started with textlint, one needs to install it locally via npm. It requires Node.js version 16 or higher. Users should keep all their rules local to avoid conflicts between globally and locally installed rules.
Configuring textlint is a straightforward process achieved through the .textlintrc file, which can be written in JSON, YAML, or JavaScript. Users can specify what rules and plugins they wish to apply to their text content through this configuration file. This setup allows for significant flexibility, letting users choose exactly how they want their documents checked.
Usage
textlint is largely command-line based and does not operate with default rules. Users must specify their desired rules either through the .textlintrc file or directly via command-line arguments. The CLI offers various options for customizing how textlint runs, including specifying files, choosing output formats, and even enabling an automatic fix feature to correct issues that the rules identify.
Moreover, textlint offers a 'fix' option, allowing users to automatically resolve issues in their documents. This feature can also be run in a dry mode, permitting users to review changes before applying them.
Extensibility
Textlint's power lies in its extensibility through rules and plugins. It supports a wide range of optional plugins for different text formats beyond Markdown and plain text, such as reStructuredText, AsciiDoc, and even Org-mode. For developers and advanced users, textlint provides APIs and a kernel that can be used programmatically to incorporate textlint functionalities into custom applications.
Community and Integration
textlint has garnered a wide user base, including communities from various technical writing and coding projects like the Vue.js documentation, the Cypress documentation, and others. It also offers integrations across different development environments, including popular code editors like VS Code, Atom, Sublime Text, and more.
By harnessing textlint, writers and developers can ensure their written content adheres to a consistent style and quality standard, making their documents more professional and easier to read.