Files
holocron/plugins/lint/skills/vale-config/references/configuration-reference.md
Defame1297 45cd26045a refactor(lint): retrofit vale-config to the ADR-0020 context contract
Description 657 -> 244 chars, body 504 -> 342 words, Gotchas 50% -> 24%.
The 50% was the worst ratio in the corpus and a real inverted body, not
the denominator artefact the ratio usually flags: half the body was a
Gotchas section doing duty as reference material.

A clean-context audit caught the split leaving a false statement behind.
Gotcha 1's kernel lost the qualifier that only package styles need
fetching, so it asserted that any style vale sync has not fetched fails
-- contradicting the same file twice, since the built-in Vale style and
any committed custom style are never fetched. An agent adding a custom
style would have added a spurious Packages entry and broken vale sync
outright. The qualifier is restored in the body rather than behind a
fourth reference pointer.

Also corrects the moved fixture's framing, which tabulated a control row
under a heading claiming it came from a multi-line fixture.

Refs #99
2026-08-30 15:07:15 +00:00

95 lines
3.8 KiB
Markdown

---
topic: configuration-reference
source_keys:
- context7-websites-vale-sh
---
## Core Settings
| Key | Type | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| `StylesPath` | string | Path to all Vale-related resources (styles, dictionaries, vocab). |
| `Packages` | string[] | Packages to download and install via `vale sync`. |
| `Vocab` | string[] | Vocabularies to load. |
| `MinAlertLevel` | enum | Minimum severity to report: `suggestion`, `warning`, or `error`. |
| `IgnoredScopes` | enum | Inline-level HTML tags to ignore. |
| `SkippedScopes` | enum | Block-level HTML tags to ignore entirely. |
## Format Associations
Map an unrecognized extension onto a supported one so Vale lints it with the right parser — an extension-level substitution only, it does not add new file-type support:
```ini
[formats]
mdx = md
```
## Vocabularies
Reference a named vocabulary (a folder of accept/reject word lists under `StylesPath`) via `Vocab`, then apply styles per glob:
```ini
StylesPath = styles
Vocab = Blog
[*]
BasedOnStyles = Vale, MyStyle
```
## Local Overrides
A project can layer a local `.vale.ini` that overrides `StylesPath`, adds packages, and changes `BasedOnStyles` for a subset of files — local settings merge with or override the global ones:
```ini
StylesPath = localpath
Packages = write-good
[*.md]
BasedOnStyles = write-good
```
## Rule Header Fields
Individual rule YAML files (under a style's directory) support these header fields:
| Field | Required | Default | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| `extends` | yes | — | Check this rule extends (e.g. `existence`). |
| `message` | yes | — | Message shown when triggered; supports `%s` formatting per check type. |
| `level` | no | `suggestion` | Severity: `suggestion`, `warning`, or `error`. |
| `scope` | no | `text` | Scope the rule applies to (e.g. `heading`). |
| `link` | no | — | URL with more info about the rule. |
| `limit` | no | — | Max number of triggers per file. |
| `vocab` | no | `true` | Set `false` to disable active vocabularies for this rule. |
## Checks
The underlying functions a rule's `extends` field can reference: `existence`, `substitution`, `occurrence`, `repetition`, `consistency`, `conditional`, `capitalization`, `metric`, `spelling`, `sequence`, `script`.
## Built-in Style
Only *package* styles need fetching. A style whose YAML rule files are already committed under `StylesPath` lints immediately, with no `Packages` entry and no `vale sync`; the same is true of the built-in `Vale` style, which ships with the binary and contains four rules:
- `Vale.Spelling` — spell-checks against Hunspell-compatible dictionaries in `<StylesPath>/config/dictionaries`.
- `Vale.Terms` — enforces the project's accepted vocabulary terms.
- `Vale.Avoid` — enforces the project's rejected vocabulary terms.
- `Vale.Repetition` — flags repeated words (e.g. "the the").
## Frontmatter Scopes
A rule scoped to `text.frontmatter.<key>` (e.g. `text.frontmatter.description`) matches reliably when that field's value is a single physical line, and breaks on most — not all — multi-line forms.
Confirmed against Vale 3.15.2, multi-line forms spanning 2+ lines:
| Frontmatter value form | Result |
|---|---|
| Single physical line (control) | Lints, exits 1 |
| `\|` literal block scalar | Lints, exits 1 |
| `>` folded block scalar | 0 findings, exits 0 |
| Plain (unquoted) continuation lines | 0 findings, exits 0 |
| Single- or double-quoted multi-line scalar | 0 findings, exits 0 |
The silent cases produce no error of any kind, so a passing run is indistinguishable from a clean one. Do not assume a literal block scalar and a folded one behave alike — reproduce both against your own config before trusting a frontmatter-scoped rule in production. If the field is commonly authored in one of the broken forms, flatten it to one physical line ahead of the `vale` call rather than relying on the scope alone.