What it does
Lint Jev and Luna questions before you send them. DecisionLint checks the
questions you write for a decision model: TypeSafe's Jev, OpenAI's Decisions
API (gpt-6-luna), and every platform that serves either shape, from
OpenRouter and Vercel AI Gateway to a llama.cpp on your own machine. DecisionLint reads
them out of your JSON and your code, and reports the ones written in a way
that is measured to produce bad answers. Linting makes no API calls and needs
no key. One optional command asks the model itself to check a file, using
your own key, at whichever platform you send it to.
- Lints as you type in JSON, JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Rust and Go.
- Fixes on the lightbulb for the mechanical mistakes, and a way to silence a finding you disagree with.
- The same rules in CI, from a command line, and for AI agents, from an MCP server. One settings file covers all three.
- Every platform, one set of rules. TypeSafe's
/v1/systemoneshape and OpenAI's/v1/decisionsshape,predicate,choicesandlevels, are read into the same rules, and the AI SDK'sdecide()call for either. The limits a request is held to are the platform's own, read from the model id's spelling, a URL in the file or atargetsetting: Vercel's 255 choices, LiteLLM's 128 questions, none where a platform publishes none. - Two optional commands that use your own key: one asks the model whether your questions have problems a text pattern cannot see, and one re-sends a question with its layout changed to see whether the answer holds. Both go to the platform the model id names, or to an endpoint you set, a local llama.cpp included.
A request like this one looks fine and has three problems:
{
"model": "jev-latest",
"state": "My parcel came three days late and the lid is cracked.",
"questions": {
"team": {
"type": "choice",
"instructions": "Which team should handle this?",
"criteria": { "billing": "Charges and refunds", "delivery": "Late or damaged parcels" }
},
"late": { "type": "noul", "instructions": "Did more than two parcels arrive late?" }
}
}
Install
Use it from an AI agent
The same program is an MCP server, so an agent that writes Jev or OpenAI Decisions questions can lint what it wrote and fix it before you see it. The tool descriptions and the server's instructions name both vendors and all three request shapes, so an agent knows to call it for any of them.
The other three are the editor's Ask commands and Probe
for an agent. ask_model asks Jev, or Luna with model: gpt-6-luna,
to check the questions in text or in files, and returns the lint report with
the model's findings added. plan_ask says what that would send, and sends
nothing. probe_question sends one question with its layout varied and
reports whether the answer held. The two that send use your key and cost
money, and their descriptions tell an agent to call them only when you ask.
The key is read from TYPESAFE_API_KEY or OPENAI_API_KEY in the
environment the client started the server with, or from .env.local or
.env in the directory it started it in, and never from a tool argument, so
no key lands in an agent's transcript. Every tool answers as structured
content beside the text, and none writes a file.
It is listed on the MCP registry as io.github.nolindnaidoo/decisionlint,
for a client that installs servers from there.
Most hosts read a JSON config. Add one entry:
{
"mcpServers": {
"decisionlint": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "decisionlint-mcp"] }
}
}
-y skips the install prompt on first run. To skip npx on every launch,
install it once with npm install -g decisionlint-mcp and set "command": "decisionlint-mcp" instead.
A project that already pins decisionlint for CI has the same server behind
npx decisionlint --mcp. The package with no flag is the one to give a client,
because decisionlint started bare is a linter that exits, not a server.
What it catches
Jev and Luna guarantee the type of the answer, not the answer. A badly formed question still comes back with a confident-looking number. These rules catch the mistakes that can be read from the text.
Each finding links to its own page, with an example that is flagged, one that is not, how to fix it and how to silence it. Each page links on to the TypeSafe documentation the rule comes from.
Where it looks
- JSON and JSONC request bodies, in TypeSafe's shape or OpenAI's.
- Object literals in JavaScript and TypeScript, including requests passed
inline to
client.systemOne(...)andclient.decisions.create(...), and the Vercel AI SDK'sdecide({ questions })for either vendor, with the model id insidetypeSafeAi.decisionModel('...')read as the model. noul(),choice()andscore()calls in files that use@typesafe-ai/sdk.- Python: dicts,
Noul(...),Choice(...)andScore(...)fromtypesafe_sdk, from LangChain'slangchain_typesafewith itsNoulCriteria(...), or from a library that wraps either, and requests passed tosystem_one(...)orclient.decisions.create(...). - Rust: the JSON inside
json!, structs and enum variants named for a question type, and::noul(...)style constructors. - Go: maps with string keys, structs with a
Typefield, structs named for a question type, and OpenAI's Go SDK,openai.DecisionNewParams{...}with itsOfPredicate,OfChoiceandOfScorequestions. - A request pasted as JSON into a string, in any of these languages.
- Any other language: have your program write the request it sends to a
.jev.jsonfile and open that. Every check runs on it, and nothing in it is built at runtime, so nothing is skipped. jev/askrules in anoxlint-plugin-jevconfig.
OpenAI's Decisions API
OpenAI's Decisions API, model gpt-6-luna, asks the same kind of question
as Jev in a different shape. DecisionLint reads it from 0.5.0. What that
covers, exactly:
- Read. A
/v1/decisionsrequest body,client.decisions.create(...)in TypeScript and Python, and the Vercel AI SDK'sdecide(). Apredicateis read as a Noul,choices: [{ value, description }]as a Choice's options andlevels: [{ label, description }]as a Score's levels, into the same rules. - Checked. Every rule with evidence behind it: the missing fallback option, a description that only repeats its name, terse instructions, degree levels, duplicates, counting, an undefined boundary and the rest. Findings name Luna. OpenAI's own guide asks for the same things.
- Held back.
DEC002andDEC003check a platform's published limits, and OpenAI publishes none, so a request bound for OpenAI gets neither. One bound for a gateway that does, such as Vercel's, gets both.DEC001is about Jev's moving aliases, and OpenAI has one model id. - Shape mistakes are reported in OpenAI's own field names:
choiceswritten as a map or as bare names, a Choice with nochoices, a Score with nolevels. A mistypedpredicateis fixed on the lightbulb. The reshape fix is Jev-only. - Asking Luna. Run Ask Luna About This File, or pass
--ask-platform openai, with an OpenAI key. The next section says how. - Calibrated on Jev, with cutoffs of its own on Luna. Every default in
the wording rules was set by measuring what the defect costs
jev-1.13.0. The model-backed checks were run on Luna over the whole calibration set on 2026-10-24 and each got a cutoff fit on Luna's own answers, where one could be: seven of the twelve. The other five are not asked of Luna, because no cutoff told the examples with the defect from the examples without, and docs/cutoffs.md names the example in the way of each. What the wording rules cost Luna is not measured yet.
Every platform
Jev and Luna are two of the models, and TypeSafe and OpenAI two of the
places a request can go. Microsoft, Liquid AI and Cloudflare serve their own
models in TypeSafe's shape. OpenRouter, Vercel AI Gateway, LiteLLM and LLM
Gateway forward to any of them, in either shape. llama.cpp, vLLM and Ollaya
run open models on your own machine. DecisionLint reads the two shapes, so
every one of them is covered by the same rules. What differs between them
is held in one table, src/lint/targets.ts, with the page each fact was
read from:
Three things follow from the table:
- The limits a request is held to are its platform's. The platform is
read from the model id where its spelling says, from the one platform a
URL in the file names, or from
targetindecisionlint.jsonordecisionlint.targetfor a project that sends everything to one place. A platform that publishes no limit gets no finding for it. Nothing says where a request goes: a TypeSafe-shaped question keeps TypeSafe's limits, and any other shape keeps none. - A floating alias is caught in every spelling, and pinned in the
spelling the platform documents:
jev-latesttojev-1.13.0,~typesafe/jev-latesttotypesafe/jev-1.13. - A check with the model goes to the platform the id names, with the key
in that platform's variable. A spelling that names no host, such as
openai/gpt-6-luna-decisions, which every gateway writes, is refused rather than guessed at, until you set the endpoint. The next two sections say how.
"Open Jev" is not one of these. It is a name used by at least nine
unrelated projects that reimplement /v1/systemone; the one llama.cpp
serves is ggml-org/OpenJev-GGUF. Each is reached as an endpoint you set.
Where it has been tested
Every platform below was sent real requests through its live API, and the model-backed checks were run over the whole calibration set on each:
- TypeSafe,
jev-1.13.0, where Jev's cutoffs were set. - OpenRouter,
typesafe/jev-1.13. It answers as TypeSafe does, so its findings are treated as calibrated. - LLM Gateway,
jev-1.13.0, and Vercel AI Gateway,typesafe-ai/jev. Both are sent OpenAI's shape, which moves Jev's answers a little, so their findings say the cutoff was set at TypeSafe. - OpenAI,
gpt-6-luna, where Luna's cutoffs were fit, and Vercel AI Gateway,openai/gpt-6-luna-decisions, which answers as OpenAI does. - Liquid AI,
d1, where d1's cutoffs were fit.
Luna and d1 have cutoffs of their own since 1.1.0, each fit on that model's run over the whole calibration set: a cutoff flags none of the good examples and catches at least six in ten of the bad ones. Where no cutoff can, the check is not asked of that model: five checks on Luna and two on d1. Any other model, or one of these under another id or through another route, is judged by its family's cutoffs, or Jev's, and every finding from it says so. docs/cutoffs.md has each cutoff, how many known defects it caught and how many good questions it flagged on each model, why each check that is not asked is not, and how far each platform's answers sit from the same model elsewhere. It is written from the saved runs, so its numbers are the runs' own. LiteLLM, Eden AI and llama.cpp have not been run yet.
Ask a model about a file
Rules DEC301 to DEC312 are not part of linting. They run only when you run
one of the Ask commands, or pass --ask on the command line. Each sends
every question in the file to a decision model and asks it about problems a
text pattern cannot see: options that overlap, an option whose name
contradicts its description, criteria about the wrong thing, a Choice that
should be a Score, two questions that ask the same thing, a question that
needs another question's answer.
There is one command per platform, and each has its own key:
- Give it the platform's key, in any of three ways. Run its Set ... API
Key command and paste the key, which stores it in your operating system
keychain. Or type it into Settings under
decisionlint.ask.keys, by the platform's id, which can only be set in your user settings and is left out of Settings Sync. Or put it in the environment variable the platform names, in the environment VS Code runs in. - Open a file with questions and run the platform's Ask command.
The model each command sends is decisionlint.ask.models, by platform.
The TypeSafe default is the version the checks' cutoffs were set on, and a
finding from any other model, Luna included, says so. OpenRouter's
typesafe/jev-1.13 was measured to answer as that version does, so its
findings do not. The probe asks Jev at TypeSafe, with the TypeSafe
key and model.
For a platform you host, a llama.cpp, vLLM, LiteLLM or Ollaya, set
decisionlint.ask.endpoint to the full URL it listens at,
decisionlint.ask.endpointModel to the model id it serves, and
decisionlint.ask.endpointShape to typesafe or openai when the path
does not end in /systemone or /decisions. Then run Ask the Model at My
Endpoint. It sends the endpoint key if you set one, else the key in
TYPESAFE_API_KEY or OPENAI_API_KEY, whichever the shape's SDK reads, or
no key when there is none, which is how a local llama.cpp is reached. The
endpoint can only be set in your user settings, so a repository cannot point
your key at a host of its choosing.
What to know before you run it:
- It uses your key and your credits. One request per question and one more per request body, roughly 800 input tokens each on Jev and twice that on Luna. At TypeSafe's published price that is a few thousandths of a cent per question, and at OpenAI's one or two hundredths. The count shown before sending is an estimate, rounded up, and what the platform bills can differ.
- Only questions are sent: type, instructions, criteria and ids. Your
stateis not, unless you turn ondecisionlint.ask.sendState. With that on, a state written out in the file is sent too, and two more checks run: does the state hold what each question asks about, and does it carry text that gives orders to its reader. - A question with a part built at runtime is not sent. The summary says how many were held back.
- A run sends at most
decisionlint.ask.maxCallsrequests, 25 by default. - It is disabled in an untrusted workspace. Run Workspaces: Manage Workspace Trust and trust the folder to turn it on.
- Findings disappear when you edit the file, because they were about the old text. Editing or closing the file during a check stops the check.
- Each finding shows the probability Jev gave it. Treat it as an argument with a number attached, not a verdict.
Turn on decisionlint.ask.confirm and it first tells you how many requests it
will make, roughly how many tokens and what that costs, and waits for a yes.
It is off by default: running the command is the decision to send.
Probe a question
Put the cursor in a question and run DecisionLint: Probe the Jev Question at the Cursor. It sends that question against the state written beside it, three times as written and then with the layout changed: options reversed, option names hidden, levels reversed, criteria removed. A report opens showing whether the answer moved.
If the answer changes when only the order of the options changes, the question is not deciding it. If three identical requests disagree, the input is too close to call.
It needs the state written out in the file, it sends that state, and it costs five or six requests.
Nothing else in this extension uses the network. On the command line, only
--ask does.
Project settings
Put a decisionlint.json in your project and the editor and the command line
both read it, so what you see while writing is what CI reports.
{
"rules": { "DEC004": "error", "DEC110": "warning" },
"fallbackOptions": ["other", "none", "unsure"],
"ignore": ["DEC004:department"],
"exclude": ["fixtures", "**/*.generated.ts"]
}
exclude lists files and folders not to lint, relative to the settings file.
** crosses folders, * stays inside one, and a name with no slash matches
at any depth. The editor and the command line leave out the same files.
The nearest file wins, looking from the linted file upward, so a folder can
have its own. Where one applies, it replaces the rules, fallbackOptions
and ignore settings in the editor. If it cannot be read, nothing is linted
and the status bar says why. A key it does not know is an error, so a typo
cannot quietly leave a rule on.
To silence one finding, use the lightbulb: Disable DEC004 for this line
or for this file writes the comment for you. Strict JSON has no comments,
so there a finding is silenced with ignore.
What it will not tell you
- Whether a well-formed question is right on your data. That needs labeled examples and calls to Jev.
- Anything about a value it cannot see. A question built from variables is reported as unreadable and counted in the status bar. A file is never shown as clean while part of it went unread.
- Everything about wording.
DEC101toDEC112are heuristics over English text. A rule is on only where a badly written question cost answers or confidence against Jev, in our runs or in someone else's, and it stays on only while it is right on at least 9 of 10 of its findings on public code it was not tuned against. Four that describe failure modes in TypeSafe's docs,DEC104,DEC107,DEC108andDEC111, did not fail onjev-1.13.0and are off.DEC110andDEC112cost answers but fell under 9 of 10 on the second public sample, at 8 of 9 and 2 of 3, and are off since 1.1.0. Switch any of them on indecisionlint.rules. Two more were removed in 0.4.0 for being wrong every time they fired. - Anything about a question that is not in English.
- What a lone object lacks. A
{ type, instructions }outside aquestionsmap may be a template or half of a builder, so a missingcriteriais only reported inside a request.
DEC004 is informational because the advice behind it is conditional: add a
fallback when the options might not cover every input. It fires on 9 of the 11
Choice examples in TypeSafe's own docs. If your options are exhaustive, turn it
off for that question.
Suppressing a finding
In code:
// decisionlint-disable-next-line DEC004
const side = { type: 'choice', instructions: 'Heads or tails?', criteria: { heads: null, tails: null } };
decisionlint-disable-line covers the same line and decisionlint-disable the whole file.
Leave the code off to silence every rule.
A comment that silences nothing is reported as DEC010, so one left behind
after its finding was fixed cannot hide a new finding later.
What was written for JevLint-LE still works: a jevlint-le-disable comment, and the JEV codes in a comment, in rules or in ignore, are read for ever. Every finding is written with the DEC code.
Fixing
Some findings can be mended without a decision from you: a Noul criteria key
written yes where the API takes true, a mistyped question type, criteria
in the wrong shape. npx decisionlint --fix writes those, and the summary of
any run says how many it would mend.
In the editor, fix on save does the same:
{ "editor.codeActionsOnSave": { "source.fixAll.decisionlint": "explicit" } }
Adding a fallback option and pinning a model change what a working request does, so they are never written for you. They stay on the lightbulb.
JSON has no comments, so use the setting:
{ "decisionlint.ignore": ["DEC004:side"] }
The CLI
The same linting runs outside the editor, for CI and for any editor that is not VS Code.
One version for the editor and CI
Install it in the project, as you would any linter:
npm install --save-dev decisionlint
The editor then lints with that copy, not the one the extension carries, so
what you see while typing is what npx decisionlint reports in CI. The version
changes when package.json does, and for everyone at once. The status bar
shows project 0.5.2 while a project's copy is in use.
With nothing installed the extension lints with its own copy, with no setup.
It also uses its own copy, and the status bar says project has 0.2.0 with
the reason in its tooltip, when the project's copy cannot be used:
- the workspace is not trusted, because loading the copy runs code from it
- the copy is older than 0.3.0, the first version an editor can load
- the copy fails to load, or does not read that kind of file
When the copy's package.json cannot be read there is no version to show, so
the status bar says project copy unreadable, again with the reason in its
tooltip.
The Ask commands and the probe always run the extension's own code, whatever the project installs.
npx decisionlint src/ # a directory, searched for files it reads
npx decisionlint request.jev.json # one file
npx decisionlint --format github . # annotations on a pull request
It exits 0 when the run passes, 1 when a finding fails it, and 2 when it
could not do what was asked: an unknown option, a missing path, or nothing to
read. Errors always fail a run. Warnings fail it only past --max-warnings.
The summary line always says how many questions could not be read in full
and names any file skipped for its size and any folder or file it could not
read. It does not follow linked folders. It does not run the checks that ask
Jev, and it never uses the network, unless you pass --ask.
In CI and before a commit
On GitHub, the action annotates a pull request:
- uses: nolindnaidoo/[email protected]
with:
paths: src
For GitHub code scanning, write SARIF and upload it:
- run: npx decisionlint --format sarif src > decisionlint.sarif
continue-on-error: true
- uses: github/codeql-action/upload-sarif@v3
with:
sarif_file: decisionlint.sarif
--format junit writes the XML that Jenkins, GitLab and most test reporters
read. Only an error is a failed case there, since only an error fails a run.
With pre-commit:
- repo: https://github.com/nolindnaidoo/decisionlint
rev: v1.1.0
hooks:
- id: decisionlint
Asking a model
--ask runs the checks that ask a decision model, DEC301 to DEC312, after
the linting. It is the only option that uses the network, and nothing in a
settings file can turn it on.
npx decisionlint --ask-plan src/ # what it would send. No key, nothing sent
TYPESAFE_API_KEY=... npx decisionlint --ask src/ # send it
--ask-platformnames where it goes:typesafe,openai,openrouter,vercel,llmgatewayorliquid, each with a default model in its own spelling and its own key variable,TYPESAFE_API_KEY,OPENAI_API_KEY,OPENROUTER_API_KEY,AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY,LLM_GATEWAY_API_KEYorLIQUID_API_KEY. Without it,--ask-modelwith a platform's spelling,~typesafe/jev-latestfor OpenRouter, sends there, and a bare id goes to its vendor. The key is read from that variable and from nowhere else, and is never printed.--ask-endpoint, orDECISIONLINT_ASK_ENDPOINT, sends to a platform you host, with--ask-shapewhere the path does not say which shape it takes. A spelling that names no host, such asopenai/gpt-6-luna-decisions, is refused without it, with nothing sent.- A question with a part built at runtime is never sent. The summary counts the ones held back.
- State is not sent unless you add
--ask-send-state. --ask-max-callsis a limit for the whole run. A run that needs more exits 2, so a job cannot pass after checking part of a project.- A rejected key, a failed request or a run you stop also exits 2, and says how many requests were answered of how many were planned.
- These findings are warnings or less by default, so they fail a run only
when
--ruleraises one or--max-warningsis passed.
Commands
Every command can be given a shortcut. Open Keyboard Shortcuts, search for
DecisionLint, and press the keys you want on any command in the list. None is
bound out of the box, so nothing here can collide with a shortcut you already
use.
Or write them into keybindings.json. The keys here are only an example:
[
{ "key": "ctrl+alt+j", "command": "decisionlint.lintFile", "when": "editorTextFocus" },
{ "key": "ctrl+alt+k", "command": "decisionlint.askJev", "when": "editorTextFocus" }
]
The Ask commands and the probe send requests with your key, so pick keys for them you will not press by accident.
Settings
Privacy & security
- Linting never uses the network. The extension, the command line and the MCP server lint with no key and send nothing. No telemetry is collected.
- Only the Ask commands, the probe,
--askand the two MCP tools that send reach a platform, with your key, and only when you run them. They send questions, not yourstate, unless you turn ondecisionlint.ask.sendStateor--ask-send-state. The probe sends the state written beside the question. - Keys stay out of the repository. The Set ... API Key commands store a
key in your operating system keychain.
decisionlint.ask.keysanddecisionlint.ask.endpointcan only be set in your user settings, which are left out of Settings Sync, so a repository cannot point your key at a host of its choosing. The command line reads a key from its environment variable only and never prints it. - Untrusted workspaces cannot send. The Ask commands are disabled there, and a project's own copy of the linter is not loaded, because loading it runs code from the workspace.
- The MCP server writes nothing, and reads a key from the environment the
client started it with, or
.env.localor.envin its directory, never from a tool argument, so no key lands in an agent's transcript.
Documentation
Development
bun install
bun run typecheck && bun run lint && bun run test
bun run build
bun run test:integration # real VS Code against samples/
bun run package # release/decisionlint-<version>.vsix
bun run test:e2e-vsix # the packaged VSIX in a clean profile
AGENTS.md is the engineering standard. SPEC.md is what the product is and
what is planned. samples/ is a workspace with planted mistakes, used by
bun run test:integration, which drives a real VS Code.
More from the LE family
Sixteen single-purpose tools for the work in front of every model. Each ships a Rust CLI and an MCP server. One page: letools.dev
Get it out
- String-LE — Extract every string in a codebase, so a person can read them
- Numbers-LE — Extract every hardcoded number in a codebase, so a person can check them
- Units-LE — Extract every quantity with its unit, normalized, and refuse the ambiguous ones by name
- Dates-LE — Extract every date and timestamp, and the exact instant each one resolves to
- IDs-LE — Extract every UUID, ULID, NanoID, ObjectId and Snowflake, and decode the time inside
- IPs-LE — Extract every IP address, CIDR block and MAC, normalized and classified by scope
- URLs-LE — Extract every URL in a codebase, with its protocol and exact position
- Paths-LE — Extract every file path in a codebase, and say whether it still points at anything
- Colors-LE — Extract every color in a codebase, and say which ones are not in your palette
Check it
- Regex-LE — Find every regex in a codebase, and report which can be driven into catastrophic backtracking
- Versions-LE — Find where one dependency is constrained differently across a repository's manifests
- i18n-LE — Identify the i18n library a project uses, then audit its catalogs by that library's rules
- Scrape-LE — Check whether a page is scrapeable before the scraper is written, and say when it cannot tell
Guard it
- Secrets-LE — Find hardcoded credentials in a codebase, and never print one into the report
- EnvSync-LE — Compare the dotenv files in a tree, and say which keys are missing from which
- Unicode-LE — Find the Unicode that hides meaning — bidi controls, invisibles, homoglyphs, mixed scripts
Each stands on its own: no shared crate, no published core. Where two of them agree, it is because the same answer was right twice.
Contact — nolindnaidoo.com · GitHub · LinkedIn
Also by nolindnaidoo
Rust — pixelcoords and pixelactions are one loop: pixelcoords answers where, pixelactions acts there. Their own tools, their own voice — not part of the LE family.
- pixelcoords — Freeze your screen, mark regions, get pixel-exact coordinates and crops pixelcoords.dev · crates.io · docs.rs
- pixelactions — Consume human-verified coordinates, perform the interaction, confirm it landed pixelactions.dev · crates.io · docs.rs
License
MIT © nolindnaidoo