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Lint Rule Reference

all​

While all isn't technically a lint rule, it's worth mentioning here. all sets the default level for lint rules that don't have a level set explicitly. all can only occur as the first entry in a .flowconfig or as the first rule in a --lints flag. It's not allowed in comments at all because it would have different semantics than would be expected.

ambiguous-object-type​

Triggers when you use object type syntax without explicitly specifying exactness or inexactness.

This lint setting is ignored when exact_by_default is set to false.

1// flowlint ambiguous-object-type:error2
3type A = {x: number}; // Error
                    
4type B = {x: number, ...} // Ok5type C = {| x: number |} // Ok
3:10-3:20: Please write this object type as explicitly exact (use `{|` and `|}` instead of `{` and `}`) or as explicitly inexact (add `...` to the end of the list of properties). [ambiguous-object-type]

deprecated-type​

Triggered on the bool type, which is just an alias for boolean. Just use boolean instead.

1// flowlint deprecated-type:error2
3type A = Array<bool>; // Error
                   
3:16-3:19: Deprecated type. Use `boolean` instead. [deprecated-type]

implicit-inexact-object​

Like ambiguous-object-type, except triggers even when the exact_by_default option is set to false.

nonstrict-import​

Used in conjuction with Flow Strict. Triggers when importing a non @flow strict module. When enabled, dependencies of a @flow strict module must also be @flow strict.

sketchy-null​

Triggers when you do an existence check on a value that can be either null/undefined or falsey.

For example:

1// flowlint sketchy-null:error2
3const x: ?number = 5;4if (x) {} // sketchy because x could be either null or 0.
     
5
6const y: number = 5;7if (y) {} // not sketchy because y can't be null, only 0.8
9const z: ?{foo: number} = {foo: 5};10if (z) {} // not sketchy, because z can't be falsey, only null/undefined.
4:5-4:5: Sketchy null check on number [1] which is potentially 0. Perhaps you meant to check for null or undefined [2]? [sketchy-null-number]

Setting sketchy-null sets the level for all sketchy null checks, but there are more granular rules for particular types. These are:

  • sketchy-null-bool
  • sketchy-null-number
  • sketchy-null-string
  • sketchy-null-mixed
  • sketchy-null-bigint

The type-specific variants are useful for specifying that some types of sketchy null checks are acceptable while others should be errors/warnings. For example, if you want to allow boolean sketchy null checks (for the pattern of treating undefined optional booleans as false) but forbid other types of sketchy null checks, you can do so with this .flowconfig [lints] section:

[lints]
sketchy-null=warn
sketchy-null-bool=off

and now

function foo (bar: ?bool): void {
  if (bar) {
    ...
  } else {
    ...
  }
}

doesn't report a warning.

Suppressing one type of sketchy null check only suppresses that type, so, for example

1// flowlint sketchy-null:error, sketchy-null-bool:off2const x: ?(number | bool) = 0;3if (x) {}
     
3:5-3:5: Sketchy null check on number [1] which is potentially 0. Perhaps you meant to check for null or undefined [2]? [sketchy-null-number]

would still have a sketchy-null-number error on line 3.

sketchy-number​

Triggers when a number is used in a manner which may lead to unexpected results if the value is falsy. Currently, this lint triggers if a number appears in:

  • the left-hand side of an && expression.

As a motivating example, consider this common idiom in React:

{showFoo && <Foo />}

Here, showFoo is a boolean which controls whether or not to display the <Foo /> element. If showFoo is true, then this evaluates to {<Foo />}. If showFoo is false, then this evaluates to {false}, which doesn't display anything.

Now suppose that instead of a boolean, we have a numerical value representing, say, the number of comments on a post. We want to display a count of the comments, unless there are no comments. We might naively try to do something similar to the boolean case:

{count && <>[{count} comments]</>}

If count is, say, 5, then this displays "[5 comments]". However, if count is 0, then this displays "0" instead of displaying nothing. (This problem is unique to number because 0 and NaN are the only falsy values which React renders with a visible result.) This could be subtly dangerous: if this immediately follows another numerical value, it might appear to the user that we have multiplied that value by 10! Instead, we should do a proper conditional check:

{count ? <>[{count} comments]</> : null}

unclear-type​

Triggers when you use any, Object, or Function as type annotations. These types are unsafe.

1// flowlint unclear-type:error2
3declare const a: any; // Error
                    
4declare const c: Object; // Error
                       
5declare const d: Function; // Error
                         
3:18-3:20: Unclear type. Using `any`, `Object`, or `Function` types is not safe! [unclear-type]
4:18-4:23: Unclear type. Using `any`, `Object`, or `Function` types is not safe! [unclear-type]
5:18-5:25: Unclear type. Using `any`, `Object`, or `Function` types is not safe! [unclear-type]

unnecessary-invariant​

Triggers when you use invariant to check a condition which we know must be truthy based on the available type information. This is quite conservative: for example, if all we know about the condition is that it is a boolean, then the lint will not fire even if the condition must be true at runtime.

Note that this lint does not trigger when we know a condition is always false. It is a common idiom to use invariant() or invariant(false, ...) to throw in code that should be unreachable.

1// flowlint unnecessary-invariant:error2declare function invariant(boolean): void;3
4declare const x: Array<string>; // Array is truthy5invariant(x);
            
5:1-5:12: This use of `invariant` is unnecessary because array type [1] is always truthy. [unnecessary-invariant]

unnecessary-optional-chain​

Triggers when you use ?. where it isn't needed. This comes in two main flavors. The first is when the left-hand-side cannot be nullish:

1// flowlint unnecessary-optional-chain:error2type Foo = {3  bar: number4}5
6declare const foo: Foo;7foo?.bar; // Error
        
7:1-7:8: This use of optional chaining (`?.`) is unnecessary because `foo` [1] cannot be nullish or because an earlier `?.` will short-circuit the nullish case. [unnecessary-optional-chain]

The second is when the left-hand-side could be nullish, but the short-circuiting behavior of ?. is sufficient to handle it anyway:

1// flowlint unnecessary-optional-chain:error2type Foo = {3  bar: {4    baz: number5  }6}7
8declare const foo: ?Foo;9foo?.bar?.baz; // Error
             
9:1-9:13: This use of optional chaining (`?.`) is unnecessary because `foo?.bar` [1] cannot be nullish or because an earlier `?.` will short-circuit the nullish case. [unnecessary-optional-chain]

In the second example, the first use of ?. is valid, since foo is potentially nullish, but the second use of ?. is unnecessary. The left-hand-side of the second ?. (foo?.bar) can only be nullish as a result of foo being nullish, and when foo is nullish, short-circuiting lets us avoid the second ?. altogether!

foo?.bar.baz;

This makes it clear to the reader that bar is not a potentially nullish property.

unsafe-getters-setters​

Triggers when you use getters or setters. Getters and setters can have side effects and are unsafe.

For example:

1// flowlint unsafe-getters-setters:error2let a = 1;3const o = {4  get a() { return a; }, // Error: unsafe-getters-setters
                       
5  set b(x: number) { a = x; }, // Error: unsafe-getters-setters
                             
6  c: 10,7};
4:3-4:23: Getters and setters can have side effects and are unsafe. [unsafe-getters-setters]
5:3-5:29: Getters and setters can have side effects and are unsafe. [unsafe-getters-setters]

untyped-import​

Triggers when you import from an untyped file. Importing from an untyped file results in those imports being typed as any, which is unsafe.

untyped-type-import​

Triggers when you import a type from an untyped file. Importing a type from an untyped file results in an any alias, which is typically not the intended behavior. Enabling this lint brings extra attention to this case and can help improve Flow coverage of typed files by limiting the spread of implicit any types.

unused-promise​

Triggers when a Promise is unused. This can be dangerous, because errors are potentially unhandled, and the code may not execute in the desired order.

A promise can be "used" by...

  • awaiting it
  • Calling .then with a rejection handler (i.e., with two arguments)
  • Calling .catch
  • Calling .finally
  • Storing it in a variable, passing it to a function, etc.

For example:

1// flowlint unused-promise:error2declare function foo(): Promise<void>;3
4async function bar() {5  await foo(); // ok6  foo(); // error, we forgot to await!
        
7}8
9function baz() {10  foo().catch(err => {console.log(err)}); // ok11  foo(); // error
        
12}
6:3-6:8: `Promise` in async scope is unused. Did you mean to `await` it? [unused-promise]
11:3-11:8: `Promise` in sync scope is unused. Promises must be handled by calling .then with a rejection handler, .catch, or .finally. [unused-promise]

You can explicitly ignore the promise with the void operator (e.g., void foo();).

Note: As of v0.201.0, this rule subsumed the unused-promise-in-async-scope and unused-promise-in-sync-scope rules.