llm-wiki/raw/articles/vercel-konsistent-structural-linter-agents-2026.md

---
source_url: "https://github.com/vercel-labs/konsistent"
ingested: 2026-07-02
sha256: 6d1b4bebd6b6f57bd35be886330858d4f84878bdd7da58c639daeaf4c212c536
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  channel_id: "1028287639918497822"
  channel_name: "chat"
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  author_id: "890908900520505354"
  posted_at: "2026-07-02T11:01:45.024000000Z"
  message_excerpt: "https://github.com/vercel-labs/konsistent"
---

# konsistent

> **kon·sis·**​**tent** · /kɔnzɪsˈtɛnt/ · _German for "consistent"_

_Enforce consistent code, for agents and humans._

`konsistent` is a CLI linter that checks whether files and directories in your TypeScript codebase match declared structural patterns. It fills a gap that ESLint, Biome, and oxlint don't cover: they enforce code style and best practices within files, but none of them verify project-level structural conventions — like "every provider package must export the same shape" or "every adapter must extend the base class."

Consistent project structure reduces cognitive overhead, simplifies onboarding, and makes codebases predictable. It also directly improves coding agent performance — agents exposed to consistent API conventions produce better code, faster.

## Usage

Install it in the project:

| NPM | PNPM | Bun |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `npm install konsistent --save-dev` | `pnpm add konsistent --save-dev` | `bun add konsistent --dev` |

Add it to your `package.json scripts:

```json
{
  "scripts": {
    "konsistent": "konsistent"
  }
}
```

Run it:

| NPM | PNPM | Bun |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `npm run konsistent` | `pnpm konsistent` | `bun konsistent` |

When violations are found:

```
packages/anthropic/src/index.ts
  -  error  Missing export type "AnthropicProvider"  [must-export-and-more]

packages/openai/src/index.ts
  -  error  Missing export "openai"  [must-export-and-more]
  -  error  Missing export type "OpenAIProviderSettings"  [must-export-and-more]

Checked 6 files in 10ms. Found 3 errors.
```

When everything passes:

```
Checked 6 files in 8ms. No violations found.
```

When you don't have a `konsistent.json` yet:

```
Could not read config file: /path/to/project/konsistent.json
```

### Creating your `konsistent.json`

The `konsistent.json` file lives in your project root by default. Here is an example of what it could look like:

```json
{
  "version": "v1",
  "conventions": [
    {
      "name": "provider-packages",
      "paths": "packages/{providerId}",
      "must": {
        "haveType": "directory",
        "haveFiles": ["src/index.ts", "src/${providerId}-provider.ts"]
      }
    },
    {
      "paths": "packages/{providerId}/src/index.ts",
      "must": {
        "export": ["${providerId.toFlatCase()}"],
        "exportTypes": [
          "${providerId.toPascalCase()}Provider",
          "${providerId.toPascalCase()}ProviderSettings"
        ]
      }
    }
  ],
  "kebabToPascalMap": {
    "openai": "OpenAI"
  },
  "kebabToCamelMap": {
    "openai": "openAI"
  }
}
```

> [!TIP]
> **There's a skill for that!** Let an agent create or update your `konsistent.json` for you:
>
> ```
> npx skills add https://github.com/vercel-labs/konsistent --skill konsistent-config
> ```

If you want to place your `konsistent.json` file somewhere other than the project root, you can do so. You must then use the `--config-path` flag to provide the path when running the CLI.

### Documentation

See the [full documentation](./docs/README.md).

### Reviewing and fixing violations

Once your `konsistent.json` is in place, running the CLI will surface violations. They generally fall into two camps:

- **Code is the outlier** — a handful of files violate a rule. Fix the code.
- **Rule is the outlier** — many files violate the same rule, which usually means the codebase is undecided between two (or more) conventions. Pick the one to enforce going forward, update or relax the rule accordingly, then fix the code that doesn't match.

Sorting violations into trivial fixes (renames, moves, re-exports) and non-trivial ones (new types, new logic, refactors) — and deciding the back-compat strategy for any renamed package-boundary exports — is best done deliberately, not in one pass.

> [!TIP]
> **There's a skill for that!** Let an agent run `konsistent`, walk the violations through with you, and apply the fixes once you've signed off:
>
> ```
> npx skills add https://github.com/vercel-labs/konsistent --skill konsistent-fix-violations
> ```

## Commands

| Command | Description |
| --- | --- |
| `konsistent` | Shorthand for `konsistent check` |
| `konsistent check` | Check structural conventions |
| `konsistent validate` | Validate the `konsistent.json` configuration file |
| `konsistent help` | Show a quick reference of all commands and options |
| `konsistent version` | Print the version number |

## Severity

By default, convention violations are errors and cause a non-zero exit code. To mark a convention as a warning instead, add `"severity": "warning"`:

```json
{
  "version": "v1",
  "conventions": [
    {
      "paths": "packages/{name}/src/index.ts",
      "severity": "warning",
      "must": {
        "exportTypes": ["${name.toPascalCase()}Config"]
      }
    }
  ]
}
```

Warnings are displayed in yellow and do not cause a non-zero exit code. Use `--error-on-warnings` to treat warnings as errors in strict CI pipelines, or `--diagnostic-level error` to skip warning conventions entirely.

## CI integration

In GitHub Actions, konsistent automatically emits `::error` and `::warning` annotations so violations appear inline on pull request diffs. No flags needed.

Output formats are also available via `--format`:

- `default` — colored terminal output (default locally)
- `github` — GitHub Actions annotations (default in CI)
- `json` — machine-readable JSON array
- `markdown` — table format for PR comments

## License

Apache-2.0