Config file

Instead of passing flags every time, check a straitjacket.toml into your repo. Straitjacket picks it up automatically — from the current directory or any parent — so every run (local or CI) starts from the same settings.

# straitjacket.toml
paths = ["src", "tests"]
skip = ["motion"]
max-lines = 800
theme-files = ["src/theme/tokens.css"]
file-size-exclude = ["notes/"]
no-comments = false

Every key is optional. Written out in full, the defaults are:

paths = ["."]
only = []
skip = []
max-lines = 1500
file-size-exclude = []
todo-exclude = []
theme-files = []
max-nesting = 8
no-comments = false
include-json = false
no-ignore = false
no-fail = false
fail-on-unused-markers = true

Keys

Every key mirrors a CLI flag one-for-one, in kebab-case:

key	type	flag
`paths`	list of strings	positional paths
`format`	`text` \| `json` \| `sarif`	`--format`
`only`	list of rule ids	`--only`
`skip`	list of rule ids	`--skip`
`max-lines`	number (0 disables `file-size`)	`--max-lines`
`max-nesting`	number (0 disables `deep-nesting`)	`--max-nesting`
`file-size-exclude`	list of path prefixes	—
`todo-exclude`	list of path prefixes	—
`theme-files`	list of paths allowed to define colors	—
`no-comments`	boolean	`--no-comments` (no-comments mode)
`include-json`	boolean	`--include-json`
`no-ignore`	boolean	`--no-ignore`
`no-fail`	boolean	`--no-fail`
`fail-on-unused-markers`	boolean	`--no-fail-on-unused-markers`

An unknown key is an error, and so is an unknown rule id in only/skip — a typo'd setting is surfaced, not silently ignored. The rule ids are the ones in the rules reference.

theme-files designates the files that are allowed to define color literals, so a palette or token module doesn't have to be papered over with markers. file-size-exclude and todo-exclude are path prefixes those two rules skip.

Precedence

Settings layer in this order, each overriding the one before:

Built-in defaults
straitjacket.toml
CLI flags

So a --max-lines 0 on the command line wins over max-lines = 800 in the file, which wins over the default of 1500.

Discovery

Straitjacket looks for straitjacket.toml in the current directory and walks up to the filesystem root, using the first it finds. When a file is loaded it prints a one-line note to stderr, so stdout stays clean for --format json and --format sarif.

--config <path> — use a specific file instead of discovering one.
--no-config — ignore any checked-in configuration and use only flags and defaults.

Sections from removed rules

Configuration written for an older Straitjacket that carried the fact-backed rules — [facts], [effects], [errors] — is rejected with an error naming the rules that went away, rather than being quietly ignored. Delete the section; those rules are not coming back in this line of the tool.

With the GitHub Action

The Action runs Straitjacket inside your checked-out repo, so a committed straitjacket.toml is picked up with no extra configuration. Leave the Action's inputs blank to defer to the file; set an input to override it for that workflow.