---
id: linters
title: Linters
sidebar_label: Linters
---

Flipper Desktop comes with a variety of ESLint checks pre-enabled. This allows us
to enforce sustainable coding practices and skip over discussions in code reviews.

## Specific Linters

A short and incomplete list of unusual linters we deploy, why we do it and how to fix them.

### `promise/no-nesting`

- **Summary:** Avoid nested then() or catch() statements. [More details.](https://github.com/xjamundx/eslint-plugin-promise/blob/development/docs/rules/no-nesting.md)
- **Why:** Nested promise chains can be difficult to read and reason about. Often, you can
    achieve the same by either returning the promise and handling them on a higher level
    or converting them to an async function.

**Example**

*Before*
```js
private pushFileToiOSDevice(
  udid: string,
  bundleId: string,
  destination: string,
  filename: string,
  contents: string,
): Promise<void> {
  return tmpDir({unsafeCleanup: true}).then((dir) => {
    const filePath = path.resolve(dir, filename);
    promisify(fs.writeFile)(filePath, contents).then(() =>
      iosUtil.push(
        udid,
        filePath,
        bundleId,
        destination,
        this.config.idbPath,
      ),
    );
  });
}
```

*After*

```js
async pushFileToiOSDevice(
  udid: string,
  bundleId: string,
  destination: string,
  filename: string,
  contents: string,
): Promise<void> {
  const dir = await tmpDir({unsafeCleanup: true});
  const filePath = path.resolve(dir, filename);
  await fs.writeFile(filePath, contents);
  return iosUtil.push(
    udid,
    filePath,
    bundleId,
    destination,
    this.config.idbPath,
  );
}
```

In addition to less indentation, you also maintain the promise chain
here, meaning that you can handle potential errors on the call-side.

### `flipper/no-console-error-without-context`

- **Summary:** Avoid "Naked" console.error calls. Prefer `console.error("Failed to connect open iOS connection socket", e)` to `console.error(e)`.
- **Why:** We create error tasks internally for every `console.error` call. It can be hard
    to find the origin of the error without context.

**Example**

*Before*
```js
try {
    // ...
} catch (e) {
    console.error(e);
}
```

*After*

```js
try {
    // ...
} catch (e) {
    console.error(`Failed to connect to paste host ${hostname}`, e);
}
```

### `promise/catch-or-return`

- **Summary:** Ensure that each time a `then()` is applied to a promise, a
    `catch()` is applied as well. Exceptions are made if you are returning that
    promise. [More
    details.](https://github.com/xjamundx/eslint-plugin-promise/blob/development/docs/rules/catch-or-return.md)
- **Why:** Unhandled exceptions have no stack trace and will just show up as
    "Unhandled promise rejection", making them very hard to triage and reproduce. By
    always ensuring that promises are returned (ensuring they are a chain) or
    explicitly catching errors, we can improve the user experience by acting more
    quickly on errors.

**Example**

*Before*
```js
function request() {
    // If fetch() fails, the exception will bubble to the top.
    fetch("https://example.com").then(res => {
        doSomethingWith(res);
    });
}
```

*After*
```js
// Option 1
function request() {
    fetch("https://example.com").then(res => {
        doSomethingWith(res);
    }).catch((e) => {
        console.error("Failed to fetch from example.com", e);
    });
}

// Option 2
function request() {
    // Allow the call-site to handle the error.
    return fetch("https://example.com").then(res => {
        doSomethingWith(res);
    });
}
```

### `communist-spelling/communist-spelling`

- **Summary**: We try to avoid using British spellings for identifiers.
- **Why**: This is clearly controversial, but it's very inconvenient when you have to
    bridge American and British APIs. `const greyColour = COLORS.GRAY;` is something
    nobody should have to read or write.

*Before*
```js
const GreyedOutOverlay = initialiseComponent();
```

*After*

```js
const GrayedOutOverlay = initializeComponent();
```

### `no-restricted-properties`

- **Summary**: Why try to avoid using `electron.remote` directly.
- **Why**: Using [`electron.remote`](https://nornagon.medium.com/electrons-remote-module-considered-harmful-70d69500f31) is considered harmful.
    Not only is accessing it slow, but it also makes it harder to abstract away from Electron which we're planning to do.
- **How to fix it**: For now, the best way is to use utilities whereever possible which cache the access. This is not always possible. Adding ignores for legitimate accesses is fine.

*Before*
```js
import electron from 'electron';
const portforwardingClient =
  path.join(
    electron.remote.app.getAppPath()
    'PortForwardingMacApp.app',
    'Contents',
    'MacOS',
    'PortForwardingMacApp'
  );
```

*After*

```js
import {getStaticPath} from './utils/pathUtils';
const portforwardingClient = getStaticPath(
  path.join(
    'PortForwardingMacApp.app',
    'Contents',
    'MacOS',
    'PortForwardingMacApp',
  ),
);
```

### `node/no-sync`

- **Summary**: Use asynchronous methods whereever possible. [More details.](https://github.com/mysticatea/eslint-plugin-node/blob/master/docs/rules/no-sync.md)
- **Why**: Synchronous method calls block the event loop. Even innocous calls like `fs.existsSync()` can cause
    frame drops for users or even long stalls.
- **How to fix it**: We have `fs-extra` as a dependency, which provides Promise-based alternatives for all `fs` functions.
    Most often, replacing a sync call with an async call and adding an `await` is all that's needed.

*Before*
```js
import fs from 'fs';
function ensureCertsExist() {
    if (
        !(
        fs.existsSync(serverKey) &&
        fs.existsSync(serverCert) &&
        fs.existsSync(caCert)
        )
    ) {
        return generateServerCertificate();
    }
}
```

*After*

```js
import fsExtra from 'fs-extra';
async function ensureCertsExist() {
    const allExist = Promise.all([
        fsExtra.exists(serverKey),
        fsExtra.exists(serverCert),
        fsExtra.exists(caCert),
        ]).then((exist) => exist.every(Boolean));
    if (!allExist) {
      return this.generateServerCertificate();
    }
}
```
