Code Quality (FREE)

Moved to GitLab Free in 13.2.

To ensure your project's code stays simple, readable, and easy to contribute to, you can use GitLab CI/CD to analyze your source code quality.

For example, while you're implementing a feature, you can run Code Quality reports to analyze how your improvements are impacting your code's quality. You can use this information to ensure that your changes are improving performance rather than degrading it.

Code Quality:

• Uses plugins supported by Code Climate, which are free and open source. Code Quality does not require a Code Climate subscription.
• Runs in pipelines by using a Docker image built in the GitLab Code Quality project.
• Uses default Code Climate configurations.
• Can make use of a template.
• Is available by using Auto Code Quality, provided by Auto DevOps.
• Can be extended through Analysis Plugins or a custom tool.

Summary of features per tier

Different features are available in different GitLab tiers, as shown in the following table:

Code Quality Widget

Moved to GitLab Free in 13.2.

Going a step further, GitLab can show the Code Quality report right in the merge request widget area if a report from the target branch is available to compare to:

Watch a quick walkthrough of Code Quality in action:

NOTE: For one customer, the auditor found that having Code Quality, SAST, and Container Scanning all automated in GitLab CI/CD was almost better than a manual review! Read more.

See also the Code Climate list of Supported Languages for Maintainability.

Code Quality in diff view (ULTIMATE)

• Introduced in GitLab 13.11, disabled by default behind the codequality_mr_diff feature flag.
• Enabled by default in GitLab 13.12.
• Disabled by default in GitLab 14.0 due to this issue.
• Inline annotation added and feature flag removed in GitLab 14.1.

Changes to files in merge requests can cause Code Quality to fall if merged. In these cases, the merge request's diff view displays an indicator next to lines with new Code Quality violations. For example:

Example configuration

This example shows how to run Code Quality on your code by using GitLab CI/CD and Docker.

• Using shared runners, the job should be configured For the Docker-in-Docker workflow.
• Using private runners, there is an alternative configuration recommended for running Code Quality analysis more efficiently.

In either configuration, the runner must have enough disk space to handle generated Code Quality files. For example on the GitLab project the files are approximately 7 GB.

Once you set up GitLab Runner, include the Code Quality template in your CI configuration:

include:
  - template: Code-Quality.gitlab-ci.yml

The above example creates a code_quality job in your CI/CD pipeline which scans your source code for code quality issues. The report is saved as a Code Quality report artifact that you can later download and analyze.

It's also possible to override the URL to the Code Quality image by setting the CODE_QUALITY_IMAGE CI/CD variable. This is particularly useful if you want to lock in a specific version of Code Quality, or use a fork of it:

include:
  - template: Code-Quality.gitlab-ci.yml

code_quality:
  variables:
    CODE_QUALITY_IMAGE: "registry.example.com/codequality-fork:latest"

In GitLab 13.4 and later, you can override the Code Quality environment variables:

variables:
  TIMEOUT_SECONDS: 1

include:
  - template: Code-Quality.gitlab-ci.yml

By default, report artifacts are not downloadable. If you need them downloadable on the job details page, you can add gl-code-quality-report.json to the artifact paths like so:

include:
  - template: Code-Quality.gitlab-ci.yml

code_quality:
  artifacts:
    paths: [gl-code-quality-report.json]

The included code_quality job is running in the test stage, so it needs to be included in your CI configuration, like so:

stages:
  - test

NOTE: This information is automatically extracted and shown right in the merge request widget.

WARNING: On self-managed instances, if a malicious actor compromises the Code Quality job definition they could execute privileged Docker commands on the runner host. Having proper access control policies mitigates this attack vector by allowing access only to trusted actors.

Set up a private runner for code quality without Docker-in-Docker

It's possible to configure your own runners and avoid Docker-in-Docker. You can use a configuration that may greatly speed up job execution without requiring your runners to operate in privileged mode.

This alternative configuration uses socket binding to share the Runner's Docker daemon with the job environment. Be aware that this configuration has significant considerations to be consider, but may be preferable depending on your use case.

1. Register a new runner:

   $ gitlab-runner register --executor "docker" \
     --docker-image="docker:stable" \
     --url "https://gitlab.com/" \
     --description "cq-sans-dind" \
     --tag-list "cq-sans-dind" \
     --locked="false" \
     --access-level="not_protected" \
     --docker-volumes "/cache"\
     --docker-volumes "/builds:/builds"\
     --docker-volumes "/var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock" \
     --registration-token="<project_token>" \
     --non-interactive

2. Optional, but recommended: Set the builds directory to /tmp/builds, so job artifacts are periodically purged from the runner host. If you skip this step, you must clean up the default builds directory (/builds) yourself. You can do this by adding the following two flags to gitlab-runner register in the previous step.

   --builds-dir "/tmp/builds"
   --docker-volumes "/tmp/builds:/tmp/builds" # Use this instead of --docker-volumes "/builds:/builds"

   The resulting configuration:

   [[runners]]
     name = "cq-sans-dind"
     url = "https://gitlab.com/"
     token = "<project_token>"
     executor = "docker"
     builds_dir = "/tmp/builds"
     [runners.docker]
       tls_verify = false
       image = "docker:stable"
       privileged = false
       disable_entrypoint_overwrite = false
       oom_kill_disable = false
       disable_cache = false
       volumes = ["/cache", "/var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock", "/tmp/builds:/tmp/builds"]
       shm_size = 0
     [runners.cache]
       [runners.cache.s3]
       [runners.cache.gcs]

3. Apply two overrides to the code_quality job created by the template:

   include:
     - template: Code-Quality.gitlab-ci.yml
   
   code_quality:
     services:            # Shut off Docker-in-Docker
     tags:
       - cq-sans-dind     # Set this job to only run on our new specialized runner

The end result is that:

• Privileged mode is not used.
• Docker-in-Docker is not used.
• Docker images, including all CodeClimate images, are cached, and not re-fetched for subsequent jobs.

With this configuration, the run time for a second pipeline is much shorter. For example this small change to an open merge request running Code Quality analysis ran significantly faster the second time:

This configuration is not possible on gitlab.com shared runners. Shared runners are configured with privileged=true, and they do not expose docker.sock into the job container. As a result, socket binding cannot be used to make docker available in the context of the job script.

Docker-in-Docker was chosen as an operational decision by the runner team, instead of exposing docker.sock.

Disabling the code quality job

The code_quality job doesn't run if the $CODE_QUALITY_DISABLED CI/CD variable is present. Please refer to the CI/CD variables documentation to learn more about how to define one.

To disable the code_quality job, add CODE_QUALITY_DISABLED as a custom CI/CD variable. This can be done:

• For the whole project.

• For a single pipeline run:

  1. Go to CI/CD > Pipelines
  2. Select Run pipeline
  3. Add CODE_QUALITY_DISABLED as the variable key, with any value.

Using with merge request pipelines

The configuration provided by the Code Quality template does not let the code_quality job run on merge request pipelines.

If merge request pipelines is enabled, the code_quality:rules must be redefined.

The template has these rules for the code quality job:

code_quality:
  rules:
    - if: $CODE_QUALITY_DISABLED
      when: never
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_TAG || $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH

If you are using merge request pipelines, your rules (or workflow: rules) might look like this example:

job1:
  rules:
    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "merge_request_event" # Run job1 in merge request pipelines
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "main"                  # Run job1 in pipelines on the main branch (but not in other branch pipelines)
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_TAG                               # Run job1 in pipelines for tags

To make these work together, you need to overwrite the code quality rules so that they match your current rules. From the example above, it could look like:

include:
  - template: Code-Quality.gitlab-ci.yml

code_quality:
  rules:
    - if: $CODE_QUALITY_DISABLED
      when: never
    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "merge_request_event" # Run code quality job in merge request pipelines
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH      # Run code quality job in pipelines on the default branch (but not in other branch pipelines)
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_TAG                               # Run code quality job in pipelines for tags

Configure Code Quality to use a private container image registry

Introduced in 13.7.

To reduce network time and external dependency, you can use your own container image registry to host the Code Quality Docker images. Because of the nested architecture of container execution, the registry prefix must be specifically configured to be passed down into CodeClimate's subsequent docker pull commands for individual engines.

The following two variables can address all of the required image pulls:

• CODE_QUALITY_IMAGE: A fully prefixed image name that can be located anywhere accessible from your job environment. GitLab Container Registry can be used here to host your own copy.
• CODECLIMATE_PREFIX: The domain of your intended container image registry. This is a configuration option supported by CodeClimate CLI. You must:
  • Include a trailing slash (/).
  • Not include a protocol prefix, such as https://.

include:
  - template: Jobs/Code-Quality.gitlab-ci.yml

code_quality:
  variables:
    CODE_QUALITY_IMAGE: "my-private-registry.local:12345/codequality:0.85.24"
    CODECLIMATE_PREFIX: "my-private-registry.local:12345/"

The images in the private container image registry must be available without authentication. Follow this issue for more information.

This example is specific to GitLab Code Quality. For more general instructions on how to configure DinD with a registry mirror, see the relevant documentation.

Configuring jobs using variables

The Code Quality job supports environment variables that users can set to configure job execution at runtime.

For a list of available environment variables, see Environment variables.

Implementing a custom tool

It's possible to have a custom tool provide Code Quality reports in GitLab. To do this:

1. Define a job in your .gitlab-ci.yml file that generates the Code Quality report artifact.
2. Configure your tool to generate the Code Quality report artifact as a JSON file that implements a subset of the Code Climate spec.

The Code Quality report artifact JSON file must contain an array of objects with the following properties:

Example:

[
  {
    "description": "'unused' is assigned a value but never used.",
    "fingerprint": "7815696ecbf1c96e6894b779456d330e",
    "severity": "minor",
    "location": {
      "path": "lib/index.js",
      "lines": {
        "begin": 42
      }
    }
  }
]

NOTE: Although the Code Climate spec supports more properties, those are ignored by GitLab. The GitLab parser does not allow a byte order mark at the beginning of the file.

Code Quality reports (PREMIUM)

Introduced in GitLab 12.9.

After the Code Quality job completes:

• Potential changes to code quality are shown directly in the merge request. The Code Quality widget in the merge request compares the reports from the base and head of the branch, then lists any violations that are resolved or created when the branch is merged.
• The full JSON report is available as a downloadable artifact for the code_quality job.
• The full list of code quality violations generated by a pipeline is shown in the Code Quality tab of the Pipeline Details page.

Generate an HTML report

In GitLab 13.6 and later, it is possible to generate an HTML report file by setting the REPORT_FORMAT CI/CD variable to html. This is useful if you just want to view the report in a more human-readable format or to publish this artifact on GitLab Pages for even easier reviewing.

To generate both JSON and HTML report files, add another job to your template by using extends: code_quality:

include:
  - template: Code-Quality.gitlab-ci.yml

code_quality_html:
  extends: code_quality
  variables:
    REPORT_FORMAT: html
  artifacts:
    paths: [gl-code-quality-report.html]

NOTE: Adding a job means your code is scanned twice: once to generate a JSON report and once to generate an HTML report.

You can also generate only an HTML report instead of the standard JSON report. To do so, set REPORT_FORMAT to html in the existing job:

include:
  - template: Code-Quality.gitlab-ci.yml

code_quality:
  variables:
    REPORT_FORMAT: html
  artifacts:
    paths: [gl-code-quality-report.html]

WARNING: If you only generate an HTML report, you can't see your results in the merge request widget, pipeline report, or diff view. These features require a JSON report.

Extending functionality

Using Analysis Plugins

Should there be a need to extend the default functionality provided by Code Quality, as stated in Code Quality, Analysis Plugins are available.

For example, to use the SonarJava analyzer, add a file named .codeclimate.yml containing the enablement code for the plugin to the root of your repository:

version: "2"
plugins:
  sonar-java:
    enabled: true

This adds SonarJava to the plugins: section of the default .codeclimate.yml included in your project.

Changes to the plugins: section do not affect the exclude_patterns section of the default .codeclimate.yml. See the Code Climate documentation for excluding files and folders for more details.

Here's an example project that uses Code Quality with a .codeclimate.yml file.

Use a Code Quality image hosted in a registry with untrusted certificates

If you set the CODE_QUALITY_IMAGE to an image that is hosted in a Docker registry which uses a TLS certificate that is not trusted, such as a self-signed certificate, you can see errors like the one below:

$ docker pull --quiet "$CODE_QUALITY_IMAGE"
Error response from daemon: Get https://gitlab.example.com/v2/: x509: certificate signed by unknown authority

To fix this, configure the Docker daemon to trust certificates by putting the certificate inside of the /etc/docker/certs.d directory.

This Docker daemon is exposed to the subsequent Code Quality Docker container in the GitLab Code Quality template and should be to exposed any other containers in which you want to have your certificate configuration apply.

Docker

If you have access to GitLab Runner configuration, add the directory as a volume mount. For example:

[[runners]]
  ...
  executor = "docker"
  [runners.docker]
    ...
    privileged = true
    volumes = ["/cache", "/etc/gitlab-runner/certs/gitlab.example.com.crt:/etc/docker/certs.d/gitlab.example.com/ca.crt:ro"]

Replace gitlab.example.com with the actual domain of the registry.

Kubernetes

If you have access to GitLab Runner configuration and the Kubernetes cluster, you can mount a ConfigMap:

1. Create a ConfigMap with the certificate:

   kubectl create configmap registry-crt --namespace gitlab-runner --from-file /etc/gitlab-runner/certs/gitlab.example.com.crt

2. Update GitLab Runner config.toml to specify the ConfigMap:

   [[runners]]
     ...
     executor = "kubernetes"
     [runners.kubernetes]
       image = "alpine:3.12"
       privileged = true
       [[runners.kubernetes.volumes.config_map]]
         name = "registry-crt"
         mount_path = "/etc/docker/certs.d/gitlab.example.com/ca.crt"
         sub_path = "gitlab.example.com.crt"

Replace gitlab.example.com with the actual domain of the registry.

Troubleshooting

Changing the default configuration has no effect

A common issue is that the terms Code Quality (GitLab specific) and Code Climate (Engine used by GitLab) are very similar. You must add a .codeclimate.yml file to change the default configuration, not a .codequality.yml file. If you use the wrong filename, the default .codeclimate.yml is still used.

No Code Quality report is displayed in a merge request

This can be due to multiple reasons:

• You just added the Code Quality job in your .gitlab-ci.yml. The report does not have anything to compare to yet, so no information can be displayed. It only displays after future merge requests have something to compare to.
• Your pipeline is not set to run the code quality job on your target branch. If there is no report generated from the target branch, your MR branch reports have nothing to compare to. In this situation you will see an error stating Base pipeline codequality artifact not found.
• If no degradation or error is detected, nothing is displayed.
• The artifacts:expire_in CI/CD setting can cause the Code Quality artifacts to expire faster than desired.
• The widgets use the pipeline of the latest commit to the target branch. If commits are made to the default branch that do not run the code quality job, this may cause the merge request widget to have no base report for comparison.
• If you use the REPORT_STDOUT environment variable, no report file is generated and nothing displays in the merge request.
• Large gl-code-quality-report.json files (esp. >10 MB) are known to prevent the report from being displayed. As a work-around, try removing properties that are ignored by GitLab. You can:
  • Configure the Code Quality tool to not output those types.
  • Use sed, awk or similar commands in the .gitlab-ci.yml script to edit the gl-code-quality-report.json before the job completes.

Only a single Code Quality report is displayed, but more are defined

GitLab only uses the Code Quality artifact from the latest created job (with the largest job ID). If multiple jobs in a pipeline generate a code quality artifact, those of earlier jobs are ignored. To avoid confusion, configure only one job to generate a gl-code-quality-report.json.

RuboCop errors

When using Code Quality jobs on a Ruby project, you can encounter problems running RuboCop. For example, the following error can appear when using either a very recent or very old version of Ruby:

/usr/local/bundle/gems/rubocop-0.52.1/lib/rubocop/config.rb:510:in `check_target_ruby':
Unknown Ruby version 2.7 found in `.ruby-version`. (RuboCop::ValidationError)
Supported versions: 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5

This is caused by the default version of RuboCop used by the check engine not covering support for the Ruby version in use.

To use a custom version of RuboCop that supports the version of Ruby used by the project, you can override the configuration through a .codeclimate.yml file created in the project repository.

For example, to specify using RuboCop release 0.67:

version: "2"
plugins:
  rubocop:
    enabled: true
    channel: rubocop-0-67

No Code Quality appears on merge requests when using custom tool

If your merge requests do not show any code quality changes when using a custom tool, ensure that the line property is an integer.

Code Quality CI job with Code Climate plugins enabled fails with error

If you enabled any of the Code Climate plugins, and the Code Quality CI job fails with the error below, it's likely the job takes longer than the default timeout of 900 seconds:

error: (CC::CLI::Analyze::EngineFailure) engine pmd ran for 900 seconds and was killed
Could not analyze code quality for the repository at /code

To work around this problem, set TIMEOUT_SECONDS to a higher value in your .gitlab.-ci.yml file.

For example:

variables:
  TIMEOUT_SECONDS: 3600