coala

Coala is an open-source static code analysis framework that aims to simplify and unify the process of applying multiple linters, formatters, and quality checks across different programming languages. By providing a single interface to run a variety of analysis tools, coala helps teams standardize code quality practices and collect results in one place.

At the heart of coala is the concept of bears, which are plugins that implement specific checks, linters, or fixers for particular languages or tasks. Users configure which bears to run in a file called .coafile, specifying settings, paths, and targets. When executed, the coala engine runs the selected bears, aggregates their output, and presents a consolidated report. This design enables consistent reporting across languages and tools.

Coala supports a wide range of languages through community-developed bears, including Python, JavaScript, Java, C/C++, Go, and others. The ecosystem comprises official and third-party bears, allowing teams to tailor checks to their codebase without juggling separate tools for each language.

Common usage scenarios include local development, continuous integration, and pre-commit workflows, where coala’s unified results help enforce consistent code quality across projects. The framework emphasizes reproducibility of results and offers options for automatic fixes or suggested improvements.

History: coala originated as an open-source project in the 2010s to address fragmentation in multi-language code analysis. It is maintained by an active community and hosted on public repositories, with ongoing development and contributions from users and developers.