violation-fixer

What I Do

• Explain how GrailsCodeStylePlugin, GrailsCodeAnalysisPlugin, and GrailsViolationAggregationPlugin enforce code quality across all 60+ modules.
• Guide you through running style and analysis checks, interpreting the per-tool Markdown violation reports, and fixing each class of violation.
• Describe which tools are always-on vs. opt-in, how to configure them via Gradle properties, and which violations can be auto-fixed.

When to Use Me

Activate this skill when:

• Running ./gradlew aggregateViolations and interpreting the resulting *_VIOLATIONS.md files.
• Fixing CodeNarc, Checkstyle, PMD, SpotBugs, or Spotless violations reported in those files.
• Configuring code style or analysis tools across the repo (enabling/disabling tools or adjusting rule files).
• Preparing a commit — the plugin output must be clean before merging.

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Plugin Overview

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Key Tasks

Quick commands

# Check a single module (style only)
./gradlew :grails-core:codeStyle

# Check a single module (analysis — must be enabled via properties)
./gradlew :grails-core:codeAnalysis -Pgrails.code-analysis.enabled.pmd=true

# Full multi-module check + report
./gradlew aggregateViolations

# Include test sources in style checks
./gradlew aggregateViolations -Pgrails.code-style.enabled.tests=true

# Include test sources in analysis
./gradlew aggregateViolations -Pgrails.code-analysis.enabled.tests=true

# Ignore failures (collect reports without failing the build)
./gradlew aggregateViolations -Pgrails.code-style.ignoreFailures=true -Pgrails.code-analysis.ignoreFailures=true

# Auto-fix some CodeNarc violations before running checks
./gradlew codenarcFix codeStyle

# JaCoCo coverage report
./gradlew aggregateJacocoCoverage

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Output Files

After running aggregateViolations, these files appear under build/reports/violations/ in the root project build directory:

After running aggregateJacocoCoverage:

All reports are inside build/ and are excluded from version control via .gitignore. A clean run produces No violations found! 🎉 in each style file. The build must be clean before committing.

Each file is a Markdown table grouped by module, with columns: Class, Tool, Violation, Line, Message.

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Tool Details

CodeNarc (Groovy — always enabled)

Rule file: build/code-style/codenarc/codenarc.groovy (generated by the plugin during setup; not intended to be edited directly).

Most common violations and how to fix them:

Auto-fixable via codenarcFix: ClassStartsWithBlankLine, SpaceAroundMapEntryColon, UnnecessaryGString, UnnecessarySemicolon, SpaceBeforeOpeningBrace, ConsecutiveBlankLines.

Checkstyle (Java — always enabled)

Rule file: build/code-style/checkstyle/checkstyle.xml.

Common violations:

PMD (Java/Groovy — opt-in)

Enable: -Pgrails.code-analysis.enabled.pmd=true

Rule file: build/code-analysis/pmd/pmd.xml.

SpotBugs (Java bytecode — opt-in)

Enable: -Pgrails.code-analysis.enabled.spotbugs=true

Runs at Effort.MAX / Confidence.HIGH. Only high-confidence bugs are reported.

Spotless (Java auto-formatting — opt-in)

Enable: -Pgrails.code-style.enabled.spotless=true

Uses Palantir Java Format. Can auto-fix by running:

./gradlew spotlessApply

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Configuration Properties

All properties can be set in gradle.properties or passed as -P flags:

grails-code-style plugin (Checkstyle + CodeNarc)

grails-code-analysis plugin (PMD + SpotBugs)

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Fixing Violations Workflow

1. Run ./gradlew aggregateViolations -Pgrails.code-style.ignoreFailures=true -Pgrails.code-analysis.ignoreFailures=true
2. Open build/reports/violations/CODENARC_VIOLATIONS.md and build/reports/violations/CHECKSTYLE_VIOLATIONS.md to see all issues by module
3. For CodeNarc, run ./gradlew codenarcFix to auto-fix what it can
4. Fix remaining violations manually using the table above
5. Re-run ./gradlew aggregateViolations and confirm files contain No violations found! 🎉
6. The reports are inside build/ and do not need to be deleted before committing

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Reports Directory Structure

All XML reports are consolidated at:

build/reports/code-style/        ← XML inputs for style aggregation
├── checkstyle/
│   ├── grails-core-checkstyleMain.xml
│   ├── grails-web-mvc-checkstyleMain.xml
│   └── ...
└── codenarc/
    ├── grails-core-codenarcMain.xml
    └── ...

build/reports/code-analysis/     ← XML inputs for analysis aggregation (if enabled)
├── pmd/
└── spotbugs/

build/reports/violations/       ← Markdown summaries written by aggregateViolations
├── CODENARC_VIOLATIONS.md
├── CHECKSTYLE_VIOLATIONS.md
├── PMD_VIOLATIONS.md
├── SPOTBUGS_VIOLATIONS.md
└── JACOCO_COVERAGE.md          ← written by aggregateJacocoCoverage

The module name is derived from the filename: everything before the last - (e.g. grails-core-checkstyleMain.xml → module grails-core).