kibana-precommit-checks

Kibana Pre-Commit Checks

Run eslint and type_check scoped to only the changed files before committing/pushing. Catches lint and type errors locally instead of waiting 45+ minutes for CI to report them.

When to Use

• Before every git commit or git push
• After completing code changes and before creating a PR
• When the user says "lint", "type check", "validate", "pre-commit", or "check before push"
• Proactively after making substantial code changes to multiple files

Workflow

Step 1: Identify changed files and their owning tsconfig projects

# Get all changed .ts/.tsx files (staged + unstaged + untracked)
CHANGED_TS=$(comm -23 \
  <(sort -u <(git diff --name-only HEAD; git diff --cached --name-only; git ls-files --others --exclude-standard) | grep -E '\.(tsx?|jsx?)$') \
  <(echo ""))

# Find unique tsconfig.json projects that own the changed files.
# Walk up from each file to the nearest directory containing a tsconfig.json.
PROJECTS=$(echo "$CHANGED_TS" | while read -r f; do
  dir=$(dirname "$f")
  while [ "$dir" != "." ] && [ "$dir" != "/" ]; do
    if [ -f "$dir/tsconfig.json" ]; then
      echo "$dir/tsconfig.json"
      break
    fi
    dir=$(dirname "$dir")
  done
done | sort -u)

Step 2: Run eslint --fix on changed files

CHANGED_FILES=$(git diff --name-only HEAD; git diff --cached --name-only)
if [ -n "$CHANGED_FILES" ]; then
  node scripts/eslint --fix $CHANGED_FILES
fi

If eslint fails with Cannot find module '@kbn/setup-node-env', you need to run yarn kbn bootstrap first. If bootstrap is not practical (e.g., worktree without full setup), skip eslint and rely on CI — but still run the type check.

Step 3: Run type_check scoped to affected projects

For each unique tsconfig project found in Step 1, run a separate type check:

for project in $PROJECTS; do
  echo "=== Type checking: $project ==="
  node scripts/type_check --project "$project" --cleanup
  # Exit early on first failure to save time
  if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
    echo "FAILED: $project"
    break
  fi
done

Critical flags:

• --project <path> — scopes the check to one tsconfig project (fast: seconds instead of 30+ minutes)
• --cleanup — removes the temporary tsconfig.type_check.json files after the run so they don't pollute the working tree or show up in git status

What --cleanup prevents: Without --cleanup, the type checker leaves behind tsconfig.type_check.json and tsconfig.refs.json files in every project directory. These are gitignored (*.type_check.json in .gitignore) so they won't be committed, but they clutter the workspace. The --cleanup flag deletes them after the run.

About target/types/ directories: The type checker emits .d.ts files into target/types/ under each project. These are gitignored (under target/) and are used as a build cache for subsequent runs. They are harmless and make future type checks faster. Do NOT delete them manually unless you want a clean-cache run (--clean-cache).

Step 4: Stage any eslint auto-fixes

# If eslint made changes, stage them
git diff --name-only | xargs -r git add

Then proceed with the commit.

Quick Reference

Scenario	Command
Type check one project	node scripts/type_check --project x-pack/platform/plugins/shared/fleet/tsconfig.json --cleanup
Type check all (slow)	node scripts/type_check
ESLint changed files	node scripts/eslint --fix $(git diff --name-only HEAD)
Clean type cache	node scripts/type_check --clean-cache

Finding the Right tsconfig.json

Each Kibana module has a tsconfig.json at its root. Test files are typically included by the parent plugin's tsconfig via include globs (e.g., "test/scout/**/*"). To find which tsconfig owns a file:

1. Walk up from the file path to find the nearest tsconfig.json
2. Check its include array covers the file
3. If unsure, run node scripts/lint_ts_projects to see ownership errors

Common examples:

• x-pack/platform/plugins/shared/fleet/test/scout/** → x-pack/platform/plugins/shared/fleet/tsconfig.json
• x-pack/platform/plugins/shared/osquery/test/scout_osquery/** → x-pack/platform/plugins/shared/osquery/tsconfig.json
• src/platform/plugins/shared/dashboard/test/scout/** → src/platform/plugins/shared/dashboard/tsconfig.json

Notes

• --project accepts only ONE tsconfig per run. For changes spanning multiple plugins, run separate commands.
• The type checker needs @kbn/setup-node-env — if you get module errors, run yarn kbn bootstrap.
• CI runs the full type check on every PR. Scoped local checks catch most errors in seconds.
• Prefer running both eslint and type_check before every commit to avoid CI round-trips.