check-code-quality by r3bl-org

---
name: check-code-quality
description: Run comprehensive Rust code quality checks including compilation, linting, documentation, and tests. Use after completing code changes and before creating commits.
---

# Rust Code Quality Checks

## When to Use

- After completing significant code changes
- Before creating commits
- Before creating pull requests
- When user says "check code quality", "run quality checks", "make sure code is good", etc.

## Quick Approach (Recommended)

Run the comprehensive check script which handles everything automatically:

```bash
./check.fish --full
```

This runs **all checks** in order: typecheck → build → clippy → tests → doctests → docs

**Benefits of using `check.fish --full`:**
- **ICE recovery**: Automatically cleans cache and retries on Internal Compiler Errors
- **Toolchain escalation**: If ICE persists, escalates to `rust-toolchain-update.fish` to find a stable nightly
- **Config change detection**: Auto-cleans stale artifacts when Cargo.toml or toolchain changes
- **Performance optimized**: Uses tmpfs, ionice, and parallel jobs for speed

### Other check.fish Commands

For granular control, use individual commands:

| Command | What it runs |
|:--------|:-------------|
| `./check.fish --check` | `cargo check` (fast typecheck) |
| `./check.fish --build` | `cargo build` (compile production) |
| `./check.fish --clippy` | `cargo clippy --all-targets` (linting) |
| `./check.fish --test` | `cargo test` + doctests |
| `./check.fish --doc` | `cargo doc --no-deps` (quick docs) |
| `./check.fish --quick-doc` | `cargo doc --no-deps` (fastest, no staging/sync) |
| `./check.fish --full` | All of the above |

## Step-by-Step Approach (Alternative)

If you need more control or want to run checks manually:

### 1. Fast Typecheck

```bash
./check.fish --check
# (runs: cargo check)
```

Quickly verifies the code compiles without generating artifacts.

### 2. Compile Production Code

```bash
./check.fish --build
# (runs: cargo build)
```

Ensures production code builds successfully.

### 3. Format Rustdoc Comments

Invoke the `write-documentation` skill to format rustdoc comments using `cargo rustdoc-fmt`.

This formats markdown tables and converts inline links to reference-style.

### 4. Generate Documentation

```bash
./check.fish --quick-doc
# (runs: cargo doc --no-deps, directly to serving dir - fastest for iteration)
```

Verify there are no documentation build warnings or errors. Use `--quick-doc` for fast feedback
during development. Use `--doc` for final verification before commits (includes staging/sync).

If there are link warnings, use the `/fix-intradoc-links` command to resolve them.

**CRITICAL: Never remove intra-doc links to fix warnings.** When you encounter:
- Unresolved link to a symbol → Fix the path using `crate::` prefix (see `write-documentation` skill)
- Unresolved link to a test module → Add `#[cfg(any(test, doc))]` visibility (see `organize-modules` skill)
- Unresolved link to a platform-specific module → Use `#[cfg(all(any(test, doc), target_os = "..."))]`

Links provide refactoring safety - `cargo doc` catches stale references. Converting to plain backticks removes this protection.

### 5. Linting

```bash
./check.fish --clippy
# or invoke the `run-clippy` skill
```

Runs clippy and enforces code style standards.

### 6. Run All Tests

```bash
./check.fish --test
# (runs: cargo test --all-targets && cargo test --doc)
```

Runs all tests (unit, integration, doctests).

If tests fail, use the Task tool with `subagent_type='test-runner'` to fix failures.

### 7. Cross-Platform Verification (Optional)

For code with platform-specific `#[cfg]` gates (especially Unix-only code), verify Windows compatibility:

```bash
cargo rustc -p <crate_name> --target x86_64-pc-windows-gnu -- --emit=metadata
```

This checks that `#[cfg(unix)]` and `#[cfg(not(unix))]` gates compile correctly on Windows without needing a full cross-compiler toolchain.

**When to run:**
- After adding or modifying `#[cfg(unix)]` or `#[cfg(target_os = "...")]` attributes
- When working on platform-abstraction code
- Before committing changes to `DirectToAnsi` input handling or other Unix-specific code

## ICE Recovery and Toolchain Escalation

The `./check.fish --full` command includes automatic recovery from Internal Compiler Errors:

```
ICE detected → cleanup target/ → retry
                                   ↓
                            still ICE?
                                   ↓
              escalate to rust-toolchain-update.fish
              (searches 46 nightly candidates, validates each)
                                   ↓
                         new stable nightly installed
                                   ↓
                               retry checks
```

This is especially important since we use nightly Rust (for the parallel compiler frontend). Nightly toolchains occasionally have ICE bugs, and this automatic escalation finds a working version.

## Reporting Results

After running all checks, report results concisely to the user:

- ✅ All checks passed → "All quality checks passed! Ready to commit."
- ⚠️ Some checks failed → Summarize which steps failed and what needs fixing
- 🔧 Auto-fixed issues → Report what was automatically fixed

## Optional Performance Analysis

For performance-critical code changes, consider also running:

- `cargo bench` - Benchmarks (mark tests with `#[bench]`)
- `cargo flamegraph` - Profiling (requires flamegraph crate)
- Invoke the `analyze-performance` skill for flamegraph-based regression detection

## Supporting Files in This Skill

This skill includes additional reference material:

- **`reference.md`** - Comprehensive guide to all cargo commands used in the quality checklist. Includes detailed explanations of what each command does, when to use it, common flags, and build optimizations (wild linker, parallel frontend, tmpfs). **Read this when:**
  - You need to understand what a specific cargo command does
  - Troubleshooting build issues
  - Want to know about build optimizations in `.cargo/config.toml`
  - Understanding the difference between `cargo test --all-targets` and `cargo test --doc`

## Related Skills

- `write-documentation` - For rustdoc formatting (step 3) and fixing doc link warnings (step 4)
- `run-clippy` - For linting and code style (step 5)
- `analyze-performance` - For optional performance checks
- `test-runner` agent - For fixing test failures (step 6)

## Related Commands

- `/check` - Explicitly invokes this skill