# clang-tidy for CMake?
**URL:** https://discourse.cmake.org/t/clang-tidy-for-cmake/10188
**Category:** Code
**Created:** [February 26, 2024, 12:56am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/clang-tidy-for-cmake/10188 "2024-02-26T00:56:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@cen](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/cen)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2024, 12:56am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/clang-tidy-for-cmake/10188/1 "2024-02-26T00:56:32Z")
Imagine: clang-tidy CMakeLists.txt -checks=modern-\*
There are many blogs and videos out there telling us how to write modern CMake but having the mental capacity to stick to those guidelines is a different story.
Is there anything out there that would spew a warning on a bad practice? I am quite impressed how clang-tidy can suggest effective improvements to C++ code so doing the same for CMake code does not seem too far fetched.
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### Author:  [@Lecris](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/Lecris)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2024, 9:21am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/clang-tidy-for-cmake/10188/2 "2024-02-27T09:21:58Z")
The closest discussion is: [CMake linter?](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/cmake-linter/8391)
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### Author:  [@Geoffrey\_Hoffmann](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/Geoffrey_Hoffmann)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2024, 7:17am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/clang-tidy-for-cmake/10188/3 "2024-02-28T07:17:23Z")
If you’re using VSCode, the plug-in for CMake has a nice CMake-tidy extension.
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### Author:  [@codeling](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/codeling)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2024, 11:22am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/clang-tidy-for-cmake/10188/4 "2024-02-28T11:22:04Z")
Which plug-in/extension do you mean exactly? I tried installing the “CMake Tools” by Microsoft and “CMake” by twxs, but haven’t found anything about tidying (just nice syntax highlighting). Could you elaborate a bit on how to access this feature?
Note that I’ve only very recently started to use VSCode, so thanks in advance for your help!
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### Author:  [@Geoffrey\_Hoffmann](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/Geoffrey_Hoffmann)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2024, 11:37am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/clang-tidy-for-cmake/10188/5 "2024-02-28T11:37:55Z")
If you right click inside a CMake list file, you’ll see a couple of options for “Format Document”. You can play around with them.
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### Author:  [@Geoffrey\_Hoffmann](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/Geoffrey_Hoffmann)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2024, 11:38am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/clang-tidy-for-cmake/10188/6 "2024-02-28T11:38:32Z")
I mean left click, not right click…
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### Author:  [@Geoffrey\_Hoffmann](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/Geoffrey_Hoffmann)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2024, 11:39am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/clang-tidy-for-cmake/10188/7 "2024-02-28T11:39:15Z")
I should quit while I’m ahead. It is right click.
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### Author:  [@cen](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/cen)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2024, 11:45am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/clang-tidy-for-cmake/10188/8 "2024-02-28T11:45:18Z")
Format and syntax highlighting is one thing but actual best-practice linter is a different story which is what I am talking about.
The most basic example would be: you have a include\_directories directive and the linter would produce a warning suggesting to use target\_ include\_directories instead.
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### Author:  [@codeling](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/codeling)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2024, 11:45am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/clang-tidy-for-cmake/10188/9 "2024-02-28T11:45:36Z")
Just with CMake and CMake Tools extension, I don’t have any additional options in the right click menu, it looks exactly as for other files. I looked a bit more now, and found the “cmake-format” extension. It provides the mentioned “Format Document” right click menu entry, however that doesn’t seem to do anything - after clicking that, there is no change whatsoever in the file…
Edit: Seems the “cmake-format” extension is just a bridge for calling the `cmake-format` tool (probably the one from [cheshirekow/cmake\_format @ github](https://github.com/cheshirekow/cmake_format) - looks like this also contains a `cmake-lint`! Or is it a part of that collection? They also provide a vsix file under release asses 😕 But the project seems a bit abandoned, no change since 3 years
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### Author:  [@Geoffrey\_Hoffmann](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/Geoffrey_Hoffmann)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2024, 12:01pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/clang-tidy-for-cmake/10188/10 "2024-02-28T12:01:37Z")
Yeah, there are two entries when I right click
One says “Format Document [Ctrl+K Ctrl+D]”
The other says "Format Document With… "
Selecting the ‘with’ one, I get to formatters to choose from, “CMake-format” which does nothing, and another that says “CMake Language Support” and that’s the one that works…
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### Author:  [@Geoffrey\_Hoffmann](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/Geoffrey_Hoffmann)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2024, 12:04pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/clang-tidy-for-cmake/10188/11 "2024-02-28T12:04:03Z")
Yes, I see what you mean. I haven’t seen anything as capable as that.
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### Author:  [@codeling](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/codeling)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2024, 12:38pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/clang-tidy-for-cmake/10188/12 "2024-02-28T12:38:35Z")
As far as I can tell, the cmake-lint command I mentioned above is mostly reporting on what it considers formatting problems. It has a few style remarks as well (regarding variable, function and argument names), but I don’t know from which recomendations it pulls its recommendations. For example, for this line:
```auto
function (ExtractVersion filename identifier output_varname)
```
it brings up this message:
```auto
Invalid function name "ExtractVersion" doesn't match `[0-9a-z_]+`.
```
Apart from the formatting messages and such low level coding style remarks, I don’t see any “more useful” output at the moment, for example regarding modern CMake.