JetBrains introduces Qodana, a new product for monitoring code quality. The aim is to support developers in finding bugs, security holes, duplications and deficiencies in the code base, to identify them and to suggest corrections.

Qodana brings the JetBrains IDEs directly into the Continuous Integration (CI) pipeline. It is currently available to interested parties as part of an Early Access Program (EAP).

Keep an eye on the code quality Qodana consists of two parts: on the one hand, a GUI-free IntelliJ-IDEA engine, which is tailored for use in a CI pipeline as a linter tool (tool for code analysis), on the other hand, a web-based user Interface (UI) for reporting.

The new tool should make it easier for developers to set up workflows for a better overview of project quality, to set quality goals and to track their progress. The list of checks used for projects can apparently be adapted quickly, and directories can be included in the analysis or removed from it.

Demo for illustration JetBrains provides interested parties with a sandbox playground for testing, in which users can see the tool in action. Projects like Laravel, Doctrine ORM, PHPUnit and WordPress are included and developers can check them out in Safe Mode. JetBrains assumes that despite the millions of projects being used, there is still room for improvement – for example, Qodana beats cases in the WordPress project 99 files in which regular expressions can be further simplified.

The development team behind Qodana has packaged the tool in a Docker image, which can be used in various ways in its own projects can be integrated: for example, by calling it up manually, by integrating it into the CI gateway and by using GitHub actions. Qodana can be tested free of charge as part of the Early Access Program (EAP). During the EAP, users have full access to Qodana Docker, Qodana TeamCity Plug-in and Qodana GitHub Application.

The link to the playground, instructions on how to set it up and further details on Qodana and the Early Access Program can be found in the article on the JetBrains blog. There is also documentation for the product.

(mdo)