AshCredo

Unofficial static code analysis checks for the Ash Framework, built as a Credo plugin.

AshCredo detects common anti-patterns, security pitfalls, and missing best practices in your Ash resources and domains by analysing unexpanded source AST.

[!WARNING] This project is experimental and might break frequently.

Note: Only MissingChangeWrapper is enabled by default. All other checks are opt-in — enable them individually in your .credo.exs (see Configuration).

Installation

AshCredo requires Credo to already be installed in your project.

With Igniter (recommended)

If your project uses Igniter, a single command will add the dependency and register the plugin in your .credo.exs:

mix igniter.install ash_credo --only dev,test

This keeps ash_credo scoped to the same :dev/:test environments as credo. The installer also sets runtime: false.

Manual

Add ash_credo to your list of dependencies in mix.exs:

def deps do
  [
    {:ash_credo, "~> 0.5", only: [:dev, :test], runtime: false}
  ]
end

Then fetch the dependency and register the plugin in your .credo.exs:

mix deps.get

# .credo.exs
%{
  configs: [
    %{
      name: "default",
      plugins: [{AshCredo, []}]
    }
  ]
}

Running

mix credo

Checks

Check	Category	Priority	Default	Description
`AuthorizeFalse`	Warning	High	No	Flags literal `authorize?: false` in Ash calls, action DSL, and (by default) any other call site
`AuthorizerWithoutPolicies`	Warning	High	No	Detects resources with `Ash.Policy.Authorizer` but no policies defined
`EmptyDomain`	Warning	Normal	No	Flags domains with no resources registered
`MissingChangeWrapper`	Warning	High	Yes	Flags builtin change functions (`manage_relationship`, `set_attribute`, ...) used without `change` wrapper in actions
`MissingDomain`	Warning	Normal	No	Ensures non-embedded resources set the `domain:` option
`MissingPrimaryKey`	Warning	High	No	Ensures resources with data layers have a primary key
`NoActions`	Warning	Normal	No	Flags resources with data layers but no actions defined
`OverlyPermissivePolicy`	Warning	High	No	Flags unscoped `authorize_if always()` policies
`PinnedTimeInExpression`	Warning	High	No	Flags `^Date.utc_today()` / `^DateTime.utc_now()` in Ash expressions (frozen at compile time)
`SensitiveAttributeExposed`	Warning	High	No	Flags sensitive attributes (password, token, secret, ...) not marked `sensitive?: true`
`SensitiveFieldInAccept`	Warning	High	No	Flags privilege-escalation fields (`is_admin`, `permissions`, ...) in `accept` lists
`WildcardAcceptOnAction`	Warning	High	No	Detects `accept :*` on `create`/`update` actions (mass-assignment risk)
`MissingCodeInterface`	Design	Low	No	Suggests adding a `code_interface` for resources with actions
`MissingIdentity`	Design	Normal	No	Suggests identities for attributes like `email`, `username`, `slug`
`MissingPrimaryAction`	Design	Normal	No	Flags missing `primary?: true` when multiple actions of the same type exist
`MissingTimestamps`	Design	Normal	No	Suggests adding `timestamps()` to persisted resources
`ActionMissingDescription`	Readability	Low	No	Flags actions without a `description`
`BelongsToMissingAllowNil`	Readability	Normal	No	Flags `belongs_to` without explicit `allow_nil?`
`LargeResource`	Refactor	Low	No	Flags resource files exceeding 400 lines
`UseCodeInterface`	Refactor	Normal	No	Flags `Ash.*` calls where both resource and action are literals — use a code interface function instead

Configuration

Only MissingChangeWrapper is enabled by default. Enable additional checks by adding them to the extra section of your .credo.exs:

%{
  configs: [
    %{
      name: "default",
      plugins: [{AshCredo, []}],
      checks: %{
        extra: [
          # Enable checks
          {AshCredo.Check.Warning.AuthorizeFalse, []},
          {AshCredo.Check.Warning.SensitiveFieldInAccept, []},
          {AshCredo.Check.Warning.WildcardAcceptOnAction, []},

          # Enable with custom parameters
          {AshCredo.Check.Refactor.LargeResource, [max_lines: 250]},
          {AshCredo.Check.Warning.SensitiveAttributeExposed, [
            sensitive_names: ~w(password token secret api_key)a
          ]},
          {AshCredo.Check.Design.MissingIdentity, [
            identity_candidates: ~w(email username slug)a
          ]}
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

To enable all checks at once:

checks: %{
  extra: [
    {AshCredo.Check.Warning.AuthorizeFalse, []},
    {AshCredo.Check.Warning.AuthorizerWithoutPolicies, []},
    {AshCredo.Check.Warning.EmptyDomain, []},
    {AshCredo.Check.Warning.MissingDomain, []},
    {AshCredo.Check.Warning.MissingPrimaryKey, []},
    {AshCredo.Check.Warning.NoActions, []},
    {AshCredo.Check.Warning.OverlyPermissivePolicy, []},
    {AshCredo.Check.Warning.PinnedTimeInExpression, []},
    {AshCredo.Check.Warning.SensitiveAttributeExposed, []},
    {AshCredo.Check.Warning.SensitiveFieldInAccept, []},
    {AshCredo.Check.Warning.WildcardAcceptOnAction, []},
    {AshCredo.Check.Design.MissingCodeInterface, []},
    {AshCredo.Check.Design.MissingIdentity, []},
    {AshCredo.Check.Design.MissingPrimaryAction, []},
    {AshCredo.Check.Design.MissingTimestamps, []},
    {AshCredo.Check.Readability.ActionMissingDescription, []},
    {AshCredo.Check.Readability.BelongsToMissingAllowNil, []},
    {AshCredo.Check.Refactor.LargeResource, []},
    {AshCredo.Check.Refactor.UseCodeInterface, []}
  ]
}

Configurable parameters

The following checks accept custom parameters:

Check	Parameter	Default	Description
`Warning.AuthorizeFalse`	`include_non_ash_calls`	`true`	When `false`, only checks Ash API calls and action DSL definitions
`Design.MissingIdentity`	`identity_candidates`	`~w(email username slug handle phone)a`	Attribute names to suggest adding identities for
`Refactor.LargeResource`	`max_lines`	`400`	Maximum line count before triggering
`Warning.SensitiveAttributeExposed`	`sensitive_names`	`~w(password hashed_password password_hash token secret api_key private_key ssn)a`	Attribute names to flag when not marked `sensitive?: true`
`Warning.SensitiveFieldInAccept`	`dangerous_fields`	`~w(is_admin admin permissions api_key secret_key)a`	Field names to flag when found in `accept` lists

Contributing

Fork the repository
Create your feature branch (git switch -c my-new-check)
Apply formatting and make sure tests and lints pass (mix format, mix test, mix lint)
Commit your changes
Open a pull request — PR titles must follow the Conventional Commits format (e.g. feat: add check for XY, fix: handle XY edge case)

License

MIT - see LICENSE for details.

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