How long does the analysis take?

Analysis typically takes 1-2 minutes to complete. The tool performs a comprehensive review of your script including security risks, code quality, portability, and recommendations, which requires thorough processing regardless of script size.

Is my script stored or shared?

No. Your script is analyzed in real-time and is not stored, logged, or shared with any third parties. The analysis is stateless and ephemeral.

Does the tool execute my script?

No. This is a static analysis tool. Your script is never executed. All findings are based solely on parsing and analyzing the script text.

What types of issues are detected?

The analyzer detects security risks, destructive operations, portability issues, quoting problems, undefined variables, missing safeguards, and provides recommendations for improvement.

Can I export the analysis results?

Yes. After analysis completes, you can export the full report as either a PDF document or a Markdown file using the export buttons above the results.

Does ShellCheck slow down CI?

No — the ludeeus action typically completes in under 15 seconds for a few hundred scripts. It is one of the cheapest CI jobs you can add.

How do I ignore a specific ShellCheck rule?

Add `# shellcheck disable=SC2086` directly above the offending line, or pass `--exclude=SC2086` to ShellCheck globally. Prefer line-level disables so the rest of the file stays checked.

Can I run the same checks the online tool runs in CI?

Bash Checker is a hosted analyzer and does not currently ship a CLI. Use ShellCheck in CI for the equivalent core rules, and use Bash Checker online for the extra security and quality dimensions when reviewing individual scripts.

Bash Syntax Check in GitHub Actions

Catch Bash script bugs before they hit main. This guide gives you copy-paste YAML for running ShellCheck and bash -n in GitHub Actions and GitLab CI, plus the trade-offs versus an online bash syntax checker.

Minimal GitHub Actions workflow with ShellCheck

Create .github/workflows/shellcheck.yml with: `name: shellcheck` / `on: [push, pull_request]` / `jobs: shellcheck: runs-on: ubuntu-latest` / `steps:` then `- uses: actions/checkout@v4` and `- uses: ludeeus/action-shellcheck@master` with `with: severity: warning`. The ludeeus action auto-discovers every .sh file in the repo and runs ShellCheck against it. The job fails on any warning or higher, blocking merges on pull requests when branch protection is on.

Adding a parser-only smoke test with bash -n

ShellCheck catches semantic issues; `bash -n script.sh` is a fast syntax-only parse check that costs ~50ms per script. Add it as a second step: `- name: Bash parse check` / `run: find . -name "*.sh" -print0 | xargs -0 -n1 bash -n`. This catches missing fi/done/esac before ShellCheck even loads. Useful for repos with many tiny scripts where ShellCheck would be overkill.

GitLab CI equivalent

In .gitlab-ci.yml: `shellcheck: image: koalaman/shellcheck-alpine:latest` / `script: shellcheck -S warning $(find . -name "*.sh")`. Same idea — discover scripts, run ShellCheck, fail the pipeline on warnings. Cache the image layer for sub-second job starts after the first run.

When to use CI vs an online bash checker

CI is for scripts that live in your repo and run as part of your build. Use an online bash syntax checker for one-off scripts: install.sh files you found in a gist, snippets from Stack Overflow, customer-supplied automation, or anything you do not control. The online checker is also useful during PR review when you want a second opinion without cloning the branch locally.

Pre-commit hook for instant local feedback

Install pre-commit (pip install pre-commit), then add to .pre-commit-config.yaml: `- repo: https://github.com/koalaman/shellcheck-precommit` / `rev: v0.10.0` / `hooks: - id: shellcheck`. Now ShellCheck runs on every git commit and rejects bad scripts locally — much faster than waiting for CI.

Frequently asked questions

Does ShellCheck slow down CI?: No — the ludeeus action typically completes in under 15 seconds for a few hundred scripts. It is one of the cheapest CI jobs you can add.
How do I ignore a specific ShellCheck rule?: Add `# shellcheck disable=SC2086` directly above the offending line, or pass `--exclude=SC2086` to ShellCheck globally. Prefer line-level disables so the rest of the file stays checked.
Can I run the same checks the online tool runs in CI?: Bash Checker is a hosted analyzer and does not currently ship a CLI. Use ShellCheck in CI for the equivalent core rules, and use Bash Checker online for the extra security and quality dimensions when reviewing individual scripts.