biome lint: Run Only the Linter

biome lint runs just the linter over your files and reports rule violations without touching formatting.

Use lint when you want linting alone, for instance in a job separate from formatting, or to apply only the linter safe fixes.

What it does

biome lint analyzes the given paths with the enabled lint rules and prints diagnostics. By default it only reports and exits non-zero on error-level findings. With --write it applies the safe fixes that rules provide.

Common usage

Terminal

npx @biomejs/biome lint ./src
# apply safe lint fixes
npx @biomejs/biome lint --write ./src
# run a single rule
npx @biomejs/biome lint --only=correctness/noUnusedVariables ./src

Options

Flag	What it does
--write	Apply safe lint fixes (replaces v1 --apply)
--unsafe	Also apply unsafe fixes (with --write)
--only=<group/rule>	Run only the named rule or group
--skip=<group/rule>	Skip the named rule or group
--error-on-warnings	Exit non-zero on warnings too
--reporter=github	Emit GitHub Actions annotations

Common errors in CI

lint exits 1 on any error-level diagnostic. "Unknown rule" from --only/--skip means a misspelled rule name or a v1 path used on v2 (some rules were renamed and groups reorganized). If a rule you expect is silent, it may be disabled by default; enable it under linter.rules in biome.json.

Related guides

biome check: Lint, Format and Import Checks in One Passbiome check runs the formatter, linter, and import sorting together and reports every issue. Reference for pa… Biome linter.rules: Enable and Tune Lint RulesThe linter.rules section sets rule groups, severities, and the recommended baseline. Reference for recommende… Biome overrides: Per-Path Config OverridesThe overrides array applies different formatter or linter settings to specific globs. Reference for include,… biome-ignore: Suppress a Diagnostic InlineThe biome-ignore comment suppresses a specific rule on the next line. Reference for the syntax, scope, and th…