Get started using webhint

Excited to start using webhint? Let’s dig in!

To get the most out of this guide, you should be familiar with the command-line tools on your machine, Node.js, and the Node Package Manager (npm).

The examples provided on webhint.io are written with the bash command-line shell. For more information about bash, go to Bash Guide for Beginners.

To verify that you have Node.js (version 14 or later) and npm installed, open a bash command-line interface and run the following command:

node -v && npm -v

Use webhint on websites or local files

To get started using webhint to improve your site performance and learn about best practices that may be applied to your site, complete the following steps.

1. Ensure you have Chrome, Chromium, or Edge installed.

2. Run the command in the following code snippet. The following code snippet uses npx to run the npm package without installing it.

   npx hint https://example.com

   or

   npx hint ./path/to/my.html

3. After the webhint process completes, a summary is presented in the bash command-line interface with a link to a report file on your computer.

4. Navigate to the report file and open it. The report file outlines the hints and solutions to apply to your site.

The following configurations defines how you may use webhint.

Install webhint

1. To install webhint using the default configuration, run the following command.

npm install hint

To confirm that webhint is installed, run the following command.

hint -v

NOTE: If you run into any issues during the install process, go to Common issues when installing or running webhint.

Advanced webhint configurations

Use webhint in your project

To analyze the files in your project, add webhint to your project.

To add webhint to your project, you must install the devDependency and update your package.json file.

1. To install the devDependency, run the command in the following code snippet.

   npm install hint --save-dev

   You can also use i in place of install and -D in place of --save-dev.

   npm i -D hint

2. After you install the devDependency, copy the script task in the following code snippet and add it to your package.json file.

   { ... "scripts": { "webhint": "hint http://localhost:8080" } }

3. To start webhint, run the command in the following code snippet.

   npm run webhint

Customize webhint in your project

A custom hint (.hintrc file) is useful when you want either of the following actions.

• Ignore specific errors.
• Highlight or break for specific warnings.

To customize the analysis of your files, create a custom configuration.

To change the connector, hints, and so on, add a .hintrc file in the current directory. For more information about the .hintrc file and options, go to configuring webhint.

To run webhint in you your project with a custom configuration.

1. Add webhint to your project.

2. Add a .hintrc file to your project directory.

3. Navigate to your project directory.

4. Run the command in the following code snippet.

   npm run webhint

Use webhint with Microsoft Visual Studio Code

The webhint Visual Studio Code extension runs and reports webhint diagnostic data for your workspace files inside Visual Studio Code.

For more information about the using webhint within Visual Studio Code, go to webhint Visual Studio Code extension.

Use webhint with your browser

The webhint browser extension provides a visual interface that allows you to run and re-run site scans that test against multiple browsers and hint types directly in DevTools inside your browser. It is available for Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox.

For more information about the using webhint within your browser, go to webhint browser extension.

Next Steps

• Hints
• Configurations
• Connectors
• Formatters
• Parsers