# vale-cli/vale

:pencil: A markup-aware linter for prose built with speed and extensibility in mind.

Repository: https://github.com/vale-cli/vale
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/vale
Homepage: https://vale.sh
Language: Go
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: vale, linting, linter
Last push: 2026-08-26T21:25:06+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 99/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 99, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3496, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 7, "gap_med": 15, "n_releases_24m": 26}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 6026, forks 220 (observed 2026-08-28T04:09:34.335609+00:00)

## What it is
Vale is a fast, cross-platform command-line linter for prose that enforces editorial style guides on documentation. It is markup-aware, parsing Markdown, AsciiDoc, reStructuredText, and source-code comments so rules apply only to actual prose, and rules are extensible via simple YAML files.

## Use cases
- enforce a consistent editorial style guide across documentation
- lint prose in markdown files from the command line
- add a docs style check to CI pipelines
- lint comments and docstrings in source code
- check spelling, passive voice, and wordiness in technical writing
- lint AsciiDoc and reStructuredText documentation
- run a prose linter in a pre-commit hook or editor via LSP

## When to choose
- you maintain a documentation set and need automated style-guide enforcement
- you want markup-aware linting that ignores code samples and syntax
- you need custom style rules expressible as simple YAML without a plugin API
- you want fast, offline linting suitable for editors, pre-commit hooks, and CI

## When to avoid
- you want a general-purpose writing coach or grammar tutor rather than a rule-based checker
- you need AI-driven rewriting or content generation rather than rule enforcement
- you only need simple spellcheck without style enforcement

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: linter, cli, developer-tools, documentation, markdown, nlp
- domain: documentation, developer-tools
- platform: windows, cli, cross-platform
- tags: prose-linting, style-guide, markup-aware, technical-writing, docs-as-code, ci-integration, lsp, command-line, natural-language-processing, linux, macos, docker

## Member repositories
- vale-cli/vale (main) score 99

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:34.335609+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:49:14.885699+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/vale-cli/vale (fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:34.335609+00:00, sha 48a84f1d560a)
  - homepage: https://vale.sh (fetched 2026-08-29T08:45:40.982108+00:00, sha 21e820b41dd3)
  - site_page: https://docs.vale.sh (fetched 2026-08-29T08:45:40.991607+00:00, sha 78bbf036f9ea)
  - site_page: https://docs.vale.sh/topics/installation (fetched 2026-08-29T08:45:40.993446+00:00, sha 4bd8b3776fb1)
  - site_page: https://vale.sh/features/markup (fetched 2026-08-29T08:45:40.995032+00:00, sha 3704a4050d9c)
  - site_page: https://vale.sh/features/code (fetched 2026-08-29T08:45:40.996813+00:00, sha 0b0d1c686420)
  - site_page: https://vale.sh/features/extensible (fetched 2026-08-29T08:45:40.998496+00:00, sha 82f045ee1d24)
  - site_page: https://vale.sh/features/speed (fetched 2026-08-29T08:45:41.000222+00:00, sha 7539133f0346)
  - site_page: https://docs.vale.sh/integrations/pre-commit (fetched 2026-08-29T08:45:41.001964+00:00, sha bdc432832647)
  - site_page: https://docs.vale.sh/guides/lsp (fetched 2026-08-29T08:45:41.003557+00:00, sha e554ee98252d)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.