SonarLint Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that brings enterprise-grade code analysis to Claude Desktop and other MCP clients using SonarLint's standalone SLOOP backend.

License: MIT Node.js Version

Features

• 🔍 Real-time Code Analysis - Detect bugs, code smells, and security vulnerabilities
• 🚀 Fast & Standalone - No IDE or SonarQube server required
• 📦 Multiple Languages - JavaScript, TypeScript, Python (265+ JS rules)
• 💾 Session Storage - Results stored in memory for multi-turn conversations
• 🔧 Quick Fixes - Automated suggestions for common issues
• 🎯 Batch Analysis - Analyze multiple files efficiently

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Node.js 22 or higher
• Claude Desktop (or any MCP client)

Installation

No installation required! Use npx to run directly:

npx @nielspeter/sonarlint-mcp-server

The SLOOP backend (~70MB) downloads automatically on first run.

From Source (for development):

git clone https://github.com/nielspeter/sonarlint-mcp-server.git
cd sonarlint-mcp-server
npm install  # Auto-downloads SLOOP backend (~70MB)
npm run build

Configure with Claude Code

Use the Claude CLI to add the MCP server:

claude mcp add --transport stdio sonarlint -- npx -y @nielspeter/sonarlint-mcp-server

This automatically updates your Claude Code configuration. No restart needed!

Configure with Claude Desktop

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sonarlint": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@nielspeter/sonarlint-mcp-server"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop to apply changes.

Rule Configuration

Customize SonarLint rules per project by creating a sonarlint.json in your project root:

{
  "rules": {
    "typescript:S3776": {
      "level": "on",
      "parameters": {
        "threshold": "20"
      }
    },
    "javascript:S1481": {
      "level": "off"
    }
  }
}

• level: "on" (default) or "off" to enable/disable a rule
• parameters: Override rule thresholds and settings (see configurable rules)
• Fallback: If no sonarlint.json is found, .sonarlint/settings.json is checked (IDE convention)

Copy sonarlint.example.json from this repo as a starting point. Use list_rules to discover available rules and their configurable parameters.

Usage

Once configured, Claude can analyze your code:

Analyze my JavaScript file for code quality issues: /path/to/file.js

Check these files for bugs: src/app.ts, src/utils.ts

Analyze this code snippet:
function process(data) {
  var result = data;  // Issues with 'var'
  return result;
}

Available Tools

Tool	Description
check_quality	Check a file for code quality issues
check_files	Check multiple files in one call
check_code	Check a code snippet (no file on disk needed)
fix_issue	Automatically fix one specific issue
fix_all_issues	Automatically fix all fixable issues in a file
list_rules	List all active code quality rules
health_check	Check server status and diagnostics

Example Analysis Output

{
  file: "/path/to/file.js",
  language: "javascript",
  issues: [
    {
      line: 4,
      column: 2,
      severity: "MAJOR",
      rule: "javascript:S3504",
      message: "Unexpected var, use let or const instead.",
      quickFix: {
        message: "Replace with 'const'",
        edits: [...]
      }
    }
  ],
  summary: {
    total: 5,
    critical: 0,
    major: 3,
    minor: 2
  }
}

Supported Languages

Language	Extensions	Rules
JavaScript	.js, .jsx, .mjs, .cjs	265
TypeScript	.ts, .tsx	265
Python	.py	~100

Architecture

Claude Desktop
      ↓ MCP Protocol (stdio)
SonarLint MCP Server (this project)
      ↓ JSON-RPC
SLOOP Backend (SonarLint Local Operations)
      ↓ Plugin API
Language Analyzers (JS/TS, Python)

The server uses SonarLint's standalone SLOOP backend with:

• Version: 10.32.0.82302 (WebStorm-compatible)
• Bundled JRE: Java 17
• Bi-directional RPC: Client request handlers implemented
• Session Storage: Results stored in memory for multi-turn conversations

SLOOP Integration: Scope Lifecycle

SLOOP requires a specific initialization sequence. Getting this wrong causes analysis to hang:

1. Pre-register files — Store file DTOs in scopeFiles map before creating the scope. SLOOP calls listFiles synchronously during scope creation, so files must already be available.
2. Create scope — Send addConfigurationScope notification to SLOOP.
3. Wait for readiness — SLOOP sends didChangeAnalysisReadiness when the scope is ready. Analysis requests before this point will fail silently.
4. Analyse — Call analyzeFilesAndTrack with the files.

Key design decisions:

• No directory scanning in listFiles — Only return the specific files requested for analysis. Scanning the project root returned 500+ files on real projects and caused multi-minute hangs.
• getBaseDir returns project root — Detected via package.json, .git, etc. SLOOP uses this for .gitignore matching and file exclusion patterns.
• ideRelativePath relative to project root — SLOOP's WildcardPattern.match requires this; null values cause NPEs.

Development

# Install dependencies (auto-downloads backend)
npm install

# Build
npm run build

# Run tests
npm test

# Watch mode (auto-rebuild)
npm run dev

# Inspect with MCP Inspector
npm run inspect

Testing

# Run test suite
npm test

# Run with UI
npm run test:ui

# Run with coverage
npm run test:coverage

Tests validate:

• SLOOP bridge functionality
• File and content analysis
• JavaScript and Python plugin detection
• Quick fix support
• Error handling

Documentation

• SETUP.md - Detailed installation guide
• TROUBLESHOOTING.md - Common issues and solutions
• docs/configurable-rules.md - All 84 configurable rules with parameters and defaults
• docs/SLOOP_RPC_PROTOCOL.md - Complete RPC protocol documentation
• docs/TESTING.md - Testing guide

Technical Highlights

This project demonstrates several key technical achievements:

1. Standalone SLOOP - First documented standalone use of SonarLint's SLOOP backend
2. Bi-directional RPC - Complete client request handler implementation
3. MCP Integration - Full Model Context Protocol implementation with resources
4. Session Management - Results storage for multi-turn conversations
5. Production Ready - Comprehensive testing, error handling, and monitoring

Critical Implementation Details

For anyone using SLOOP programmatically:

• listFiles must return ClientFileDto with file content (not just URIs)
• isUserDefined: true is mandatory (SLOOP filters out false values)
• bundlePath should be parent directory (SLOOP appends /package/bin/server.cjs)
• Client must implement 4 request handlers (listFiles, getBaseDir, etc.)
• backendCapabilities required for proper initialization

Why This Approach?

Advantages

• ✅ No IDE dependency - runs completely standalone
• ✅ Full API access - all SLOOP services available
• ✅ Better control - configure for specific needs
• ✅ More reliable - direct process communication
• ✅ CI/CD capable - can run in automated environments
• ✅ Faster - no IDE overhead

Comparison to IDE Integration

We initially investigated connecting to IDE servers (WebStorm port 64120) but discovered:

• IDE server is only for "Open in IDE" from SonarQube Server/Cloud
• Limited API access
• IDE must be running
• Not suitable for programmatic access

Related Projects

• SonarQube MCP Server - Official server for SonarQube Server/Cloud APIs
  • Complementary approach requiring server setup
  • This project provides local, standalone analysis

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Areas for improvement:

• Additional language support (Java, Go, PHP)
• Custom rule development
• Performance optimizations
• CI/CD integrations

License

MIT License - see LICENSE

Acknowledgments

• SonarSource for building SLOOP and SonarLint
• Anthropic for the Model Context Protocol
• Claude Code for enabling this development

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Status: ✅ Production Ready - All phases complete with comprehensive testing