Clang-Tidy integration
Settings | Editor | Inspections | C/C++ | Static Analysis Tools | Clang-Tidy
Default configuration: list of the enabled/disabled checks
Default severity: Warning
Clang-Tidy is a Clang-based tool for static code analysis. CLion shows Clang-Tidy checks the same way as its own code inspections, with quick-fixes available via the -button or AltEnter:
![https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/idea/2024.3/cl_CTbasics.png](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/idea/2024.3/cl_CTbasics.png)
Clang-Tidy checks are enabled by default, and you can see them as warnings (or messages of another severity level) in the editor.
Note that not all the checks are enabled by default. Here you can find details of the Clang-Tidy default configuration in CLion.
To adjust the Clang-Tidy configuration, go to Settings | Editor | Inspections | C/C++ | Static Analysis Tools | Clang-Tidy:
![Settings for Clang-Tidy checks Settings for Clang-Tidy checks](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/idea/2024.3/cl_clangtidy_settings.png)
Click
to open the dialog where you can edit the list of checks:
To quickly find a particular check, start typing its name when the dialog is in focus.
On the left, you see the detailed description of each check from the official Clang-Tidy documentation website. You can also see a short overview from the editor. Hover over the highlighted code, in the tooltip that appears, click
and select Show Inspection Description:
You can also enable/disable particular checks manually using the Clang-Tidy command line format.
Specify a comma-separated list of positive and negative globs: positive globs add subsets of checks, while negative globs (prefixed with
"-"
) remove them.For example, the following command line will disable all default checks
-*
and enable all theclang-analyzer-*
checks except for theclang-analyzer-cplusplus*
ones:-*,clang-analyzer-*,-clang-analyzer-cplusplus*
tip
You can set the desired severity level and scope for Clang-Tidy checks by selecting from the drop-down lists.
Some Clang-Tidy checks have options, which are either additional or substantial for the check (like those for readability-identifier-naming).
Click Configure Clang-Tidy Checks Options to open the options dialog.
The options are displayed with predefined default values. If you change an option, you will see it highlighted in blue.
To quickly search in the list, put the dialog in focus and start typing.
In addition to the Inspections Settings dialog, you can disable a single check, a group of checks, or the entire Clang-Tidy inspection from the editor. These actions respectively update the Clang-Tidy command line.
![Configuring checks from the context menu Configuring checks from the context menu](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/idea/2024.3/cl_clangtidy_editor.png)
To suppress a Clang-Tidy check for a particular line, use the Suppress "check_name" for line option. CLion will add a // NOLINT
comment at the end of the selected line.
tip
The editor's menu for Clang-Tidy inspection is not available when .clang-tidy configuration files are used instead of CLion settings.
With .clang-tidy files, you can set per-directory configurations: for each source file, Clang-Tidy will attempt to read configuration from .clang-tidy in the closest parent directory.
To open the .clang-tidy configuration file used by the current source file, select Edit clang-tidy file for <current file> in the widget on the status bar:
![Edit .clang-tidy file Edit .clang-tidy file](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/idea/2024.3/cl_edit_clang_tidy.png)
If there's no .clang-tidy configuration available for the currently opened source file, you can create one by selecting Create .clang-tidy file in the widget:
![Create a .clang-tidy file Create a .clang-tidy file](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/idea/2024.3/cl_create_clang_tidy.png)
The new file will include settings configured in Settings | Editor | Inspections | C/C++ - Static Analysis Tools - Clang-Tidy.
note
The widget is available only if the Prefer .clang-tidy files over IDE settings checkbox is selected in Settings | Editor | Inspections | C/C++ - Static Analysis Tools - Clang-Tidy.
.clang-tidy files are in the YAML format. For a syntax example, let's enable all the Clang-Tidy checks and provide the additional option to modernize-use-nullptr
:
Checks: '*'
CheckOptions:
- key: modernize-use-nullptr.NullMacros
value: NULL,CUSTOM_NULL
By default, .clang-tidy files take precedence over the IDE settings. When analyzing a source file, CLion uses the settings from a reachable configuration file (located in the current directory or in one of the parent directories). If there is no such file, CLion relies on its own settings.
To change this behavior, clear the Prefer .clang-tidy files over IDE settings checkbox in Settings | Editor | Inspections - C/C++, Static Analysis Tools, Clang-Tidy.
You can work with your own Clang-Tidy executable instead of the bundled one (for example, when you want to create custom checks and use them in CLion).
Provide the path to your custom Clang-Tidy binary in Settings | Languages & Frameworks | C/C++ (or click Specify Clang-Tidy executable in the Inspections Settings dialog).
![Custom Clang-Tidy binary Custom Clang-Tidy binary](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/idea/2024.3/cl_clangtidy_custombinary.png)
This setting is IDE-wide: your custom Clang-Tidy binary will be used for all projects.
CLion bundles Clang-Tidy from the corresponding LLVM revision, so when CLion releases a Clang update, the bundled Clang-Tidy executable gets updated to a newer version, and the IDE shows a notification:
![Notification on Clang-Tidy updates Notification on Clang-Tidy updates](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/idea/2024.3/cl_clangtidy_update_notification.png)
Click Review to open a list of the available new checks and their activation state according to the Clang-Tidy inspection settings. You can enable or disable the checks in this dialog, and Clang-Tidy settings will change accordingly.
![List of new Clang-Tidy checks List of new Clang-Tidy checks](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/idea/2024.3/cl_clangtidy_update_diff.png)
If you use a custom configuration file instead of the IDE settings, this notification will also warn you that clang-tidy files may overwrite your IDE settings.
note
Currently, the notification is shown only once per new IDE version launch.
Thanks for your feedback!