ESLint Rule Reference

Relevant source files

• packages/eslint-config-airbnb-base/CHANGELOG.md
• packages/eslint-config-airbnb-base/package.json
• packages/eslint-config-airbnb/CHANGELOG.md
• packages/eslint-config-airbnb/package.json

Purpose and Scope

This page provides a comprehensive reference for all ESLint rules configured in the Airbnb JavaScript Style Guide packages. The configuration consists of hundreds of rules organized into functional categories, distributed across modular rule definition files in both eslint-config-airbnb-base and eslint-config-airbnb packages.

This reference covers the overall rule organization, severity levels, and configuration patterns. For detailed documentation of specific rule categories, see:

• Best Practices Rules — Document rules enforcing JavaScript best practices, error prevention, and code quality patterns
• ES6+ Feature Rules — Detail rules for ES6+ features including arrow functions, classes, destructuring, and template literals
• Style and Formatting Rules — Cover rules for code formatting, whitespace, indentation, quotes, semicolons, and naming conventions
• Import and Module Rules — Document rules for ES6 import/export syntax, module resolution, and dependency management
• Error Prevention Rules — Detail rules that catch common programming errors, logical mistakes, and potential runtime issues
• React Component Rules — Document React-specific linting rules covering component patterns, JSX syntax, lifecycle methods, and hooks
• React Accessibility Rules — Cover jsx-a11y plugin rules for ensuring accessible React applications, including ARIA attributes and semantic HTML

For information about the package architecture that contains these rules, see ESLint Package Architecture.

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Rule Organization Architecture

The rules are organized into separate JavaScript modules that export ESLint configuration objects. The base package provides foundational rules for any JavaScript project, while the React package extends these with library-specific rules.

Rule File Structure

The following diagram maps the file-based organization of rules across the two primary configuration packages as defined in their respective exports maps.

Sources: packages/eslint-config-airbnb-base/package.json10-17 packages/eslint-config-airbnb/package.json12-14

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Rule Severity Levels

Each rule is configured with one of three severity levels. The Airbnb configuration uses a strict enforcement model where the majority of rules are set to error severity to ensure style guide compliance.

Severity	ESLint Value	CI/CD Behavior	Use Case
Error	'error' or 2	Fails build/merge	Critical violations that must be fixed
Warning	'warn' or 1	Allows build/merge	Suggestions, deprecated patterns, or non-critical style
Off	'off' or 0	No enforcement	Disabled rules or future consideration

Severity and Configuration Patterns

Rules are defined using standard ESLint configuration syntax. While many rules are simple severity strings, many utilize complex option objects or arrays to fine-tune behavior. For example, the whitespace entry point specifically updates rules to support ESLint 8 and sets erroring rules to "warn" in specific contexts.

Sources: packages/eslint-config-airbnb/CHANGELOG.md17 packages/eslint-config-airbnb-base/CHANGELOG.md42

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Rule Categories and Child Pages

The rules are organized into functional categories based on the source files exported by the packages.

Base JavaScript Categories (eslint-config-airbnb-base)

These rules form the foundation of the Airbnb style and are used in both React and non-React projects.

Category	Configuration File	Documentation Page
Best Practices	rules/best-practices.js	Best Practices Rules
ES6+ Features	rules/es6.js	ES6+ Feature Rules
Style & Format	rules/style.js	Style and Formatting Rules
Import/Module	rules/imports.js	Import and Module Rules
Error Prevention	rules/errors.js	Error Prevention Rules

Sources: packages/eslint-config-airbnb-base/package.json10-17

React-Specific Categories (eslint-config-airbnb)

These rules are added when using the full eslint-config-airbnb package and require specific plugins.

Category	Configuration File	Documentation Page
React Components	rules/react.js	React Component Rules
Accessibility	rules/react-a11y.js	React Accessibility Rules
Hooks	rules/react-hooks.js	React Component Rules

Sources: packages/eslint-config-airbnb/package.json12-14

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Rule Implementation Space

The following diagram bridges the "Natural Language" requirements of the style guide to the actual "Code Entities" (plugins and configuration files) used in the implementation.

Sources: packages/eslint-config-airbnb/package.json89-92 packages/eslint-config-airbnb-base/package.json84-85

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Common Configuration Components

Plugin Dependencies

The rules rely on several key ESLint plugins defined as peer dependencies in the package manifests. Version compatibility is strictly managed, such as the support for ESLint 8 and specific plugin versions.

• eslint-plugin-import: Validates ES6+ imports and module resolution packages/eslint-config-airbnb-base/package.json84
• eslint-plugin-react: Core React linting patterns packages/eslint-config-airbnb/package.json91
• eslint-plugin-jsx-a11y: Accessibility checks for JSX packages/eslint-config-airbnb/package.json90
• eslint-plugin-react-hooks: Enforces Rules of Hooks packages/eslint-config-airbnb/package.json92

Dependency Management

The eslint-config-airbnb package directly depends on eslint-config-airbnb-base to inherit the core JavaScript rules before adding React-specific layers.

Sources: packages/eslint-config-airbnb/package.json69 packages/eslint-config-airbnb/package.json87-93 packages/eslint-config-airbnb-base/package.json82-85