slop-scan

Deterministic CLI for finding AI-associated slop patterns in JavaScript and TypeScript repositories.

Scan a repo, surface the hotspots, and compare codebases using normalized slop metrics.

slop-scan is a slop scanner, not an authorship detector. It reports explainable patterns and suspicious density. It does not claim who wrote the code.

Why use it

• Find the hotspots fast — see which files and directories concentrate the most suspicious patterns
• Understand why something was flagged — every finding includes a rule ID and evidence
• Compare repos fairly — normalize by file count, logical KLOC, and function count
• Benchmark heuristics over time — rerun the pinned benchmark set and watch movement

Good fit for

• checking third-party repos that feel vibe-coded
• comparing known AI-generated repos to mature OSS baselines
• finding low-judgment boilerplate in your own codebase
• iterating on deterministic slop heuristics

Install

Install globally with npm:

npm install -g slop-scan

Install it in a project and run it with npm tools:

npm install --save-dev slop-scan
npx slop-scan scan .

For local development in this repo:

bun install

Quick start

Scan the current repo:

slop-scan scan .

Scan the current repo in lint mode:

slop-scan scan . --lint

Scan another repo and get JSON:

slop-scan scan /path/to/repo --json

Recreate the pinned benchmark set from a source checkout:

bun run benchmark:update

Use it like a linter

Use --lint when you want human-readable findings in local runs, CI logs, or PR checks.

slop-scan scan . --lint

Example output:

medium  Found 3 duplicated function signatures  structure.duplicate-function-signatures
  at src/users/normalize.ts:1:1
  at src/teams/normalize.ts:1:1
  at src/accounts/normalize.ts:1:1

JSON output

Use --json when you want full-fidelity output for scripts, CI, or post-processing.

slop-scan scan . --json

Example CI check:

slop-scan scan . --json | jq -e '.summary.findingCount == 0'

The CLI currently exits non-zero for CLI/runtime errors, not for findings.

What it catches

Current checks focus on patterns that often show up in unreviewed generated code:

• log-and-continue catch blocks
• error-obscuring catch blocks (default-return or generic replacement error)
• empty catch blocks
• async wrapper / return await noise
• pass-through wrappers
• barrel density
• duplicate helper/function signatures across source files
• over-fragmentation
• directory fan-out hotspots
• placeholder comments
• duplicated test mock/setup patterns

What you get back

• raw repo score
• normalized metrics:
  • score / file
  • score / KLOC
  • score / function
  • findings / file
  • findings / KLOC
  • findings / function
• top file hotspots
• top directory hotspots
• grouped lint-style findings with --lint
• full-fidelity findings with evidence in --json

Supported files

Current language support:

• .ts
• .tsx
• .js
• .jsx
• .mjs
• .cjs

Benchmarks

The repo ships with a pinned, recreatable benchmark set comparing known AI-generated repos against older solid OSS repos.

Blended score = geometric mean of the six normalized-metric ratios versus the mature OSS cohort medians, then rescaled so the mature OSS cohort median is 1.00. Higher means a repo is consistently noisier across the benchmark dimensions.

Cohort medians

Metric	AI median	Mature OSS median	Ratio
Blended score	3.48	1.00	3.48x
Score / file	0.99	0.19	5.17x
Score / KLOC	9.51	4.42	2.15x
Score / function	0.23	0.09	2.49x
Findings / file	0.31	0.07	4.44x
Findings / KLOC	2.96	1.40	2.12x
Findings / function	0.08	0.03	2.99x

Pinned benchmark snapshot

Ordered by blended score.

Repository	Cohort	Ref	Blended	Score/file	Score/KLOC	Findings/file	Findings/KLOC
garrytan/gstack	ai	6cc094c	5.94	2.34	21.71	0.52	4.85
redwoodjs/agent-ci	ai	4de00d6	3.98	0.99	10.95	0.31	3.42
jiayun/DevWorkbench	ai	ea50862	3.77	1.00	10.76	0.44	4.69
openclaw/openclaw	ai	44cf747	3.50	1.08	10.93	0.32	3.29
robinebers/openusage	ai	857f537	3.48	1.33	8.30	0.34	2.11
emdash-cms/emdash	ai	dbaf8c6	2.47	0.75	6.67	0.23	2.02
FullAgent/fulling	ai	d95060f	2.40	0.53	9.51	0.16	2.96
cloudflare/vinext	ai	28980b0	2.21	0.48	9.20	0.15	2.76
vitejs/vite	mature-oss	bdc53ab	1.65	0.26	7.95	0.08	2.45
withastro/astro	mature-oss	2c9bf5e	1.63	0.27	5.68	0.09	2.02
modem-dev/hunk	ai	b37663f	1.32	0.38	4.71	0.13	1.55
egoist/tsup	mature-oss	b906f86	1.03	0.21	3.61	0.08	1.42
umami-software/umami	mature-oss	0a83864	1.01	0.15	4.17	0.06	1.61
sindresorhus/execa	mature-oss	f3a2e84	0.99	0.17	4.85	0.05	1.37
antfu-collective/ni	mature-oss	6d96905	0.73	0.11	4.68	0.02	0.94
mikaelbr/node-notifier	mature-oss	b36c237	0.46	0.08	0.90	0.04	0.47
vercel/hyper	mature-oss	2a7bb18	0.46	0.65	1.12	0.16	0.28

Full benchmark assets:

• manifest: benchmarks/sets/known-ai-vs-solid-oss.json
• snapshot: benchmarks/results/known-ai-vs-solid-oss.json
• report: reports/known-ai-vs-solid-oss-benchmark.md

Configuration

The analyzer reads slop-scan.config.ts, slop-scan.config.js, slop-scan.config.mjs, slop-scan.config.cjs, or slop-scan.config.json from the scan root. Root .gitignore entries are also respected.

{
  "ignores": ["dist/**", "coverage/**", "**/*.generated.ts"],
  "plugins": {
    "acme": "slop-scan-plugin-acme"
  },
  "extends": ["plugin:acme/recommended"],
  "rules": {
    "structure.over-fragmentation": { "enabled": true, "weight": 1.2 },
    "comments.placeholder-comments": { "enabled": false },
    "acme/no-generated-wrapper": { "enabled": true, "options": { "threshold": 3 } }
  },
  "overrides": [
    {
      "files": ["src/rules/**"],
      "rules": {
        "structure.directory-fanout-hotspot": { "enabled": false },
        "structure.over-fragmentation": { "enabled": false }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Supported today:

• ignores
• plugins.<namespace> as either a package/path string or a plugin object in module configs
• extends: ["plugin:<namespace>/<config>"]
• rules.<id>.enabled
• rules.<id>.weight
• rules.<id>.options
• overrides[].files
• overrides[].rules.<id>.enabled
• overrides[].rules.<id>.weight
• overrides[].rules.<id>.options

Plugins

slop-scan can load third-party rule plugins and plugin preset configs from JSON or module configs.

For plugin setup, naming rules, and authoring examples, see docs/plugins.md.

See also:

• examples/local-plugin/contains-word-plugin.mjs
• examples/local-plugin/slop-scan.config.ts

This repo also commits a root slop-scan.config.json for self-scans and local development. It keeps the scan focused on the tool itself by excluding heavyweight benchmark checkouts and intentionally disables directory-structure rules under src/rules/**.

How it works

slop-scan is built as a pluggable engine:

• language plugins
• fact providers
• rule plugins
• reporters

That keeps the analyzer deterministic and extensible without turning it into one giant loop of ad hoc checks.

Docs

• plugin guide: docs/plugins.md
• benchmark guide: benchmarks/README.md
• pinned benchmark report: reports/known-ai-vs-solid-oss-benchmark.md
• exploratory note on non-JS/TS candidates: reports/exploratory-vite-astro-openclaw-beads.md

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome.

Local validation

bun run format:check
bun run lint
bun test

Stable self-scan

bun run lint includes a stable self-scan.

It runs the last published slop-scan release against this repo using the committed root config in slop-scan.config.json, then compares the result to tests/fixtures/self-scan-stable-baseline.json.

The check currently fails only when the stable release reports either:

• a higher finding count; or
• a higher repo score.

Useful commands:

bun run lint:self
bun run lint:self:update

Use bun run lint:self:update only when you intentionally accept the new stable self-scan baseline.

Pre-commit hook

A Husky pre-commit hook runs:

bun run format:check
bun run lint

Heuristic changes

If you change rule behavior materially, also rerun:

bun run benchmark:update

License

MIT