sqlfluff-rules-config

SQLFluff Rules Config

Purpose

Help teams choose and evolve SQLFluff rule policy without accidentally weakening useful checks or overwhelming a large legacy project. Use this when the user asks which rules to enable, why a rule fires, how to phase in SQLFluff, or how to manage noqa usage.

Workflow

1. Inspect active rule metadata

   • Run sqlfluff rules --nocolor -v.
   • Capture rule codes, names, groups, aliases, and whether rules are part of core.

2. Classify policy intent

   • Formatting and readability: layout, capitalisation, Jinja padding.
   • Consistency and convention: aliases, quotes, joins, casting, blocked words.
   • Correctness-sensitive review: ambiguous, references, structure.
   • Dialect-specific rules: T-SQL, Oracle, and warehouse-specific behavior where relevant.

3. Review current configuration

   • Inspect configured rules, exclude_rules, warnings, ignore, and inline noqa policy.
   • Treat .sqlfluffignore as scope policy, not as a fix for real parser or templater failures.

4. Design a phased rule set

   • Start with low-risk formatting in large legacy projects.
   • Add references and structure rules once parsing/templating is reliable.
   • Use --rules for temporary allowlists and --exclude-rules for targeted exclusions.

5. Handle inline ignores deliberately

   • Use --warn-unused-ignores to find stale noqa comments.
   • Use --disable-noqa when auditing suppressed violations.
   • Use --disable-noqa-except when only selected inline ignores should remain active.

6. Recommend config changes

   • Explain the behavior impact of each rule change.
   • Keep rollout and permanent policy separate.

Command Patterns

sqlfluff rules --nocolor -v
sqlfluff lint models/staging --rules LT01,LT02,LT12,CP01,JJ01 --format json --nofail
sqlfluff lint models/staging --exclude-rules AM04,RF01 --format json --nofail
sqlfluff lint models/staging --warn-unused-ignores --format json --nofail
sqlfluff lint models/staging --disable-noqa --format json --nofail

Output

Return:

• Current rule policy summary.
• Proposed rollout rule set.
• Rules to exclude temporarily and why.
• Rules that should remain enforced because they protect correctness or maintainability.
• Recommended validation command.

Progressive Disclosure

• Rule family details: references/rule-families.md