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What is CodeCharter?

A deterministic code quality tool for .NET teams that enforces architecture and conventions locally.

Updated on 2026-05-29

CodeCharter is a deterministic code quality tool for .NET teams. It analyzes your solution locally against a rule set of 126 curated built-in rules plus as many custom rules as you like, written in a small LINQ-like DSL.

What CodeCharter delivers

  • CLI as a self-contained binary for Windows, Linux, and macOS, usable in any CI without an installed .NET runtime.
  • Windows installer for your developers, bundling the CLI and VS Code Extension in a single setup.
  • VS Code Extension with syntax highlighting and auto-completion for the DSL.
  • Official GitHub Action bochmann-software/codeguard@v1, integrated in two lines of YAML.
  • 126 built-in rules in 12 categories, including ASP.NET conventions, async best practices, naming, architecture, complexity thresholds, testability, documentation, and error handling.
  • Output in four formats for different CI workflows: console, JSON, SARIF v2.1 for GitHub Code Scanning and GitLab SAST, and GitHub annotations for PR inline comments.

Three design decisions

Deterministic

Same source, same rule set, same findings. On every machine, at any time of day. If the build was green yesterday, it is green today.

Local

Analysis runs on the developer machine or CI runner. Source code never leaves your environment.

Architecture as a first-class citizen

Coupling, inheritance, dependencies, and complexity metrics are available directly in the schema. Layering rules and banned references are written in two or three lines of DSL.

@name "Domain layer must not reference Web layer"
@severity error
@category "Architecture"

from t in Types
where t.Namespace.StartsWith("Acme.Domain")
where t.UsedTypes.Any(u => u.Namespace.StartsWith("Acme.Web"))
select t

Who should use it

CodeCharter pays off especially for .NET teams of three or more developers with shared code ownership and a growing codebase where enforcing conventions in PRs is difficult.

Next steps