Product Overview: Danger
What is Danger?
Danger is a tool designed to automate common code review chores and integrate seamlessly into your Continuous Integration (CI) process. It allows teams to codify their cultural norms and coding standards, ensuring consistency and quality in their codebase.
Key Features and Functionality
Automation of Code Review
Danger runs as part of your CI pipeline, automating the feedback loop in code reviews. It evaluates the code changes and provides immediate feedback based on predefined rules, helping to enforce coding standards, best practices, and team norms.
Customizable Rules
Danger allows you to write custom rules using Ruby (for Ruby-based projects) or JavaScript/TypeScript (for other projects). These rules can be tailored to specific project needs, ensuring that the feedback is relevant and actionable. The rules are defined in a Dangerfile, which is a central configuration file for Danger.
Integration with CI/CD Pipelines
Danger can be integrated with various CI/CD tools such as GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Bitrise, Jenkins, and many others. This integration enables Danger to run automatically during the CI process, providing real-time feedback on code changes.
Feedback Mechanism
Danger posts comments directly into your code review platform (e.g., GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket) based on the rules defined in the Dangerfile. These comments can include messages, warnings, or errors, helping developers address issues promptly. Danger updates its comments as the rules are adhered to, reflecting the current state of the code review.
Plugin Architecture
Danger has a robust plugin architecture that allows for the creation and sharing of reusable plugins. These plugins can extend Danger’s functionality to address common issues and enforce specific coding standards. This modular approach makes it easy to maintain and update the rules without modifying the core Danger code.
Local Development Support
Developers can run Danger locally using commands like bundle exec danger init or yarn danger ci, allowing them to test and refine their rules before pushing changes to the repository. This ensures that the feedback loop is efficient and effective even during local development.
Label and Status Management
Danger can also manage labels and statuses on merge requests. For example, it can automatically add labels to merge requests based on the rules defined in the Dangerfile, enhancing the organization and visibility of the code review process.
Benefits
- Consistency and Quality: Danger helps maintain coding standards and team norms, ensuring that the codebase remains consistent and of high quality.
- Efficiency: By automating common code review tasks, Danger reduces the workload on human reviewers, allowing them to focus on more complex issues.
- Real-time Feedback: Immediate feedback during the CI process helps developers address issues promptly, improving the overall development cycle.
- Customizability: The ability to write custom rules in Ruby or JavaScript/TypeScript makes Danger highly adaptable to different project requirements.
In summary, Danger is a powerful tool that automates code review processes, ensures coding standards are met, and integrates seamlessly with various CI/CD pipelines, making it an invaluable asset for any development team.