Link rot

Before you run it2 local tools

Everything here is checked on your machine when rote inspects the play. This page never learns what you have installed or which credentials you hold.

• ○
  gitlocal tool

  Requires >=2.20.0. Run rote play inspect to check your host; unverified versions remain unknown.

• ○
  python3local tool

  Requires >=3.8.0. Run rote play inspect to check your host; unverified versions remain unknown.

Inputs10, all optional

rote asks for these before running and shows the defaults it will use.

• Pathpath

  Work tree whose documentation is checked. The default '.' resolves to the directory the run started in, so a zero-argument run checks the repository you are standing in; pass an absolute path to check a checkout somewhere else. Only tracked files are read, because a scratch note that was never committed is not something a stranger receives.

  optionalstringdefault .custom value allowed
• Docsdocs

  Comma-separated globs naming the documents whose links a reader is handed. The default covers the files a newcomer opens first plus everything under docs/, and bare globs apply at the repository root only so a stray markdown file deep in a vendored tree is not treated as documentation. Pass an empty value to check manifest URLs alone.

  optionalstringdefault README*,CONTRIBUTING*,docs/**,*.mdcustom value allowed
• Timeout mstimeout_ms

  Per-URL budget before a host is called unreachable. The default 8000 keeps a normal repository under half a minute, and a URL that times out is retried once at double the budget before being reported, because a slow-but-alive blog should not be listed as broken.

  optionalintegerdefault 8000custom value allowed
• Concurrencyconcurrency

  How many URLs are requested at once, capped at 16. The default 8 is chosen so a README with fifty links finishes in seconds without looking like a scraper to any single host; lower it to 2 or 3 when every link points at one domain that rate-limits.

  optionalintegerdefault 8custom value allowed
• Check relativecheck_relative

  Whether repository-relative links, images and in-page anchors are resolved against the tracked file list. This is a real behaviour change, because through 0.3.2 this play stated in writing that relative links and anchors were never contacted, and the default true now decides them - a link or image pointing at a path git does not track, a path differing from a tracked one only in case so it works on macOS and 404s on GitHub and Linux CI, a path that exists only as an untracked file the author alone can see, and an anchor no heading in the document slugs to. None of it needs a network, so it answers on a plane and in CI with egress blocked. A link to a directory that exists, one carrying a query string, mailto and tel, and anything under .github/ are never reported. Set false to restore the 0.3.2 behaviour of checking external URLs alone.

  optionalbooleandefault truecustom value allowed
• Check badgescheck_badges

  Whether shield and coverage badge images are contacted as well as ordinary links. The default true includes them, since a badge pointing at a deleted CI project is exactly the kind of quiet rot that makes a README look abandoned; set false to check only the links a reader would click.

  optionalbooleandefault truecustom value allowed
• Max urlsmax_urls

  Upper bound on how many URLs are contacted. The default 200 covers almost every repository, and when the bound is hit first-screen links are kept preferentially and the report states how many were counted but not checked, rather than quietly under-reporting.

  optionalintegerdefault 200custom value allowed
• Ignore hostsignore_hosts

  Comma-separated hostnames to skip entirely. The default is empty because placeholder and loopback hosts are already excluded automatically; add a host here when it blocks automated requests and produces an inconclusive result you have already investigated.

  optionalstringcustom value allowed
• In codein_code

  Whether URLs inside fenced code blocks are contacted. The default false skips them, because a URL in an example command is usually illustrative and requesting it produces noise rather than a finding; set true when your documentation puts real endpoints in code fences.

  optionalbooleandefault falsecustom value allowed
• Severityseverity

  Which findings reach the report: all, or critical. The default all keeps the warnings and the inconclusive results, because a permanent redirect and a host that refuses automated requests are both worth seeing once; use critical for only what a reader will actually find broken.

  optionalstringdefault allcustom value allowed

What it changes