15 Code Quality and Security Tools Every Developer Should Know

Quality and security checks are essential parts of modern software development.

As codebases grow and become more complex, automated tooling is key to maintaining standards and preventing regressions.

Here are 15 top-tier tools that integrate with and can help you improve your code quality.

Interestingly, CodeRabbit automatically runs defaults with each of these tools, making your work effortless. It offers Code review comments and 1-click fixes to the issues generated from the code quality tools.

1. Gitleaks (Code Security)

Why It’s Important:

Gitleaks scans repositories for secrets and sensitive information, helping prevent costly data leaks. It’s critical for catching hardcoded passwords, API keys, and other secrets that might accidentally slip into your source control.

Key Features:

• Detects secrets in code, configs, and commit history
• Configurable rulesets and whitelists
• Easy to integrate into CI pipelines

2. Checkov (Code Security & Configuration)

Why It’s Important:

Checkov is a popular security and compliance tool that scans Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) frameworks such as Terraform, CloudFormation, Helm, and Kubernetes manifests. It helps ensure your infrastructure adheres to best practices before it’s deployed.

Key Features:

• Broad support for major IaC frameworks
• Detects misconfigurations, security weaknesses, and compliance violations
• Extensive rules library maintained by a large community

3. Cppcheck (C/C++ Code Quality)

Why It’s Important:

Cppcheck analyzes C and C++ code, focusing on detecting undefined behavior, memory leaks, and other subtle problems. It’s indispensable for teams writing performance-critical, low-level software.

Key Features:

• Finds issues without needing compiled code
• Highly configurable to your project’s style and guidelines
• Integrates well with CI/CD workflows

4. Hadolint (Dockerfile Scan)

Why It’s Important:

Hadolint checks your Dockerfiles for common pitfalls and inefficiencies. This leads to leaner, more secure, and more maintainable Docker images—ultimately improving your application’s deployment processes.

Key Features:

• Warns about deprecated or inefficient instructions
• Offers best-practice recommendations for Docker image building
• Quick and easy to run locally or in CI

5. golangci-lint (Go Code Quality)

Why It’s Important:

For Go developers, golangci-lint aggregates multiple linters into a single tool. It catches a wide range of issues: style violations, potential bugs, performance concerns, and more.

Key Features:

• Runs dozens of linters at once
• Fast execution with caching and parallel running
• Easily configurable for team-specific rules

6. Detekt (Kotlin Code Quality)

Why It’s Important:

Detekt provides a flexible, customizable approach to analyzing Kotlin projects. It encourages idiomatic code, detects code smells, and enforces style and complexity rules—key for scaling Kotlin codebases.

Key Features:

• Checks for code smells, style violations, and complexity issues
• Supports custom rule sets
• Integrates smoothly into Kotlin build pipelines

7. Markdownlint (Markdown Quality)

Why It’s Important:

Documentation is just as important as code. Markdownlint enforces consistent Markdown formatting, making your documentation easier to read and maintain.

Key Features:

• Enforces style rules like heading formatting, line length, and punctuation
• Customizable rulesets via configuration files
• Enhances readability and consistency in your docs

8. PHPStan (PHP Code Quality)

Why It’s Important:

PHPStan is a static analysis tool for PHP that finds bugs without running your code. It helps ensure that PHP code adheres to best practices, reduces runtime errors, and improves maintainability.

Key Features:

• Identifies type errors, undefined variables, dead code, and more
• Offers incremental adoption: start at a lower level and increase strictness over time
• Highly configurable rules

9. PMD (Java Code Quality)

Why It’s Important:

PMD analyzes Java code to detect common programming flaws. It identifies issues like empty catch blocks, unnecessary object creation, and more subtle code smells, raising overall code quality.

Key Features:

• A large set of built-in rules
• Custom rule writing for project-specific checks
• Compatible with multiple JVM languages

10. Ruff (Python Code Quality)

Why It’s Important:

Ruff is a fast Python linter focused on performance and developer productivity. It aims to be a near drop-in replacement for Flake8, with built-in support for many commonly used Python linting plugins.

Key Features:

• Ultra-fast execution
• Batteries-included approach: multiple checks and plugins out of the box
• Seamless integration into Python projects

11. Rubocop (Ruby Code Quality)

Why It’s Important:

Rubocop enforces the Ruby community’s style guide and detects code smells. It helps maintain consistent, idiomatic Ruby code, making your applications more readable and maintainable.

Key Features:

• Vast set of built-in rules aligned with Ruby’s best practices
• Autofix capabilities for many style violations
• Extensible through custom cop (rule) definitions

12. Semgrep (Code Security)

Why It’s Important:

Semgrep provides secure code scanning for multiple languages. Its rule-based scanning identifies both security issues and logic flaws, bridging the gap between traditional linters and static application security testing (SAST) tools.

Key Features:

• Language-agnostic scanning
• Customizable rules to target your code’s unique patterns
• Real-time feedback in CI/CD pipelines

13. ShellCheck (Shell Scripts Quality)

Why It’s Important:

ShellCheck prevents common mistakes in shell scripts by flagging syntax errors, quoting issues, and logic pitfalls. It’s crucial for ensuring stable, maintainable build and deployment scripts.

Key Features:

• Detects subtle shell issues that are easy to miss manually
• Provides specific, actionable feedback
• Supports multiple shell dialects

14. SwiftLint (Swift Code Quality)

Why It’s Important:

For iOS and macOS developers, SwiftLint enforces Swift style and coding conventions. It catches bad patterns early and ensures consistency across your codebase.

Key Features:

• Integrates neatly with Xcode and Swift Package Manager
• Offers numerous rules aligned with official Swift style guides
• Supports custom rule sets

15. YamlLint (YAML Quality)

Why It’s Important:

YAML is prevalent in configuration files for CI, CD, and infrastructure. YamlLint ensures your YAML files are properly structured and free of formatting errors, preventing configuration headaches down the line.

Key Features:

• Detects syntax errors, indentation issues, and trailing spaces
• Easily customizable checks
• Works with any YAML-based configuration

Wrapping Up

From security checks (Gitleaks, Semgrep) to language-specific quality tools (Ruff for Python, Rubocop for Ruby, SwiftLint for Swift), and configuration validations (YamlLint, Hadolint), these 15 tools represent a cross-section of developer productivity tools.

By integrating them into your workflow, you’ll enhance code consistency, reduce defects, improve maintainability, and safeguard against security vulnerabilities—all while simplifying your review process.

Adopting these tools will not only streamline your code review process but also help your team maintain high standards as your project evolves.