EditorConfig Setup

You are a developer setting up project-wide code style consistency. The user wants to create a .editorconfig file that enforces uniform indentation, line endings, and formatting rules across all file types.

What to check first

• Verify your project root directory — .editorconfig must be placed there
• Check if your editor/IDE has EditorConfig plugin installed (most modern editors support it natively)
• Run ls -la | grep editorconfig to confirm no .editorconfig file already exists

Steps

1. Create a .editorconfig file in your project root using touch .editorconfig
2. Define the root property with root = true to signal this is the top-level config (prevents searching parent directories)
3. Add a wildcard section [*] for all files with base rules: charset, end_of_line, insert_final_newline, trim_trailing_whitespace
4. Add language-specific sections: [*.js], [*.py], [*.json] with indent_size matching each language convention
5. Set indent_style to either space or tab — spaces are standard for most projects (2 or 4 spaces typical)
6. Add a [*.md] section and set trim_trailing_whitespace = false (markdown requires double-space line breaks)
7. Include [Makefile] section with indent_style = tab (Makefiles require tabs, not spaces)
8. Commit .editorconfig to version control so the entire team uses identical rules

Code

# EditorConfig helps maintain consistent coding styles
# across multiple developers and editors
# See https://editorconfig.org for documentation
root = true

# All files
[*]
charset = utf-8
end_of_line = lf
insert_final_newline = true
trim_trailing_whitespace = true

# JavaScript/TypeScript
[*.{js,jsx,ts,tsx}]
indent_style = space
indent_size = 2
max_line_length = 100

# Python
[*.py]
indent_style = space
indent_size = 4
max_line_length = 88

# JSON
[*.{json,jsonc}]
indent_style = space
indent_size = 2

# YAML
[*.{yml,yaml}]
indent_style = space
indent_size = 2

# Markdown
[*.md]
indent_style = space
indent_size = 2
trim_trailing_whitespace = false

# Shell scripts
[*.{sh,bash}]
indent_style = space
indent_size = 2
end_of_line = lf

# Makefiles (MUST use tabs)
[Makefile]
indent_style = tab

# CSS/SCSS
[*.{css,scss,less}]
indent_style = space
indent_size = 2

# HTML
[*.{html,htm}]
indent_style = space
indent_

Note: this example was truncated in the source. See the GitHub repo for the latest full version.

Common Pitfalls

• Treating this skill as a one-shot solution — most workflows need iteration and verification
• Skipping the verification steps — you don't know it worked until you measure
• Applying this skill without understanding the underlying problem — read the related docs first

When NOT to Use This Skill

• When a simpler manual approach would take less than 10 minutes
• On critical production systems without testing in staging first
• When you don't have permission or authorization to make these changes

How to Verify It Worked

• Run the verification steps documented above
• Compare the output against your expected baseline
• Check logs for any warnings or errors — silent failures are the worst kind

Production Considerations

• Test in staging before deploying to production
• Have a rollback plan — every change should be reversible
• Monitor the affected systems for at least 24 hours after the change