# ShellCheck

> GPL-3.0 de-facto static analysis for shell scripts

**Category:** DevOps  
**Pricing:** open-source  
**URL:** https://www.shellcheck.net  
**GitHub:** https://github.com/koalaman/shellcheck  
**Added:** 2026-09-14

---

## The Hook

ShellCheck is the de-facto linter for bash/sh when a script “works on my machine” is not a review.

## What's Good

GPL-3.0. koalaman/shellcheck. Haskell CLI that finds quoting bugs, unused vars, and POSIX foot-guns; wiki-linked SC#### codes. Distro packages, editor integrations, and the paste-bin at shellcheck.net. Source github.com/koalaman/shellcheck.

## The Catch

GPL-3.0 copyleft — fine as a laptop/CI CLI; read the license before you embed the analyzer into a proprietary product. Vs Hadolint (Dockerfile AST + ShellCheck on RUN): ShellCheck is *shell scripts*, not Dockerfiles. It is static analysis, not a runtime or a shell.

## Verdict

GPL-3.0 shell linter. Free forever CLI; the copyleft is the loud license, not a seat tax.