agent-lint

CLI tool for cost estimation and anti-pattern detection in agent workflow YAML configs. Catch expensive, fragile, or ungoverned agent workflows before they hit production.

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The Problem

Agent workflows fail in predictable ways: unbounded loops, no retry limits, missing cost guards, parallel branches with no coordination. Most teams find these problems in production — after a $400 API bill or a stuck workflow that ran for six hours.

agent-lint finds them at config time.

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Install

pip install agentlinter

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Usage

# Lint a single workflow config
agent-lint lint workflow.yaml

# Lint all workflows in a directory, fail CI if score < 80
agent-lint lint workflows/ --fail-under 80

# Estimate token/cost exposure for a workflow
agent-lint estimate workflow.yaml --provider anthropic

# Generate a full audit report
agent-lint lint workflows/ --format markdown

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What It Detects

Anti-patterns:

• Unbounded retry loops (no max_retries or timeout)
• Missing cost guards on high-token operations
• Parallel agent branches with no merge strategy
• Hard-coded API keys in config (security)
• Missing checkpointing on long-running workflows
• Agents with no defined output schema

Cost estimation:

• Token budget projection per workflow step
• Worst-case / expected-case / best-case cost ranges
• Model-aware pricing (Claude, GPT-4, Gemini)

Scoring:

• 0-100 score per workflow
• Error (-15 pts), warning (-5 pts), info (-1 pt)
• CI integration: --fail-under threshold

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CI Integration

# .github/workflows/agent-lint.yml
- name: Lint agent workflows
  run: agent-lint lint workflows/ --fail-under 80

Treat your agent configs like production code. Gate them the same way.

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Why Static Analysis

No LLM dependency. No API calls. No variance between runs. Agent configs are deterministic artifacts — they should be audited deterministically.

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Status

• Anti-pattern detection (17 rules)
• Cost estimation (Claude, GPT-4)
• CI integration with threshold gating
• Markdown audit reports
• Gemini pricing model
• VS Code extension
• Auto-fix suggestions

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Free vs Pro

Feature	Free	Pro ($8/mo)
lint — 17 anti-pattern rules	Yes	Yes
estimate — token/cost estimation	Yes	Yes
status — license and system info	Yes	Yes
compare — multi-provider cost comparison	-	Yes
Markdown export	-	Yes
Custom pricing models	-	Yes
Custom lint rules	-	Yes
Historical tracking	-	Yes

Get Pro: Monthly ($8/mo) | Yearly ($69/yr)

All 5 Tools Bundle: Monthly ($29/mo) | Yearly ($199/yr) — includes claudemd-forge, agent-lint, ai-spend, promptctl, context-hygiene

Activate:

export AGENT_LINT_LICENSE=ALNT-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX

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Part of the AreteDriver AI tooling ecosystem.