elisp-validator

name	elisp-validator
description	Emacs Lisp code validation rules for AI-generated code. Checks for syntax errors, dangerous patterns, undefined symbols, and Common Lisp compatibility issues.
version	1
metadata	{"category":"code-quality","language":"emacs-lisp","author":"auto-workflow","evolution-stats":{"total-experiments":870}}
level	atom

Emacs Lisp Validator

Overview

Validates AI-generated Emacs Lisp code before acceptance. Catches common errors that LLMs make when generating Elisp.

Validation Rules

1. cl-return-from Validation

Rule: cl-return-from must reference a valid cl-block name in scope.

Valid:

(cl-block my-block
  (cl-return-from my-block result))

Invalid:

(cl-return-from nonexistent-block result)  ;; No enclosing block

Checker: Recursive AST walk tracking block names

2. Undefined Symbol Detection

Rule: All referenced functions/variables must be defined or declared.

Valid:

(declare-function my-func "my-module")
(my-func arg)

Invalid:

(undefined-function arg)  ;; No definition or declaration

Checker: Cross-reference against loaded features and declarations

3. Common Lisp Symbol Detection

Rule: Avoid Common Lisp symbols not available in Emacs Lisp.

Banned Symbols:

• first, rest (use car, cdr)
• defun* (use cl-defun)
• let* (use standard let or cl-letf)
• prog1 without cl-lib

Valid:

(require 'cl-lib)
(cl-first list)

Invalid:

(first list)  ;; Only available with (require 'cl)

4. Dangerous Pattern Detection

Rule: Flag patterns likely to cause runtime errors.

Dangerous Patterns:

• (eval ...) without sandboxing
• (load "...") with relative paths
• (set-buffer "...") without save-excursion
• (kill-buffer) on current buffer
• (delete-file) without confirmation
• (setq global-var value) in library code

5. Paren Balance

Rule: All expressions must have balanced parentheses.

Checker: check-parens or scan-sexps

6. Variable Capture

Rule: cl-letf and cl-flet must not capture dynamic variables unintentionally.

Valid:

(cl-letf (((symbol-function 'old-func) #'new-func))
  ...)

Invalid:

(let ((buffer-read-only t))
  ...)  ;; Missing cl-letf for function rebinding

7. Byte-Compile Warnings

Rule: Code should compile without warnings.

Common Warnings:

• Unused lexical variables
• Free variables
• Obsolete functions
• Functions not known to be defined

Checker: byte-compile-file with byte-compile-warnings

Scripts

• scripts/validate_elisp.py - Python-based validator for CI/CD
• scripts/check_symbols.py - Check for undefined/banned symbols
• scripts/analyze_dangerous.py - Detect dangerous patterns

Integration

;; Validate buffer before acceptance
(defun my/validate-generated-code (buffer)
  (with-current-buffer buffer
    (and (check-parens)
         (elisp-validator-check-cl-return)
         (elisp-validator-check-undefined)
         (elisp-validator-check-common-lisp)
         (elisp-validator-check-dangerous))))

Error Categories

Category	Severity	Action
Syntax Error	Critical	Reject immediately
Undefined Symbol	High	Retry with fix
Common Lisp	Medium	Convert to Elisp
Dangerous Pattern	High	Flag for review
Byte-Compile Warning	Low	Note in review

Evolved Validation Rules

Based on analysis of failed experiments.

Rule	Severity	Frequency	Check