Linting

The BPMN Modeler can validate your diagram while you edit using bpmnlint — the same linter you can run in CI. When a .bpmnlintrc is found, rule violations appear as ⚠️/❌ overlays on the offending elements and a summary button (error/warning counts) is shown on the canvas. If no .bpmnlintrc exists, the feature stays dormant and the modeler looks exactly as it did before.

Usage

1. Add a .bpmnlintrc at your workspace root (or under your configFolder, default .camunda/):

   {
       "extends": "bpmnlint:recommended"
   }

2. Open (or reopen) a .bpmn file with a known issue — e.g. a task without a label or a process missing an end event. Violations show up as overlays on the diagram, and the in-canvas lint button summarises the counts. The VS Code status bar shows $(check) BPMNlint (hover for the config path).

3. Fix the issue and the overlay clears live — no save required.

Configuring rules

Discovery uses bpmnlint's nearest-config semantics: walking from the BPMN file's directory up to the workspace root, the first .bpmnlintrc found wins (checking <dir>/.bpmnlintrc then <dir>/<configFolder>/.bpmnlintrc at each level). No merging is performed, so the modeler and CI lint against the same file.

Tune rules with the standard .bpmnlintrc syntax — turn a rule off, downgrade it to a warning, or start from a different built-in preset:

{
    "extends": "bpmnlint:recommended",
    "rules": {
        "label-required": "off",
        "no-overlapping-elements": "warn"
    }
}

The built-in presets are bpmnlint:recommended, bpmnlint:all, and bpmnlint:correctness. See the bpmnlint rule reference for the full list of rules and what each one checks.

Current scope

• Built-in rules only. Custom / 3rd-party rule packages (extends to external npm configs, plugin:*, or pkg/rule keys) are skipped with a warning logged to the bpmn.modeler output channel — built-in rules keep linting and the editor never crashes on an unsupported entry.
• BPMN only. DMN linting is not supported.