golangci/golangci-lint · error

can't combine option --config and --no-config

Error message

can't combine option --config and --no-config

What it means

The golangci-lint configuration loader (BaseLoader.evaluateOptions) refuses to run when both --config (or opts.Config) and --no-config (opts.NoConfig) are supplied, since they are mutually exclusive ways to control config discovery. It is a CLI/config contradiction detected before any file is read.

Source

Thrown at pkg/config/base_loader.go:85

	}

	if configFile != "" {
		l.viper.SetConfigFile(configFile)

		// Assume YAML if the file has no extension.
		if filepath.Ext(configFile) == "" {
			l.viper.SetConfigType("yaml")
		}
	} else {
		l.setupConfigFileSearch()
	}

	return nil
}

func (l *BaseLoader) evaluateOptions() (string, error) {
	if l.opts.NoConfig && l.opts.Config != "" {
		return "", errors.New("can't combine option --config and --no-config")
	}

	if l.opts.NoConfig {
		return "", errConfigDisabled
	}

	configFile, err := homedir.Expand(l.opts.Config)
	if err != nil {
		return "", errors.New("failed to expand configuration path")
	}

	return configFile, nil
}

func (l *BaseLoader) setupConfigFileSearch() {
	l.viper.SetConfigName(".golangci")

	configSearchPaths := l.getConfigSearchPaths()

View on GitHub (pinned to ed7a235d2d)

Solutions

1. Remove the --no-config flag if you want a specific config file.
2. Remove --config and keep --no-config if you want defaults only.
3. In code, ensure only one of l.opts.Config / l.opts.NoConfig is set before calling Load/setConfigFile.

Example fix

// before
golangci-lint run --no-config --config .golangci.yml

// after
golangci-lint run --config .golangci.yml

const flags = process.argv.slice(2);
if (flags.includes('--no-config') && flags.some(f => f.startsWith('--config'))) {
  throw new Error('Remove either --no-config or --config before running golangci-lint');
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running golangci-lint with both `--config <file>` and `--no-config` flags, or programmatically calling setConfigFile after setting opts.NoConfig = true (or vice versa) before Load.

Common situations: Shell scripts/aliases where --no-config is baked in and a CI job appends --config; users overriding a default flag; passing both flags to `golangci-lint config` or `run` subcommands.

Related errors

• config is disabled by --no-config
• can't get enabled formatters: %w
• can't load config: %w
• can't get enabled linters: %w
• can't start CPU profiling: %w

AI-assisted analysis of golangci/golangci-lint@ed7a235d2d (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f09b21da0c06a8c7. Report an issue: GitHub.