golangci/golangci-lint · error

%s is not a linter, it cannot be enabled or disabled

Error message

%s is not a linter, it cannot be enabled or disabled

What it means

Loader.Load rejects 'typecheck' in linters.enable or linters.disable because typecheck is an internal analysis stage, not an enableable linter. This is common when migrating v1 configs, where typecheck could be listed.

Source

Thrown at pkg/config/loader.go:89

	}

	if l.mode == modeLinters {
		l.applyStringSliceHack()
	}

	if l.cfg.Linters.Exclusions.Generated == "" {
		l.cfg.Linters.Exclusions.Generated = GeneratedModeStrict
	}

	err = l.checkConfigurationVersion()
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}

	if !l.cfg.InternalCmdTest {
		for _, n := range slices.Concat(l.cfg.Linters.Enable, l.cfg.Linters.Disable) {
			if n == "typecheck" {
				return fmt.Errorf("%s is not a linter, it cannot be enabled or disabled", n)
			}
		}
	}

	l.handleFormatters()

	if opts.CheckDeprecation {
		err = l.handleDeprecation()
		if err != nil {
			return err
		}

		l.handleFormatterDeprecations()
	}

	l.handleGoVersion()

	err = goutil.CheckGoVersion(l.cfg.Run.Go)

View on GitHub (pinned to ed7a235d2d)

Solutions

1. Remove 'typecheck' from linters.enable and linters.disable in the config
2. Remove typecheck from the -E/--enable CLI flags in scripts/CI
3. Rely on the fact that typechecking always runs implicitly

Example fix

# before
linters:
  enable:
    - typecheck
    - staticcheck
# after
linters:
  enable:
    - staticcheck

for _, n := range append(cfg.Linters.Enable, cfg.Linters.Disable...) {
	if n == "typecheck" {
		return errors.New("typecheck is internal; remove it from enable/disable")
	}
}

if err := loader.Load(ctx); err != nil {
	if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "typecheck") {
		log.Fatal("remove typecheck from linters config")
	}
}

When it happens

Trigger: Config containing 'typecheck' under linters.enable or linters.disable, or the --enable/-E CLI flag passing typecheck (skipped only when InternalCmdTest is set).

Common situations: v1-to-v2 config migration leftovers; old CI scripts with golangci-lint run -E typecheck; copy-pasted deprecated config examples.

Related errors

• %s is a formatter
• at least %d of (text, source, path[-except], linters) should
• %s is not a formatter
• error in exclude rule #%d: %w
• invalid preset: %s

AI-assisted analysis of golangci/golangci-lint@ed7a235d2d (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6355323267373355. Report an issue: GitHub.