The include and exclude keys control which files pnl scans. They are top-level config keys and are applied before any rule matching.

include:
  - src

exclude:
  - src/generated/**

rules:
  - name: ...

apply:
  - name: ...

Both keys accept a list of file path patterns. Patterns are matched against file paths relative to the project root.

Scenarios¶

No include or exclude¶

When neither key is present, pnl scans all .py files under the project root recursively.

rules:
  - name: bool-method-prefix
    type: function
    filter: { return_type: bool }
    naming: { prefix: [is_, has_, should_] }

apply:
  - name: all
    rules: [bool-method-prefix]
    modules: "**"

Every .py file in the project is a candidate for scanning. The apply block's modules pattern then determines which of those files are actually checked by each rule.

Only include¶

When only include is specified, only files matching the listed paths are scanned. Everything else is ignored.

include:
  - src

rules:
  - name: bool-method-prefix
    type: function
    filter: { return_type: bool }
    naming: { prefix: [is_, has_, should_] }

apply:
  - name: all
    rules: [bool-method-prefix]
    modules: "**"

Only .py files under src/ are scanned. Files in tests/, scripts/, or other top-level directories are not checked, even if they match the modules pattern in apply.

Use include when your project has multiple top-level directories and you only want to lint a specific one.

Only exclude¶

When only exclude is specified, all .py files under the project root are scanned except those matching the excluded paths.

exclude:
  - tests/**
  - scripts/**

rules:
  - name: bool-method-prefix
    type: function
    filter: { return_type: bool }
    naming: { prefix: [is_, has_, should_] }

apply:
  - name: all
    rules: [bool-method-prefix]
    modules: "**"

All files are scanned by default, but tests/ and scripts/ are skipped. This is useful when you want broad coverage but need to exclude generated code, fixtures, or tooling directories.

Both include and exclude¶

When both keys are present, include is applied first and exclude is applied to that result.

include:
  - src

exclude:
  - src/generated/**

rules:
  - name: bool-method-prefix
    type: function
    filter: { return_type: bool }
    naming: { prefix: [is_, has_, should_] }

apply:
  - name: all
    rules: [bool-method-prefix]
    modules: "**"

Step-by-step:

1. Start with all .py files under the project root.
2. Keep only files under src/ (apply include).
3. Remove files under src/generated/ (apply exclude).

The result is all files under src/ except those in src/generated/.

Summary¶