Getting Started on ALCops

Quick Start

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

ALCops is a community-driven collection of code analyzers for the AL programming language. It catches common mistakes, enforces best practices, and helps maintain consistent code quality across your Business Central projects.

What ALCops Catches

Here is a small sample of what ALCops detects. Browse the full rules reference for the complete list.

Missing Caption on user-facing controls (AC0011)

User-facing controls need explicit captions for a consistent and localizable UI.

action(MyAction)
{
 trigger OnAction()
 begin
 end;
}

action(MyAction)
{
 Caption = 'My Action';

 trigger OnAction()
 begin
 end;
}

Primary key field missing NotBlank (AC0002)

Single-field primary keys of type Code or Text must set NotBlank to prevent empty key values.

VS Code

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The ALCops VS Code extension is the recommended way to use ALCops during development. It automatically downloads and manages the analyzer DLLs for you.

Install the Extension

Open VS Code and go to the Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X).
Search for ALCops.
Click Install.

Alternatively, install from the command line:

code --install-extension Arthurvdv.alcops

Once installed, the extension activates automatically when you open an AL project. It downloads the analyzer DLLs to the AL Language extension’s bin/Analyzers folder on first use.

Command Line

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

ALCops analyzers work with the AL compiler (alc.exe) through the standard /analyzer flag. This is the foundation that all other integration methods build on.

AL Compiler (alc.exe)

Pass one or more analyzer DLLs to the compiler using the /analyzer flag:

alc.exe /project:"C:\Source\MyApp" /packagecachepath:"C:\Source\MyApp\.alpackages" /analyzer:"C:\Analyzers\ALCops.ApplicationCop.dll" /analyzer:"C:\Analyzers\ALCops.PlatformCop.dll"

Each /analyzer flag accepts a full path to a single DLL. Repeat the flag for each analyzer you want to include.

Important

When running from the command line, you must also include ALCops.Common.dll in the customCodeCops array. This shared dependency is required by all ALCops analyzers.

Configuration

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

ALCops supports several mechanisms to configure which rules are active and how they behave. These mechanisms work across all environments: VS Code, command line, and CI/CD pipelines.

ALCops.json

The ALCops.json file provides analyzer-specific configuration. Place it in the root of your AL project alongside app.json.

{
 "analyzers": {
 "ApplicationCop": {
 "enabled": true
 },
 "LinterCop": {
 "enabled": true
 }
 }
}

Note

The ALCops.json file is read when the analyzer loads. In VS Code, changes to this file require reloading the window (Ctrl+Shift+P → Developer: Reload Window) to take effect.

MCP Server

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The ALCops MCP server brings AL code analysis to AI assistants through the Model Context Protocol . It lets Claude, Cursor, and other MCP-compatible clients analyze Business Central AL projects, browse rules, and apply code fixes — all without leaving the conversation.

Install

Install the MCP server as a .NET global tool:

dotnet tool install -g ALCops.Mcp

Configuration

Add the server to your MCP client configuration.

{
 "mcpServers": {
 "alcops": {
 "command": "alcops-mcp"
 }
 }
}

Available Tools

The MCP server exposes 4 tools (~1,020 tokens of schema overhead):