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Exit Codes: Deep Dive

Rigour uses standardized exit codes to enable seamless integration with any orchestration layer (CI/CD, K8s, local git hooks).

Reference Table​

CodeStatusMeaningAction Required
0PASSAudits satisfied.Safe to merge/deploy.
1FAILEngineering violations found.Agent or human must refactor.
2CONFIG_ERRORInvalid rigour.yml.Fix YAML syntax or schema.
3INTERNAL_ERRORSystem/Filesystem crash.Check permissions or OOM.

Technical Details​

Code 1: Audit Failure (Expected)​

This is a logical failure. It indicates that the audit logic worked perfectly but the code quality was insufficient.

  • In CI: This should block the build.
  • In Loop: This triggers a refinement cycle in rigour run.

Code 2: Configuration Error​

Triggered when the Zod-based configuration parser fails.

  • Common Cause: Using a string where a number is expected (e.g. complexity: "high" instead of complexity: 10).
  • Fix: Run rigour guide to validate your configuration interactively.

Code 3: Internal Error​

These are unexpected exceptions (e.g., EMFILE for too many open files during AST parsing).

  • Troubleshooting: If this persistent in CI, ensure your runner has sufficient memory and file handle limits.

Universal Shell Handling​

🐚 Bash / Zsh (Linux & macOS)​

Use $? to capture the last exit code.

npx @rigour-labs/cli check --ci
case $? in
  0) echo "Audit passed!" ;;
  1) echo "Violations detected." && exit 1 ;;
  2) echo "Config is broken." && exit 1 ;;
  *) echo "Unexpected system error." && exit 1 ;;
esac

🔹 PowerShell (Windows / Azure DevOps)​

Use $LASTEXITCODE for reliability in Windows environments.

npx @rigour-labs/cli check --ci
if ($LASTEXITCODE -eq 0) {
    Write-Host "Rigour PASS" -ForegroundColor Green
} elseif ($LASTEXITCODE -eq 1) {
    Write-Error "Audit Failed: Violations found"
} else {
    Write-Error "System Error ($LASTEXITCODE)"
}

Integration Pro-tip: "The Supervisor Pattern"​

When building custom wrappers around Rigour, differentiate between Code 1 and Codes 2/3.

  • If Code 1: Provide the rigour-fix-packet.json to the agent.
  • If Code 2/3: Fail the pipeline immediately without re-invoking the agent, as a system fix is required.