> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.vale.sh/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.vale.sh/keys/basedonstyles.md). # BasedOnStyles Learn how to enable a style for a specific file type. ```ini StylesPath = styles [*.md] BasedOnStyles = Vale, MyStyle ``` `BasedOnStyles` enables every rule in the named styles for the files a section matches. It's a section-level setting, so it has to appear under a glob. Putting it above the first section is an error: ``` 'BasedOnStyles' is a syntax-specific option ``` To apply styles to everything, use the catch-all section: ```ini [*] BasedOnStyles = Vale ``` ## [More than one section](#more-than-one-section) When several sections match a file, the last one written takes it: its `BasedOnStyles` **replaces** the others rather than adding to them. ```ini [*] BasedOnStyles = Vale [*.md] # Markdown files get Microsoft *instead of* Vale, not as well as. BasedOnStyles = Microsoft ``` If you want the defaults plus something extra, name them all: ```ini [*] BasedOnStyles = Vale [*.md] BasedOnStyles = Vale, Microsoft ``` ## [Individual rules](#individual-rules) Rules can be switched on or off by name, and unlike `BasedOnStyles`, these settings **accumulate** across every section that matches: ```ini [*] BasedOnStyles = Vale [*.md] # Markdown keeps everything from Vale, and adds one rule # from a style that isn't otherwise enabled. Microsoft.Contractions = YES ``` That's the way to extend your defaults for one file type without repeating them. Turning a rule off works the same way: ```ini [*.md] BasedOnStyles = Vale, MyStyle Vale.Spelling = NO ``` A rule can also be enabled on its own, without its style being listed at all: ```ini [*.md] # Only this rule runs, not the rest of Style1. Style1.Rule = YES ``` ## [Starting over](#starting-over) {% hint style="info" %} Requires Vale v3.22.0 or later. {% endhint %} An empty `BasedOnStyles` clears everything a file inherited from earlier sections, the rule settings as well as the styles, so the section starts from nothing: ```ini [*] BasedOnStyles = write-good write-good.Weasel = warning [*.py] # No styles, and no inherited Weasel setting either. BasedOnStyles = NONE ``` `NONE` is the spelled-out form of an empty value, and requires Vale v3.24.0 or later; `BasedOnStyles =` with nothing after it does the same. A file left with no rule to run isn't read at all. A rule named in that section still runs. To drop one inherited setting rather than all of them, set it to `UNSET`: the rule follows `BasedOnStyles` again, as if the earlier line had not been written. ```ini [*] write-good.Weasel = YES [*.py] write-good.Weasel = UNSET ``` `UNSET` works on a style name too, `write-good = UNSET`, and leaves the settings of individual rules in place. ## [Severity](#severity) The same syntax sets a rule's level, which overrides whatever the rule file declares: ```ini [*.md] BasedOnStyles = Vale Vale.Spelling = warning ``` {% hint style="info" %} Setting a level for a whole style requires Vale v3.17.0 or later. {% endhint %} A bare style name sets the default for every rule in that style, and a rule naming itself still wins: ```ini [*.md] BasedOnStyles = proselint # Everything in proselint is a suggestion ... proselint = suggestion # ... except this one. proselint.Typography = warning ``` This is the concise way to keep one part of a style while turning the rest down—or off: ```ini proselint = NO proselint.Typography = YES ``` See [MinAlertLevel](/keys/minalertlevel.md) for how levels affect Vale's exit code. ## [Parameters](#parameters) {% hint style="info" %} Bracketed parameters require Vale v3.20.0 or later. {% endhint %} A bracketed key overrides one scalar on a rule you have enabled, keeping the rule's identity: ```ini [*.md] BasedOnStyles = Std # The rule stays Std.SentenceLength; only its threshold moves. Std.SentenceLength[max] = 30 ``` Values are coerced to the field's type at compile time, and an unknown parameter fails the rule's compilation rather than being silently dropped. Only scalars can be tuned this way. A structural field — `tokens`, `swap`, `message` — is refused with a pointer at [extending the rule](/topics/styles.md#extending-another-rule) in a style, which is what authoring is for. `[level]` is refused too: the classic `Style.Rule = warning` syntax already says that. --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com. ## Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation by asking a question. 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