Getting started

This is for self-hosting: you build or download stylist and run it yourself. If someone else already runs it for you and gave you an API URL and a token, see Getting started (hosted) instead.

Install

Build from source (Go 1.26+):

make build          # → dist/stylist

Or cross-compile release binaries for every platform:

make release        # darwin/linux/windows × amd64/arm64 in dist/

stylist is a single static binary with no runtime dependencies.

Your first check

Create a ruleset (see Rulesets for the full schema):

rules/brand.yaml

id: acme-brand-v1
colors:
  allowed: ["#1A2B3C", "#FFFFFF"]
fonts:
  allowed: [Inter, Georgia]
terms:
  banned:
    - term: cheap
      reason: use "affordable"
  required:
    - term: ACME

Check a file:

stylist check -ruleset rules/brand.yaml page.html

FAIL  page.html  (ruleset: acme-brand-v1)
  page.html:5   [colors] color #ff4136 is not in the allowed brand palette
  page.html:10  [terms] banned term "cheap" found: use "affordable"

Exit codes are CI-friendly: 0 pass, 1 violations, 2 error.

Wire it into a repo

Add a project config so nobody needs flags:

# .stylist.yaml (repo root, checked in)
ruleset: rules/brand.yaml

Install the pre-commit hook:

stylist hook install

Commits that stage HTML violating the ruleset are now blocked, with the violation list printed. If the repo already has violations, accept them as tracked debt first. See Baselines:

stylist baseline

Next steps

• Point the repo at a central server instead of a local ruleset file: Server.
• Catch assets as agents generate them: Hooks & CI.
• See conformance over time: Dashboard.