Clang-tidy IDE/Editor Integrations

Apart from being a standalone tool, clang-tidy is integrated into various IDEs, code analyzers, and editors. We recommend using clangd which integrates clang-tidy and is available in most major editors through plugins (Vim, Emacs, Visual Studio Code, Sublime Text and more).

The following table shows the most well-known clang-tidy integrations in detail.

	Feature
Tool	On-the-fly inspection	Check list configuration (GUI)	Options to checks (GUI)	Configuration via .clang-tidy files	Custom clang-tidy binary
A.L.E. for Vim	+	-	-	-	+
Clang Power Tools for Visual Studio	-	+	-	+	-
Clangd	+	-	-	+	-
CLion IDE	+	+	+	+	+
CodeChecker	-	-	-	-	+
CPPCheck	-	-	-	-	-
CPPDepend	-	-	-	-	-
Flycheck for Emacs	+	-	-	+	+
KDevelop IDE	-	+	+	+	+
Qt Creator IDE	+	+	-	+	+
ReSharper C++ for Visual Studio	+	+	-	+	+
Syntastic for Vim	+	-	-	-	+
Visual Assist for Visual Studio	+	+	-	-	-

IDEs

CLion 2017.2 and later integrates clang-tidy as an extension to the built-in code analyzer. Starting from 2018.2 EAP, CLion allows using clang-tidy via Clangd. Inspections and applicable quick-fixes are performed on the fly, and checks can be configured in standard command line format. In this integration, you can switch to the clang-tidy binary different from the bundled one, pass the configuration in .clang-tidy files instead of using the IDE settings, and configure options for particular checks.

KDevelop with the kdev-clang-tidy plugin, starting from version 5.1, performs static analysis using clang-tidy. The plugin launches the clang-tidy binary from the specified location and parses its output to provide a list of issues.

QtCreator 4.6 integrates clang-tidy warnings into the editor diagnostics under the Clang Code Model. To employ clang-tidy inspection in QtCreator, you need to create a copy of one of the presets and choose the checks to be performed. Since QtCreator 4.7 project-wide analysis is possible with the Clang Tools analyzer.

MS Visual Studio can integrate clang-tidy by means of three different tools. The ReSharper C++ extension, version 2017.3 and later, provides seamless clang-tidy integration: checks and quick-fixes run alongside native inspections. Apart from that, ReSharper C++ incorporates clang-tidy as a separate step of its code clean-up process. Visual Assist build 2210 includes a subset of clang-tidy checklist to inspect the code as you edit. Another way to bring clang-tidy functionality to Visual Studio is the Clang Power Tools plugin, which includes most of the clang-tidy checks and runs them during compilation or as a separate step of code analysis.

Editors

Emacs24, when expanded with the Flycheck plugin, incorporates the clang-tidy inspection into the syntax analyzer. For Vim, you can use Syntastic, which includes clang-tidy, or A.L.E., a lint engine that applies clang-tidy along with other linters.

Analyzers

clang-tidy is integrated in CPPDepend starting from version 2018.1 and CPPCheck 1.82. CPPCheck integration lets you import Visual Studio solutions and run the clang-tidy inspection on them. The CodeChecker application of version 5.3 or later, which also comes as a plugin for Eclipse, supports clang-tidy as a static analysis instrument and allows to use a custom clang-tidy binary.