Plankton Code Quality

What the Main Agent Sees

The main agent only sees issues the subprocess couldn't fix. Most quality problems are resolved transparently.

Config Protection (Defense Against Rule-Gaming)

LLMs will modify .ruff.toml or biome.json to disable rules rather than fix code. Plankton blocks this with three layers:

1. PreToolUse hook — protect_linter_configs.sh blocks edits to all linter configs before they happen
2. Stop hook — stop_config_guardian.sh detects config changes via git diff at session end
3. Protected files list — .ruff.toml, biome.json, .shellcheckrc, .yamllint, .hadolint.yaml, and more

Package Manager Enforcement

A PreToolUse hook on Bash blocks legacy package managers:

• pip, pip3, poetry, pipenv → Blocked (use uv)
• npm, yarn, pnpm → Blocked (use bun)
• Allowed exceptions: npm audit, npm view, npm publish

Setup

Quick Start

Note: Plankton requires manual installation from its repository. Review the code before installing.

# Install core dependencies
brew install jaq ruff uv

# Install Python linters
uv sync --all-extras

# Start Claude Code — hooks activate automatically
claude

No install command, no plugin config. The hooks in .claude/settings.json are picked up automatically when you run Claude Code in the Plankton directory.

Per-Project Integration

To use Plankton hooks in your own project:

1. Copy .claude/hooks/ directory to your project
2. Copy .claude/settings.json hook configuration
3. Copy linter config files (.ruff.toml, biome.json, etc.)
4. Install the linters for your languages

Language-Specific Dependencies

Pairing with ECC

Complementary, Not Overlapping

Recommended Combination

1. Install ECC as your plugin (agents, skills, commands, rules)
2. Add Plankton hooks for write-time quality enforcement
3. Use AgentShield for security audits
4. Use ECC's verification-loop as a final gate before PRs

Avoiding Hook Conflicts

If running both ECC and Plankton hooks:

• ECC's Prettier hook and Plankton's biome formatter may conflict on JS/TS files
• Resolution: disable ECC's Prettier PostToolUse hook when using Plankton (Plankton's biome is more comprehensive)
• Both can coexist on different file types (ECC handles what Plankton doesn't cover)

Configuration Reference

Plankton's .claude/hooks/config.json controls all behavior:

{
  "languages": {
    "python": true,
    "shell": true,
    "yaml": true,
    "json": true,
    "toml": true,
    "dockerfile": true,
    "markdown": true,
    "typescript": {
      "enabled": true,
      "js_runtime": "auto",
      "biome_nursery": "warn",
      "semgrep": true
    }
  },
  "phases": {
    "auto_format": true,
    "subprocess_delegation": true
  },
  "subprocess": {
    "tiers": {
      "haiku":  { "timeout": 120, "max_turns": 10 },
      "sonnet": { "timeout": 300, "max_turns": 10 },
      "opus":   { "timeout": 600, "max_turns": 15 }
    },
    "volume_threshold": 5
  }
}

Key settings:

• Disable languages you don't use to speed up hooks
• volume_threshold — violations > this count auto-escalate to a higher model tier
• subprocess_delegation: false — skip Phase 3 entirely (just report violations)

Environment Overrides

References

• Plankton (credit: @alxfazio)
• Plankton REFERENCE.md — Full architecture documentation (credit: @alxfazio)
• Plankton SETUP.md — Detailed installation guide (credit: @alxfazio)

ECC v1.8 Additions

Copyable Hook Profile

Set strict quality behavior:

export ECC_HOOK_PROFILE=strict
export ECC_QUALITY_GATE_FIX=true
export ECC_QUALITY_GATE_STRICT=true

Language Gate Table

• TypeScript/JavaScript: Biome preferred, Prettier fallback
• Python: Ruff format/check
• Go: gofmt

Config Tamper Guard

During quality enforcement, flag changes to config files in same iteration:

• biome.json, .eslintrc*, prettier.config*, tsconfig.json, pyproject.toml

If config is changed to suppress violations, require explicit review before merge.

CI Integration Pattern

Use the same commands in CI as local hooks:

1. run formatter checks
2. run lint/type checks
3. fail fast on strict mode
4. publish remediation summary

Health Metrics

Track:

• edits flagged by gates
• average remediation time
• repeat violations by category
• merge blocks due to gate failures