Initializing a Baseline

nolapse init sets up nolapse in a repository for the first time. It runs your test suite, records the current coverage as the baseline, and creates a nolapse.yaml template if one does not already exist.

Prerequisites

• The repository must be a git repo with at least one commit.
• For Go projects: go test must be runnable from the repo root.
• For Python projects: pytest and pytest-cov must be installed.

What nolapse init does

1. Checks for an existing baseline. If .audit/coverage/baseline.md already exists, init aborts unless --force is passed.
2. Resolves the HEAD SHA. Records the current commit hash to tie the baseline to a specific point in history.
3. Runs the coverage tool. Executes the language-specific runner (go test -coverprofile=... or pytest --cov) to measure current coverage.
4. Creates .audit/coverage/baseline.md. Writes the initial baseline file with the coverage percentage, timestamp, and commit SHA.
5. Creates nolapse.yaml (if not present). Writes a template with commented defaults so you can tune thresholds right away.

Basic usage

# Go project (default)
nolapse init --repo .

# Python project
nolapse init --repo . --lang python

# Explicit path
nolapse init --repo /path/to/my-service

The --repo flag defaults to the current working directory, so nolapse init (no flags) works from the repo root.

What gets created

After a successful init, two files are written:

.audit/coverage/baseline.md

coverage: 82.50%
timestamp: 2026-01-15T09:32:11Z
commit: a3f8c21d4e6b09f1c2d3e4f5a6b7c8d9e0f1a2b3

This file is the source of truth for all future nolapse run comparisons. It should be committed to your repository and treated as part of your CI configuration.

nolapse.yaml (template)

lang: go
warn_threshold: -1.0
fail_threshold: -3.0
strict_mode: false

Edit the thresholds to match your team’s tolerance before committing. See Thresholds for guidance.

What to commit

After running nolapse init, commit both files:

git add .audit/coverage/baseline.md nolapse.yaml
git commit -m "chore: initialise nolapse coverage baseline"

Do not add .nolapse_run_state to git — it is a transient file used between nolapse run and nolapse baseline update.

The --force flag

If a baseline already exists, nolapse init exits with an error:

error: baseline already exists at .audit/coverage/baseline.md
       use --force to overwrite

Pass --force to overwrite the existing baseline with a fresh measurement:

nolapse init --repo . --force

—force rewrites history

--force replaces the existing baseline file entirely. Any previous baseline entries are lost. Use nolapse baseline update for routine baseline advancement after intentional coverage improvements.

Go vs Python variants

Go

nolapse init --repo . --lang go

Internally runs something equivalent to:

go test -coverprofile=.nolapse_cover.out ./...
go tool cover -func=.nolapse_cover.out

Python

nolapse init --repo . --lang python

Internally runs something equivalent to:

pytest --cov=. --cov-report=term-missing

Ensure pytest-cov is installed in the active environment before running init on a Python project.

Troubleshooting

”baseline already exists”

error: baseline already exists at .audit/coverage/baseline.md

You have already run nolapse init in this repo. If you want to re-baseline from scratch, use --force. If you want to advance the baseline after a coverage improvement, use nolapse baseline update instead.

”not a git repository”

error: could not resolve HEAD: not a git repository

nolapse init requires a git repository with at least one commit. Run git init && git commit before running nolapse init.

Coverage tool not found (Python)

error: pytest not found in PATH

Install pytest and pytest-cov in the active environment:

pip install pytest pytest-cov

Zero coverage reported

If nolapse reports 0.00%, the coverage tool ran but found no test files or no instrumented packages. Check that:

• For Go: your ./... pattern matches packages with _test.go files.
• For Python: your --cov target points at the source directory, not the test directory.