nolapse.yaml

nolapse.yaml is the per-repository configuration file for nolapse. It controls which language runner is used, how aggressively coverage regressions are enforced, and whether warnings are treated as failures.

File location and discovery

Place nolapse.yaml in the root of your repository — the same directory that contains your .git folder. nolapse looks for this file relative to the --repo path (which defaults to the current working directory).

my-project/
├── .git/
├── .audit/
│   └── coverage/
│       └── baseline.md
├── nolapse.yaml   ← here
└── ...

If no nolapse.yaml is found, nolapse uses built-in defaults (see each field below).

Schema

lang: go              # go | python
warn_threshold: -1.0  # max tolerated regression before warn (negative = regression)
fail_threshold: -5.0  # max tolerated regression before fail (negative = regression)
strict_mode: false    # when true, warn exits 1 instead of 0

Fields

lang

Type	Default	Allowed values
string	go	go, python

Selects which coverage runner nolapse invokes when executing nolapse run and nolapse init.

• go — runs go test -coverprofile=... and parses go tool cover output.
• python — runs pytest --cov and parses the coverage.py summary.

lang: python

warn_threshold

Type	Default (no yaml)	Unit
float	-0.5	percentage points

The minimum coverage delta before nolapse emits a warning. Values are expressed as negative numbers because they represent regressions (drops in coverage).

• A value of -1.0 means: warn if coverage drops by more than 1.0 percentage point.
• The built-in default when no nolapse.yaml exists is equivalent to -0.5.

CLI flag takes positive values

The corresponding CLI flag --warn-threshold accepts a positive value (e.g., --warn-threshold 1.0), which nolapse negates internally. The yaml field uses the negative convention to make the direction of enforcement explicit in config files.

fail_threshold

Type	Default (no yaml)	Unit
float	-1.0	percentage points

The coverage delta at which nolapse exits non-zero. Must be a more negative value than warn_threshold (a larger allowed regression).

• A value of -5.0 means: fail if coverage drops by more than 5.0 percentage points.
• The built-in default when no nolapse.yaml exists is equivalent to -1.0.

fail_threshold: -5.0

warn_threshold must be less negative than fail_threshold

warn_threshold must always be closer to zero than fail_threshold. For example, -1.0 (warn) and -5.0 (fail) is valid. -5.0 (warn) and -1.0 (fail) is not.

strict_mode

Type	Default	Effect
bool	false	When true, a warn result exits 1 instead of 0

By default, a warning is informational — nolapse prints a message but exits 0, so CI passes. Setting strict_mode: true causes warnings to also exit 1, blocking the pipeline.

strict_mode: true

This is equivalent to passing --strict-mode on every nolapse run invocation.

CLI flag overrides

All nolapse.yaml values can be overridden per-run using CLI flags. Flags always take precedence over the config file.

yaml field	CLI flag	Note
warn_threshold	--warn-threshold <float>	Positive value on CLI
fail_threshold	--fail-threshold <float>	Positive value on CLI
strict_mode	--strict-mode	Boolean flag (no value)
lang	--lang <go|python>	Selects runner

Example — temporarily tighten enforcement for a single run without changing the config file:

nolapse run --warn-threshold 0.1 --fail-threshold 0.5

Example configurations

Tight enforcement (production service)

Warn on any regression, fail on anything over 0.5 pp. Warnings block CI.

lang: go
warn_threshold: -0.0
fail_threshold: -0.5
strict_mode: true

Gradual adoption (legacy codebase)

Allow coverage to drift up to 3 pp before warning, 10 pp before failing. Gives teams time to improve without blocking every PR.

lang: go
warn_threshold: -3.0
fail_threshold: -10.0
strict_mode: false

Python project with moderate enforcement

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

Strict Python project

lang: python
warn_threshold: -0.5
fail_threshold: -1.0
strict_mode: true