Exit Codes

nolapse uses process exit codes so CI systems can act on results without parsing output text. There are three categories: success (exit 0), enforcement failure (exit 1), and error (any other non-zero code).

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Exit code table

Code	Category	When it occurs
0	Pass	nolapse run — delta is above the warn threshold. Coverage is healthy.
0	Warn	nolapse run — delta is below the warn threshold but above the fail threshold, and --strict-mode is off.
1	Fail	nolapse run — delta is at or below the fail threshold. Coverage regression is too large.
1	Strict warn	nolapse run — outcome is warn and --strict-mode is enabled.
Non-zero	Error	Any command — configuration problem, missing baseline, git unavailable, or test runner crash.

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Outcome to exit code mapping

The nolapse run outcome is determined by comparing delta (current coverage minus baseline coverage) against the configured thresholds:

Condition	Outcome	Exit code (normal)	Exit code (strict mode)
delta > -warn_threshold	pass	0	0
-fail_threshold < delta ≤ -warn_threshold	warn	0	1
delta ≤ -fail_threshold	fail	1	1

Default thresholds: warn_threshold = 0.5, fail_threshold = 1.0.

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Strict mode

By default, a warn outcome exits 0. This lets teams see a warning in the CI log without blocking the merge. When you want any regression — even a small one — to block merges, enable strict mode:

nolapse run --repo . --strict-mode

Or set it permanently in nolapse.yaml:

strict_mode: true

With strict mode on, both warn and fail outcomes exit 1.

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How CI/CD interprets exit codes

GitHub Actions

A step that exits non-zero is marked as failed, which causes the job to fail. If the job is listed as a required status check on the branch, GitHub blocks the pull request from merging.

- name: Enforce coverage
  run: nolapse run --repo .
  # Exit 1 from nolapse → step fails → job fails → merge blocked

To report without blocking, use continue-on-error:

- name: Report coverage (non-blocking)
  run: nolapse run --repo .
  continue-on-error: true

GitLab CI

A job that exits non-zero is marked as failed. Use allow_failure: true for a non-blocking report:

coverage-check:
  script: nolapse run --repo .
  allow_failure: true   # warn without blocking pipeline

CircleCI

Steps that exit non-zero fail the job. Use when: always with a custom outcome handling script if you want to report without failing.

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Error exits

Any exit code other than 0 or 1 from nolapse indicates a runtime or configuration error — not an enforcement decision. Common causes:

• baseline.md does not exist (run nolapse init first).
• nolapse.yaml is malformed or missing required fields.
• The git binary is not available in PATH.
• The test runner (go test or pytest) failed to produce coverage output.
• NOLAPSE_RUNNER_PATH points to a file that does not exist (Python projects).

Check the error message printed to stderr for the specific cause.