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wtf is linguist?

yyx990803/linguist — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-07-17 · repo last pushed 2018-01-28

★ 7RubyAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5DormantSetup · easy

TL;DR

The tool GitHub uses to detect which programming languages a repository is written in and generate the colored language breakdown bar.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((linguist))
    Inputs
      Repository files
      File extensions
      Shebang lines
    Outputs
      Language breakdown bar
      Per-file language tags
    Use Cases
      Fix mislabeled languages
      Ignore vendor folders
      Add new language support
    Tech Stack
      Ruby
      gitattributes
      Pattern matching

Code map

Detail Auto

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filefunction / class

Why would anyone build with this?

REASON 1

Figure out why GitHub is misidentifying or missing a language in your repository's stats.

REASON 2

Use a .gitattributes file to make a vendor or generated-code folder excluded from language stats.

REASON 3

Contribute detection support for a programming language Linguist doesn't recognize yet.

REASON 4

Override the detected language for a specific file or folder in your project.

What's in the stack?

Ruby.gitattributes

How it stacks up

yyx990803/linguistmitchellh/xidlmitchellh/minitest-speed
Stars778
LanguageRubyRubyRuby
Last pushed2018-01-282011-03-092011-09-15
MaintenanceDormantDormantDormant
Setup difficultyeasyeasyeasy
Complexity2/52/52/5
Audiencedeveloperdeveloperdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you spin it up?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 30min

Runs behind the scenes on GitHub, using it as a library or contributing language support requires reading its detection heuristics.

License is not stated in the available content.

Yoink these prompts

Prompt 1
Explain how Linguist decides what language a file is written in, in the order it checks things.
Prompt 2
Help me write a .gitattributes entry to make Linguist ignore a vendor/ folder in my repo's language stats.
Prompt 3
My GitHub repo shows the wrong primary language on its main page, help me figure out why using Linguist's detection rules.
Prompt 4
Walk me through what's involved in adding support for a new language to Linguist.
Prompt 5
Show me how to force a specific file to be counted as documentation instead of code using Linguist's overrides.

Frequently asked questions

wtf is linguist?

The tool GitHub uses to detect which programming languages a repository is written in and generate the colored language breakdown bar.

What language is linguist written in?

Mainly Ruby. The stack also includes Ruby, .gitattributes.

Is linguist actively maintained?

Dormant — no commits in 2+ years (last push 2018-01-28).

What license does linguist use?

License is not stated in the available content.

How hard is linguist to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 30min to a first successful run.

Who is linguist for?

Mainly developer.

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