Check Project Health
An open-source zero-config CLI tool that analyzes and grades the health of any Node.js project directly from the terminal.
Usecase
Check Project Health enables developers to instantly evaluate project hygiene, detect technical debt, and integrate health scoring into CI/CD pipelines for continuous monitoring.
Overview
Check Project Health is a terminal-based diagnostics dashboard built for Node.js ecosystems. It executes multiple independent health checkers in parallel, aggregates weighted scores, and outputs a structured A–F grade system. The tool evaluates dependencies, Git activity, environment consistency, code quality markers, test configuration presence, and security vulnerabilities. It also supports JSON export mode for CI pipeline integration.
Key Features
Tech Stack
- Node.js – Core runtime powering CLI execution, process management, and system-level interactions.
- Commander – Handles CLI argument parsing and command configuration.
- Chalk – Provides colorized terminal output for readable dashboards.
- cli-table3 – Generates structured terminal tables for health reporting.
- simple-git – Programmatically inspects Git repository state and activity.
Challenges & Learnings
Handling Unicode Width in Terminal Tables
Ensuring proper alignment when rendering emoji icons and colored output required careful handling of ANSI escape codes and visible string width calculations.
Designing a Fair Weighted Scoring Model
Balancing dependency health, Git activity, environment validation, security audits, and code quality into a meaningful grade required iterative tuning.
Parsing External CLI JSON Outputs Reliably
Processing npm outdated and npm audit results required robust parsing and normalization to maintain consistent scoring logic.
Outcome
Check Project Health evolved into a production-ready open-source CLI tool that provides measurable project hygiene insights. It simplifies technical debt visibility and enables teams to integrate health scoring directly into development workflows.
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