Configuration Formats¶

Trailing commas should be rejected for JSON unless JSON5 is explicitly targeted.

Universal Dogmas: ZEN-EXPLICIT-INTENT

Common Violations:

• Trailing commas in strict JSON mode

Detectable Patterns:

• ,\]
• ,\}

Deeply nested objects/arrays are hard to reason about and validate.

Universal Dogmas: ZEN-RETURN-EARLY

Common Violations:

• Nesting depth exceeds configured threshold

Duplicate object keys silently override values in many parsers.

Universal Dogmas: ZEN-EXPLICIT-INTENT

Common Violations:

• Duplicate keys in an object

Repeated string literals should be extracted or referenced consistently.

Universal Dogmas: ZEN-EXPLICIT-INTENT

Common Violations:

• Repeated magic string values

Avoid mixing camelCase, snake_case, and PascalCase at the same object level.

Universal Dogmas: ZEN-UNAMBIGUOUS-NAME

Common Violations:

• Mixed key casing at same object level

Very large inline arrays are hard to review and often belong in separate data files.

Universal Dogmas: ZEN-RETURN-EARLY

Common Violations:

• Oversized inline arrays

Excessive null usage usually indicates optional keys that can be omitted.

Universal Dogmas: ZEN-EXPLICIT-INTENT

Common Violations:

• Excessive null values across the document

Date strings should use ISO 8601 format (YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ) for unambiguous, sortable representation. Locale-dependent formats such as MM/DD/YYYY create parsing ambiguity.

Universal Dogmas: ZEN-EXPLICIT-INTENT

Common Violations:

• Non-ISO 8601 date string detected

Detectable Patterns:

• \d{1,2}/\d{1,2}/\d{2,4}
• \d{1,2}\.\d{1,2}\.\d{4}

Top-level object keys whose value is explicitly null should be omitted entirely. Explicit null at the top level signals optional absence, which is better expressed by omitting the key.

Universal Dogmas: ZEN-EXPLICIT-INTENT

Common Violations:

• Top-level key set to explicit null

SVGs without a