AISlop: The Linter AI Coding Agents Don't Want You to Run
I spent a weekend running AISlop against repos where I'd used Cursor, Copilot, and Claude Code extensively over the past six months. The results were humbling.
AISlop caught 47 issues across three projects. Fifteen were narrative comments where the AI agent had written a paragraph explaining what getUser(id) does. Twelve were as any casts in TypeScript files where the agent gave up on types. Eight were empty catch blocks. The rest were dead functions and unreachable branches — code the agent generated but never actually connected to anything.
What AISlop gets right: it knows exactly what AI-generated code looks like and has rules tuned specifically for that. Most linters flag code that's technically wrong. AISlop flags code that's technically correct but clearly written by a machine that didn't understand what it was building.
Where it falls short: it's CLI-only. No VSCode extension, no CI plugin out of the box. You have to pipe it into your workflow manually. And the rule set, while broad at 50+ rules, is still evolving. It missed a few things I consider AI slop — like the overly defensive null checks that make code three times longer than it needs to be.
For teams using AI coding assistants daily, this is a cheap insurance policy. Run it before you merge. If it finds nothing, you lost one second. If it finds something, you just caught AI slop before it became technical debt.
Who Should Use Aislop?
I'd recommend Aislop if you fall into one of these buckets:
- Solo developers — Need AI coding help without $20/month subscriptions
- Engineering teams — Evaluating dev tool alternatives
- CS students — Learning to code with AI assistance
If you're looking for a do-everything platform, you'll probably be frustrated. This is a tool built for coding workflows specifically — going outside that lane shows the rough edges fast.
Alternatives Worth Considering
Aislop isn't the only option in this space. Here's what else I've tested:
- GitHub Copilot ($10/month) — Better IDE integration but less powerful completions. Best for daily coders.
- Cursor ($20/month) — Better agentic editing but different workflow. Better if you need agentic coding.
Aislop wins on simplicity and specialized focus, but falls behind on breadth of features. Pick based on what matters to your workflow — there's no universal best tool here.
Bottom Line
I've spent enough time with Aislop to say: it's a solid coding tool that does what it promises. Pricing is — check their site for the latest plans. For focused coding practitioners, it's worth your time. For everyone else, check the alternatives above before committing.
