Glossary
Technical terms used throughout the axm-audit documentation.
| Term |
Definition |
| Ruff |
An extremely fast Python linter and formatter written in Rust. Replaces flake8, isort, pyupgrade, and others |
| mypy |
A static type checker for Python that enforces type annotations at development time |
| radon |
A Python tool that computes code complexity metrics, including cyclomatic complexity |
| Bandit |
A security linter for Python that finds common security issues in source code |
| pip-audit |
A tool that scans Python dependencies for known vulnerabilities (CVEs) |
| deptry |
A tool that detects missing, unused, and transient dependencies in Python projects |
| pytest-cov |
A pytest plugin that measures code coverage during test execution |
Metrics
| Term |
Definition |
| Cyclomatic complexity |
A quantitative measure of the number of linearly independent paths through a function's source code. Higher values indicate more complex, harder-to-test code. axm-audit flags functions at CC ≥ 10 |
| Fan-out |
The number of modules that a given module imports. High fan-out (> 10) indicates tight coupling |
| God class |
A class that has grown too large, accumulating too many responsibilities. Typically detected by method/attribute count |
| Coupling |
The degree of interdependence between modules. Lower coupling makes code easier to maintain and test |
| Test mirroring |
A convention where every source module src/pkg/foo.py has a corresponding test file tests/test_foo.py |
Concepts
| Term |
Definition |
| Composite score |
The weighted average of all 10 category scores, producing a single 0–100 quality metric |
| Pass threshold |
The minimum score (90/100) for an individual check to be marked as passing |
| Severity |
The impact level of a finding: error (blocks pass), warning (non-blocking), info (informational) |
| ProjectRule |
The abstract base class that all audit rules inherit from. Defines the rule_id property and check() method |
| CheckResult |
A Pydantic model representing the outcome of a single rule check, including pass/fail, message, severity, and details |
| AuditResult |
A Pydantic model containing all check results, the composite score, and the letter grade |
| Diátaxis |
A documentation framework that organizes content into four quadrants: Tutorials, How-to guides, Reference, and Explanation |