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Install and configure Vale

Vale is a linting tool that helps you maintain the highest standards in your technical documents. It's designed to catch spelling errors, grammatical mistakes, and style inconsistencies. With Vale, you can enforce a unified writing style, adhere to industry-specific guidelines, and enhance the overall readability and professionalism of your content.

This guide walks you through the process of installing and configuring Vale for your project.

Prerequisites​

Install VS Code and open your project in it.

Install Chocolatey​

To install Chocolatey, see Vale's official documentation.

Create and initialize a configuration file​

The .vale.ini file is a configuration file meant for customizing Vale's behavior when checking documents. You typically place this file in the root directory of your project. The following is an example of .vale.ini:

Example .vale.ini file
StylesPath = styles

MinAlertLevel = suggestion

Packages = Google

[*.{md}]

BasedOnStyles = Google
VARIABLEDESCRIPTION
StylesPathSpecifies the path to the directory containing custom styles or rule configurations.
MinAlertLevelSets the minimum alert level for issues detected by Vale. In this example, it's set to suggestion, which means Vale provides suggestions but doesn't raise errors or warnings for less severe issues.
PackagesLists the style packages or rule sets that Vale uses. In this case, it's using the Google deloper documentation style guide package.
[*.{md}]Defines the file patterns that Vale should apply its rules to. In this example, it specifies that Vale checks all Markdown files in your project.
BasedOnStylesSpecifies which style package or rule set should be the basis for your custom configuration. Here, it's based on the Google deloper documentation style guide package.
info

You can customize your .vale.ini file to tailor Vale's linting rules, alert levels, and file scope to meet your specific project requirements and writing guidelines.

To create and initialize .vale.ini, follow these steps:

  1. At https://vale.sh/, navigate to Resources > Config Generator.
  2. In Config Configurator that opens, select Base style, Supplementary styles, and Static Site Generator and copy the configuration.
  3. In the root folder of your project, create the .vale.ini file, add the values from the previous step, and save it.
  4. Initialize the configuration file:
vale sync

Install and configure the Vale extension​

When you have .vale.ini created and initialized, you need to install and configure the Vale extension:

  1. In the Extensions menu, find and install Vale VSCode.
  2. Right-click the extension and select Extension Settings.
  3. In the User tab, enter the following values:
    1. For Vale > Vale CLI: Config, enter ${workspaceFolder}/.vale.ini.
    2. For Vale › Vale CLI: Min Alert Level, select inherited.
    3. For Vale › Vale CLI: Path, enter vale.
  4. In the Workspace tab, repeat substeps i-iii of the previous step.
  5. To apply the settings, relaunch VS Code.

Now you can use Vale to lint Markdown files in the project.