Coroutines Rule Set

The coroutines rule set analyzes code for potential coroutines problems.

GlobalCoroutineUsage

Report usages of GlobalScope.launch and GlobalScope.async. It is highly discouraged by the Kotlin documentation:

Global scope is used to launch top-level coroutines which are operating on the whole application lifetime and are not cancelled prematurely.

Application code usually should use an application-defined CoroutineScope. Using async or launch on the instance of GlobalScope is highly discouraged.

See https://kotlin.github.io/kotlinx.coroutines/kotlinx-coroutines-core/kotlinx.coroutines/-global-scope/

Active by default: No

Debt: 10min

Noncompliant Code:

fun foo() {
    GlobalScope.launch { delay(1_000L) }
}

Compliant Code:

val scope = CoroutineScope(Dispatchers.Default)

fun foo() {
    scope.launch { delay(1_000L) }
}

fun onDestroy() {
    scope.cancel()
}

InjectDispatcher

Always use dependency injection to inject dispatchers for easier testing. This rule is based on the recommendation https://developer.android.com/kotlin/coroutines/coroutines-best-practices#inject-dispatchers

Active by default: Yes - Since v1.21.0

Requires Type Resolution

Debt: 5min

Configuration options:

• dispatcherNames (default: ['IO', 'Default', 'Unconfined'])

  The names of dispatchers to detect by this rule

Noncompliant Code:

fun myFunc() {
coroutineScope(Dispatchers.IO)
}

Compliant Code:

fun myFunc(dispatcher: CoroutineDispatcher = Dispatchers.IO) {
coroutineScope(dispatcher)
}

class MyRepository(dispatchers: CoroutineDispatcher = Dispatchers.IO)

RedundantSuspendModifier

suspend modifier should only be used where needed, otherwise the function can only be used from other suspending functions. This needlessly restricts use of the function and should be avoided by removing the suspend modifier where it's not needed.

Active by default: Yes - Since v1.21.0

Requires Type Resolution

Debt: 5min

Noncompliant Code:

suspend fun normalFunction() {
    println("string")
}

Compliant Code:

fun normalFunction() {
    println("string")
}

SleepInsteadOfDelay

Report usages of Thread.sleep in suspending functions and coroutine blocks. A thread can contain multiple coroutines at one time due to coroutines' lightweight nature, so if one coroutine invokes Thread.sleep, it could potentially halt the execution of unrelated coroutines and cause unpredictable behavior.

Active by default: Yes - Since v1.21.0

Requires Type Resolution

Debt: 5min

Noncompliant Code:

suspend fun foo() {
    Thread.sleep(1_000L)
}

Compliant Code:

suspend fun foo() {
    delay(1_000L)
}

SuspendFunSwallowedCancellation

suspend functions should not be called inside runCatching's lambda block, because runCatching catches all the Exceptions. For Coroutines to work in all cases, developers should make sure to propagate CancellationException exceptions. This means CancellationException should never be:

• caught and swallowed (even if logged)
• caught and propagated to external systems
• caught and shown to the user

they must always be rethrown in the same context.

Using runCatching increases this risk of mis-handling cancellation. If you catch and don't rethrow all the CancellationException, your coroutines are not cancelled even if you cancel their CoroutineScope.

This can very easily lead to:

• unexpected crashes
• extremely hard to diagnose bugs
• memory leaks
• performance issues
• battery drain

See reference, Kotlin doc.

If your project wants to use runCatching and Result objects, it is recommended to write a coRunCatching utility function which immediately re-throws CancellationException; and forbid runCatching and suspend combinations by activating this rule.

Active by default: No

Requires Type Resolution

Debt: 10min

Noncompliant Code:

@Throws(IllegalStateException::class)
suspend fun bar(delay: Long) {
    check(delay <= 1_000L)
    delay(delay)
}

suspend fun foo() {
    runCatching {
        bar(1_000L)
    }
}

Compliant Code:

@Throws(IllegalStateException::class)
suspend fun bar(delay: Long) {
    check(delay <= 1_000L)
    delay(delay)
}

suspend fun foo() {
    try {
        bar(1_000L)
    } catch (e: IllegalStateException) {
        // handle error
    }
}

// Alternate
@Throws(IllegalStateException::class)
suspend fun foo() {
    bar(1_000L)
}

SuspendFunWithCoroutineScopeReceiver

Suspend functions that use CoroutineScope as receiver should not be marked as suspend. A CoroutineScope provides structured concurrency via its coroutineContext. A suspend function also has its own coroutineContext, which is now ambiguous and mixed with the receiver`s.

See https://kotlinlang.org/docs/coroutines-basics.html#scope-builder-and-concurrency

Active by default: No

Requires Type Resolution

Debt: 10min

Noncompliant Code:

suspend fun CoroutineScope.foo() {
    launch {
      delay(1.seconds)
    }
}

Compliant Code:

fun CoroutineScope.foo() {
    launch {
      delay(1.seconds)
    }
}

// Alternative
suspend fun foo() = coroutineScope {
    launch {
      delay(1.seconds)
    }
}

SuspendFunWithFlowReturnType

Functions that return Flow from kotlinx.coroutines.flow should not be marked as suspend. Flows are intended to be cold observable streams. The act of simply invoking a function that returns a Flow, should not have any side effects. Only once collection begins against the returned Flow, should work actually be done.

See https://kotlinlang.org/docs/flow.html#flows-are-cold

Active by default: Yes - Since v1.21.0

Requires Type Resolution

Debt: 10min

Noncompliant Code:

suspend fun observeSignals(): Flow<Unit> {
    val pollingInterval = getPollingInterval() // Done outside of the flow builder block.
    return flow {
        while (true) {
            delay(pollingInterval)
            emit(Unit)
        }
    }
}

private suspend fun getPollingInterval(): Long {
    // Return the polling interval from some repository
    // in a suspending manner.
}

Compliant Code:

fun observeSignals(): Flow<Unit> {
    return flow {
        val pollingInterval = getPollingInterval() // Moved into the flow builder block.
        while (true) {
            delay(pollingInterval)
            emit(Unit)
        }
    }
}

private suspend fun getPollingInterval(): Long {
    // Return the polling interval from some repository
    // in a suspending manner.
}