The Airbnb style guide is a set of guidelines for writing clean and consistent code. It was released in 2012 and has since become one of the most popular style guides for JavaScript projects.

It provides a set of guidelines for writing consistent code that’s easy to maintain by enforcing a variety of style rules on indentations, comments, maximum line length, variable naming conventions, quotes, and function definitions. To set up the Airbnb style guide in a JavaScript project, you need to use a linting tool like ESLint.

Install ESLint

ESLint is an open-source JavaScript linting tool that helps developers write clean code by finding and fixing problems. It can detect issues in your code like syntax errors, invalid parameters, and undefined variables. When you run ESLint with the - -fix tag, it automatically identifies and fixes any fixable issues in the code thus saving you time.

You can use ESLint to enforce style guides like the Airbnb style guide.

To get started, run the following command in the terminal to install ESLint as a dev dependency:

        npm install --save-dev eslint eslint-config-airbnb

    

Then initialize ESLint.

        npx eslint --init

    

You’ll be prompted with questions about your project. When prompted with:

        ? How would you like to use EsLint?

    

Select this option:

        > To check syntax, find problems and enforce code style

    

Answer the next questions as per your project until you come across the following prompt.

        ? How would you like to define a style for your project?

    

Then answer as follows.

        > Use a popular style guide

    

Select the Airbnb style guide for the next prompt.

        ? Which style guide do you want to follow?
> Airbnb: <https://github.com/airbnb/javascript>

    

Finally, install the required dependencies by selecting “Yes” in the next prompt.

Once the installation finishes, you should have a .eslintsrc.json file at the root of your folder.

Customizing the Airbnb Style Guide

The Airbnb style guide allows customization. You can add additional rules or override existing rules in the .eslintsrc.json configuration file.

For example, to allow a maximum of 80 characters per line, you can add this rule in the rules section.

        {
  "extends": [
        "plugin:react/recommended",
        "airbnb"
    ],
  "rules": {
    "max-len": ["error", { "code": 80 }]
  }
}


    

Running ESLint in package.json

Add a script in the package.json file to run ESLint.

        "scripts": {
   "lint": "eslint"
}

    

Run the lint script to check for any linting errors by executing this command.

        npm run lint

    

You can also add a script to fix issues in the code using the --fix flag.

        "scripts": {
    "lint": "eslint",
    "lint:fix": "npm run lint -- --fix"
  },

    

Running npm run lint:fix on the terminal will automatically fix any issues the linter can fix.

Enable Linting on Save in VS Code

Running a script every time you want to lint your code can get tedious. Follow the steps below to enable linting on save in VS Code.

1. Go to the "Extensions" tab on the left-hand side of the VS Code window.
2. Search for the ESLint extension and install it.
3. Once the extension is installed, open the VS Code settings (File > Preferences > Settings or by pressing Ctrl +,).
4. In the settings editor, search for "code actions on save".
5. Click “Edit in settings.json” and add the following settings to the settings.json file.

        {
 "editor.codeActionsOnSave": {
  
    "source.fixAll.eslint": true
  },
  "eslint.validate": ["javascript"],
  "eslint.run": "onSave",
}

    

This enables the ESLint extension to automatically fix your code when you save.

Benefits of Using a Style Guide

The main benefit of using a style guide like the Airbnb style guide is that it helps you maintain a consistent code base. This is useful in a team as developers can understand and contribute to the code base easily. It also helps you enforce best practices and avoid common coding mistakes.