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Quick Start

Your First Scan

BrowserStack Code Quality is an AI-powered software analytics platform that enables teams to analyze source code for design issues, bugs, metrics violations, and duplication to ensure long-term maintainability.

1. Creating a Project

  1. Log in to your instance.
  2. Go to Projects and click Create A New Project.
  3. Enter the Project Name (e.g., Apache) and Project Description.
  4. Click Create Project.

Create Project

2. Linking a Repository

  1. Click Link Repositories inside your project.
  2. Set Account/Repository Type to Git.
  3. Enter the URL (e.g., https://github.com/apache/commons-text.git).
  4. For public repositories, leave the Username and Password blank.
  5. Enter the Repository Name (e.g., Commons-Text).
  6. Set Language (e.g., Java) and click Link Repository.

Link Repository

3. Running a Scan

  1. Click the Scan button.
  2. Select the desired branch or tag (e.g., master or tags/commons-text-1.2).
  3. Click Scan.
  4. Monitor the status in the Scan Queue via the left menu. The scan is complete when status reaches Completed.

Scan Repository

Identifying Problems

BrowserStack Code Quality uses a rating system from -5 to 5. The Repository Dashboard shows the overall rating and sub-ratings for Design, Metrics, Duplication, and Code Issues.

Get an Overview of Your Software

The Repository Dashboard displays the comprehensive quality metrics for your codebase. Access the main dashboard after a scan completes to view ratings, trends, and key statistics.

Repository Overview

View and Interpret the Heatmap

Access the heatmap via the box icon. Size represents Lines of Code (LoC); color represents the quality rating. Use the slider to filter components with ratings below 1.5.

Identify your top priorities with the component list

Access the component list via the list icon. Sort components by Overall Score to identify the lowest quality files. The Risk Rating indicates the potential impact of a component on the software if it contains errors.

Dive through Issue Distributions

Use the distribution screens in the top bar to identify problematic packages and specific classes causing low quality scores.

Improving Hotspot

Using the component explorer to fix issues

Click on a component to view the exact lines of code where issues reside. The component explorer provides detailed context for addressing identified problems.

Analyze dependencies

Use the platform to view how components interact and identify tightly coupled code that may require refactoring.

Using the Partitions Algorithm

Use the Partitioning Editor to apply the partitions algorithm for refactoring and improving software design.

Assessing Changes

View the impact of change

Compare two snapshots (e.g., version 1.2 vs 1.3). The Change Overview screen shows executable lines added, score changes, and improvements or deteriorations in hotspots.

Dig down to detailed changes

Use the Changed Component List to see specific file-level score changes (indicated by green or red numbers) between snapshots.