How to Disable Telemetry in no-mistakes: Environment Variable Configuration

Set the environment variable NO_MISTAKES_TELEMETRY to off, false, or 0 before running any command to completely disable the telemetry subsystem.

The no-mistakes CLI includes a lightweight telemetry subsystem that reports anonymized usage metrics to help improve the project. If you need to disable telemetry in no-mistakes for privacy or compliance reasons, the application provides a straightforward opt-out mechanism controlled entirely through environment variables according to the source code in internal/telemetry/telemetry.go.

How Telemetry Works in no-mistakes

The telemetry implementation resides in internal/telemetry/telemetry.go and operates through a guard function pattern. Before transmitting any data, the system invokes telemetryDisabled() to check the runtime environment. This function evaluates the NO_MISTAKES_TELEMETRY variable and returns true when telemetry should be suppressed, causing the application to bypass all calls to telemetry.Track and telemetry.Pageview events.

Disabling Telemetry via Environment Variable

To disable telemetry for a single session, export the NO_MISTAKES_TELEMETRY variable in your shell before invoking the CLI. The application reads this variable at startup and skips telemetry initialization entirely when a disable value is detected.

# Disable telemetry for the current shell session

export NO_MISTAKES_TELEMETRY=off
no-mistakes status

Recognized Disable Values

The telemetryDisabled() function normalizes the environment variable by trimming whitespace and converting to lowercase. According to the source implementation, the following values disable telemetry:

• off
• false
• 0

Any other value, including an unset variable, results in telemetry remaining enabled.

Persistent Configuration with .env Files

For permanent opt-out without setting shell variables for every command, no-mistakes supports loading environment variables from a .env file in the repository root. The CLI automatically loads this file, applying your telemetry preferences across all invocations.

# Create persistent opt-out configuration

echo "NO_MISTAKES_TELEMETRY=off" >> .env

The build verification tests in makefile_test.go confirm that the application correctly reads .env files to override default telemetry configuration, demonstrating this mechanism works for both host settings and opt-out flags.

Technical Implementation Details

The opt-out logic is centralized in the telemetryDisabled() function within internal/telemetry/telemetry.go. This function acts as a circuit breaker: before any HTTP request reaches the analytics endpoint, the CLI entry point in internal/cli/telemetry.go queries this guard. When telemetryDisabled() returns true, the application exits early from telemetry code paths, ensuring zero network activity to tracking servers.

The telemetry client initialization and all reporting methods respect this single source of truth, making the environment variable check the authoritative control for the entire subsystem.

Summary

• Set NO_MISTAKES_TELEMETRY to off, false, or 0 to disable telemetry in any shell session
• The telemetryDisabled() function in internal/telemetry/telemetry.go controls all opt-out logic for the application
• Place the variable in a .env file for persistent configuration without manual exports
• All telemetry network calls, including telemetry.Track and telemetry.Pageview, are bypassed when the guard function detects a disabled state

Frequently Asked Questions

What values disable telemetry in no-mistakes?

The values off, false, and 0 (case-insensitive) disable telemetry when stored in the NO_MISTAKES_TELEMETRY environment variable. The telemetryDisabled() function trims whitespace and converts input to lowercase before comparing against these three sentinel values.

Does no-mistakes send telemetry data before checking the environment variable?

No. According to the source code in internal/telemetry/telemetry.go, the telemetryDisabled() guard executes before any calls to telemetry.Track or telemetry.Pageview. If the check returns true, the application bypasses HTTP requests to the analytics endpoint entirely, ensuring no data transmission occurs.

Can I disable telemetry permanently without exporting variables every time?

Yes. Create a .env file in your project root containing NO_MISTAKES_TELEMETRY=off. The CLI loads this file automatically at startup, applying the opt-out setting persistently across all commands without requiring manual shell configuration.

Which source files control the telemetry disable logic?

The disable logic resides in the telemetryDisabled() function within internal/telemetry/telemetry.go. The CLI integration in internal/cli/telemetry.go consumes this function to determine whether to initialize the telemetry client or skip reporting. The makefile_test.go file contains tests verifying that environment variables properly override telemetry configuration.

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