config-json-invalid

What it catches#

Agent config file is not valid JSON.

A .claude/settings.json or .mcp.json that is not valid JSON (a trailing comma, a comment, a missing quote), or whose top level is not an object. .cursor/mcp.json, .vscode/mcp.json and .gemini/settings.json are read the way their tools read them, so comments and trailing commas are allowed there; other syntax errors are still reported. Needs --include config; .claude/settings.local.json is checked only with --include config-local.

Why it matters#

Claude Code skips a settings file it cannot parse, and MCP clients drop the servers in it, so the permissions and servers are not what the author thinks.

{
  "permissions": {
    "deny": ["Read(./.env)"],
  }
}

{
  "permissions": {
    "deny": ["Read(./.env)"]
  }
}

How to fix#

Fix the syntax the message points at. JSON has no comments and no trailing commas. node -e 'JSON.parse(require("fs").readFileSync(".claude/settings.json","utf8"))' confirms the file parses.

Suppress or configure#

For one finding, put a comment on the line above it. The reason after -- is optional but worth writing:

<!-- asitis-disable-next-line config-json-invalid -- why this one is fine -->

For a whole file:

<!-- asitis-disable-file config-json-invalid -- why this file is an exception -->

For every file, turn it off or change its severity in .asitisrc.json:

{ "rules": { "config-json-invalid": "off" } }

A .asitisrc.json overrides entry limits a change to some paths, and a baseline (asitis lint --format json --write-baseline) accepts today's findings so only new ones fail the build.

Source#

Claude Code docs: Settings, read on 14 October 2026.