feat(cli): output formats, GL034-GL041 lint rules, include inputs and cache

Bundles three patch releases (v0.2.16–v0.2.18):

v0.2.18 — output formats (--format flag on glint check):
- json: stable JSON report (schema_version: 1, findings array, summary)
- sarif: SARIF 2.1.0 for GitHub Code Scanning / GitLab SAST
- junit: JUnit XML for CI test-report artifacts (artifacts:reports:junit)
- github: GitHub Actions ::error:: / ::warning:: annotation lines
- Unknown --format value exits 2 with a helpful error message
- Summary line routed to stderr in structured formats; context suppressed

v0.2.17 — include resolution improvements:
- Recursive include depth capped at 100 (matches GitLab's own limit)
- project: and component: includes tracked in visited set (cycle detection)
- $[[ inputs.KEY ]] / $[[ inputs.KEY | default(…) ]] substituted from with:
- --cache-dir: persist fetched remote templates to disk (SHA-256 keyed)
- --offline: serve from cache only; defaults to ~/.cache/glint

v0.2.16 — new lint rules (GL034–GL041):
- GL034: services map form requires name; alias must be valid DNS label
- GL035: rules:changes / rules:exists absolute path detection
- GL036: timeout format validation (job-level + default.timeout)
- GL037: id_tokens entries must have an aud key
- GL038: secrets entries must declare a provider (vault / gcp / azure)
- GL039: pages: keyword + artifacts.paths consistency
- GL040: duplicate stage names in stages: list
- GL041: cache.key.files must be exact paths, not globs

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -5,15 +5,105 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/).
 This project uses [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org).
 
-## [Unreleased]
+## [0.2.18] - 2026-06-14
 
 ### Added
 
-- **Variable reference validation (GL032)** — glint now warns when a `rules:if:` expression references a variable (`$VAR` or `${VAR}`) that is not declared anywhere in the pipeline YAML: pipeline-level `variables:`, the job's own `variables:`, or any `workflow:rules:variables:` block. Predefined GitLab CI variable namespaces (`CI_*`, `GITLAB_*`, `FF_*`, `RUNNER_*`, `TRIGGER_*`, `CHAT_*`) are exempt. Because variables can also be set in GitLab CI/CD project settings (invisible to glint), the finding is a `[WARNING]` rather than an error. Each undeclared variable is reported at most once per job to keep the output concise.
+- **`--format json`** — `glint check` can now emit a structured JSON report instead of plain text. The schema (version `1`) includes `glint_version`, `pipeline`, a `findings` array (each finding has `rule`, `severity`, `file`, `line`, `job`, `message`), and a `summary` block (`total`, `errors`, `warnings`). An empty findings array is `[]`, not `null`. In this mode the human-readable summary line is written to stderr so stdout contains only the JSON payload.
+
+- **`--format sarif`** — emits a SARIF 2.1.0 JSON document (schema `https://json.schemastore.org/sarif-2.1.0.json`). The `runs[0].tool.driver` lists every unique rule ID found in findings; each `result` carries `ruleId`, `level` (`error`/`warning`), `message.text` (including the job name prefix), and `locations[0].physicalLocation` with `artifactLocation.uri` and `region.startLine` (when available). Pipeline-level findings without a file have no `locations` entry. This format is consumed natively by GitHub Code Scanning and GitLab SAST.
+
+- **`--format junit`** — emits a JUnit XML document compatible with CI test-report artifact parsers (GitLab: `artifacts:reports:junit`; GitHub: upload-artifact + test-reporter). Each finding becomes a `<testcase>` with a `<failure>` child whose `message` and `type` attributes carry the finding details. A clean pipeline produces a single passing `<testcase>` with no `<failure>` element.
+
+- **`--format github`** — emits GitHub Actions workflow-command annotation lines (`::error file=…,line=…,title=RULE::message` / `::warning …`). GitHub CI renders these as inline comments on the relevant file in pull requests. Pipeline-level findings without a file omit the `file=` parameter.
+
+- **Format validation** — an unknown `--format` value exits with code 2 and a helpful error message listing the valid formats.
+
+## [0.2.17] - 2026-06-14
+
+### Added
+
+- **Recursive include depth limit** — `resolveIncludes` now accepts a `depth` counter and returns a warning when the nesting depth exceeds 100 (matching GitLab's documented limit). This guards against pathologically deep include chains.
+
+- **Cycle detection for project and component includes** — `project:` and `component:` includes were not previously tracked in the `visited` map (only `local:` and `remote:` were). They are now registered before recursing into their sub-includes, preventing cross-file include cycles from causing infinite loops.
+
+- **`include: inputs:` substitution** — when a `component:` include entry has a `with:` block, all `$[[ inputs.KEY ]]` and `$[[ inputs.KEY | default('…') ]]` placeholders in the fetched template YAML are substituted with the corresponding values before parsing. Supported default value forms: `'single quoted'`, `"double quoted"`, bare booleans (`true`/`false`), and bare integers. Missing keys without a default become empty strings. This replaces the previous behaviour of leaving `$[[…]]` tokens in the YAML, which caused false-positive lint findings.
+
+- **Include cache (`--cache-dir`)** — pass `--cache-dir DIR` to `glint check` or `glint graph` to persist fetched remote templates (both `project:` and `component:` includes and `remote:` URLs) to a local directory. Cache entries are keyed by the SHA-256 of the full request coordinates (base URL + project + path + ref). The directory is created automatically on first use.
+
+- **Offline mode (`--offline`)** — pass `--offline` to skip all network calls. Remote includes not present in the cache are surfaced as warnings (same UX as "no token"). When `--offline` is set without an explicit `--cache-dir`, the default platform cache directory (`$XDG_CACHE_HOME/glint` or `~/.cache/glint`) is used automatically.
+
+## [0.2.16] - 2026-06-14
+
+### Added
+
+- **`services:` validation (GL034)** — the map form of a service entry requires a `name` key; emits an `ERROR` when absent. The optional `alias` field must be a valid DNS label (letters, digits, hyphens, and dots; must start and end with an alphanumeric character); invalid aliases emit an `ERROR`.
+
+- **`rules:changes` / `rules:exists` absolute path detection (GL035)** — emits a `WARNING` when a path in `rules:changes:` or `rules:exists:` starts with `/`. GitLab CI evaluates these paths relative to the repository root, so absolute paths can never match. Applies to both the list form and the `{paths: …}` map form.
+
+- **`timeout:` format validation (GL036)** — emits an `ERROR` when a job's `timeout:` (or the pipeline-level `default.timeout:`) is not a valid GitLab CI duration string. Valid formats: `30m`, `1h 30m`, `90 minutes`, `2 hours 30 minutes`, `1 day`, etc.
+
+- **`id_tokens:` `aud` validation (GL037)** — emits an `ERROR` for each OIDC token entry in `id_tokens:` that is missing the required `aud` key. GitLab returns an API error at pipeline start when `aud` is absent.
+
+- **`secrets:` provider validation (GL038)** — emits an `ERROR` for each secret entry in `secrets:` that does not declare a provider key (`vault`, `gcp_secret_manager`, or `azure_key_vault`).
+
+- **`pages:` keyword + `artifacts.paths` consistency (GL039)** — emits a `WARNING` when a job uses the `pages:` keyword but `artifacts.paths` does not include the publish directory (default `public`, or the value of `pages.publish`). GitLab Pages will not deploy unless the publish directory is listed as an artifact.
+
+- **Duplicate stage names (GL040)** — emits a `WARNING` when a stage name appears more than once in the top-level `stages:` list. GitLab silently merges duplicate stage entries, which can produce confusing pipeline ordering.
+
+- **`cache.key.files` glob detection (GL041)** — emits a `WARNING` when an entry in `cache.key.files` contains glob metacharacters (`*`, `?`, `[`). The `files` field requires exact file paths; GitLab does not expand globs there.
+
+## [0.2.15] - 2026-06-13
+
+### Added
+
+- **Static reachability check (GL033)** — warns when every rule in a job's `rules:` block has an explicit `when: never`, making the job permanently excluded from any pipeline run. This is a purely static claim: no matter which `if:` condition evaluates to true, the outcome is always "skip"; and if no rule matches, the implicit fallback is also skip. No expression evaluation or context is required. The finding is a `WARNING` (may be intentional as a "disabled job" pattern). Only jobs where every rule has the literal `when: never` value are flagged; rules with no `when:` (default `on_success`), `when: manual`, `when: always`, or `when: on_failure` are not.
+
+## [0.2.14] - 2026-06-13
+
+### Added
+
+- **`--version` / `-v` flag** — `glint --version`, `glint -v`, and `glint version` all print the compiled version string (e.g. `glint v0.2.14`). The version is also shown at the top of every `--help` output (global, `check --help`, `graph --help`). The version is injected at build time via `-ldflags "-X main.version=..."` using `git describe --tags --always --dirty`.
+
+- **Sorted findings output** — `Lint` now returns findings sorted by `(File, Line, Rule)`. All issues from the same source file appear together in ascending line order; pipeline-level findings with no file location sort first. Previously findings were emitted in map-iteration order (non-deterministic).
+
+### Fixed
+
+- **Warning format consistency** — include-resolution warnings, extends-chain warnings, and the workflow non-start warning now use the same ruff-style `path: [warning] message` format as lint findings instead of the old `[WARNING] …` prefix with no file context.
+
+- **Workflow rule permissive evaluation** — workflow `rules:if:` expressions are now evaluated in strict mode: an expression that cannot be fully parsed returns `false` (skip this rule, try the next) instead of `true` (match everything). Previously, a complex or partially-unsupported condition on the first workflow rule would match every context, blocking all subsequent rules and injecting the wrong variables. Job rules retain permissive evaluation (`true` on parse failure) to avoid silently dropping jobs.
+
+- **Single `=` operator in `rules:if:`** — a bare `=` not followed by `=` or `~` is now accepted as an alias for `==`. This is a common mistake in GitLab CI YAML; previously it caused a parse failure and triggered the permissive fallback.
+
+- **Source location lost through `extends:` resolution** — when a job was resolved via `extends:`, the merged definition was re-encoded and re-decoded as a fresh `model.Job` struct, which does not carry `File` or `Line` (they are not YAML keys). Those fields are now explicitly copied back from the original job before replacing it in `p.Jobs`, so extended jobs report the correct source file and line number in findings.
+
+## [0.2.13] - 2026-06-12
+
+### Added
+
+- **Variable expansion (`$VAR` / `${VAR}`)** — variable values that reference other variables are now expanded in the effective context after all sources are merged. Transitive chains (`A=$B`, `B=$C`) are resolved over up to ten passes; circular references are left as-is. The expanded values are visible in `--list-vars` output under "Effective context variables" and are used when evaluating `rules:if:` expressions.
+
+- **Non-string scalar variables (`bool`, `int`, `float64`)** — variables declared with bare `true`/`false` or integer values (e.g. `BUILD: true`, `RETRIES: 3`) are now handled correctly in all variable processing paths. Previously they were rendered as `(complex)` in `--list-vars` output and silently dropped from the effective context; they now render and inject as their string equivalents (`"true"`, `"3"`), matching GitLab CI's own behaviour where all variable values are strings.
+
+### Fixed
+
+- **YAML `\/` escape in double-quoted strings** — regex patterns containing `\/` (escaped forward-slash) in double-quoted `if:` expressions (e.g. `$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH =~ /^us\//`) caused a YAML parse error (`found unknown escape character`) with `gopkg.in/yaml.v3`, which does not implement this YAML 1.2 escape. The parser now preprocesses the raw bytes before unmarshalling: inside double-quoted strings, `\/` is rewritten to `\\/`, which `yaml.v3` parses as a literal backslash followed by a slash — preserving the regex intent.
+
+## [0.2.11] - 2026-06-12
+
+### Added
+
+- **Ruff-style finding output** — findings now follow the `file:line: RULEID [severity] message` format (e.g. `.gitlab-ci.yml:14: GL004 [error] job "deploy": stage "production" is not defined in 'stages'`), matching the output convention used by [ruff](https://docs.astral.sh/ruff/) and other modern linters. Job-scoped findings prefix the message with `job "name": `; pipeline-level findings omit the job prefix. Severity is lowercase inside brackets (`[error]`, `[warning]`).
+
+- **Implicit default context (`--branch main --source push`)** — when `glint check` or `glint graph` is invoked without any of `--branch`, `--tag`, `--source`, or `--var`, the context now defaults to `--branch main --source push` so that `rules:if:` expressions are always evaluated. Previously the context was empty and no rule evaluation occurred. Any explicit context flag bypasses the defaults entirely.
+
+- **`--list-vars` debug flag** — available on both `glint check` and `glint graph`; prints all pipeline-level variables collected from the root file and every included file (sorted `KEY=VALUE`) to stderr, then continues normally. When a context is active, also prints the effective merged variable set (pipeline defaults + workflow-rule variables + CLI flags). Useful for diagnosing GL032 false positives.
 
 - **Included-file variables now visible to all lint rules** — `variables:` blocks declared in included files (local, remote, project, and component includes) are now merged into the pipeline's variable namespace before linting. This eliminates false-positive GL032 warnings for variables declared in shared CI templates. Root-pipeline variables take precedence over included-file variables when the same key appears in both (matching GitLab's own override behaviour).
 
-- **Structured rule IDs** — every finding now carries a stable `GL###` identifier (e.g. `GL003`) that appears in the output between the location and the message: `[ERROR] job "deploy" (file.yml:14) GL003: missing required field 'script'`. IDs are assigned per check function across 31 rules (GL001–GL031) and are stable across versions. The `linter.Finding` struct exposes the ID as a `Rule string` field for programmatic consumers. The README lint rules table is updated with ID columns.
+- **Variable reference validation (GL032)** — glint now warns when a `rules:if:` expression references a variable (`$VAR` or `${VAR}`) that is not declared anywhere in the pipeline YAML: pipeline-level `variables:`, the job's own `variables:`, or any `workflow:rules:variables:` block. Predefined GitLab CI variable namespaces (`CI_*`, `GITLAB_*`, `FF_*`, `RUNNER_*`, `TRIGGER_*`, `CHAT_*`) are exempt. Because variables can also be set in GitLab CI/CD project settings (invisible to glint), the finding is a `[WARNING]` rather than an error. Each undeclared variable is reported at most once per job to keep the output concise.
+
+- **Structured rule IDs** — every finding now carries a stable `GL###` identifier (e.g. `GL003`) that appears in the output alongside the location and message: `.gitlab-ci.yml:14: GL003 [error] job "deploy": missing required field 'script'`. IDs are assigned per check function across 31 rules (GL001–GL031) and are stable across versions. The `linter.Finding` struct exposes the ID as a `Rule string` field for programmatic consumers. The README lint rules table is updated with ID columns.
 
 - **`workflow:rules:variables:` now propagate to job rule evaluation** — when a `workflow:rules:` entry matches, any `variables:` it defines are injected into the evaluation context so job `rules:if:` expressions can reference them. Pipeline-level `variables:` are also available as defaults (lower priority). Variable priority order, highest first: `--var` CLI overrides → `--branch`/`--tag`/`--source` shortcuts → workflow-rule variables → pipeline-level variable defaults. This means `$DEPLOY_TARGET == "production"` in a job rule correctly evaluates when a workflow rule sets `DEPLOY_TARGET: production` for the matching branch. The `glint graph tree` command benefits from the same enrichment.
 

README.md

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
 <p align="center">
   <a href="LICENSE"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/license-Apache%202.0-blue.svg" alt="License"></a>
-  <a href="CHANGELOG.md"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/release-v0.2.0-blue.svg" alt="Release"></a>
+  <a href="CHANGELOG.md"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/release-v0.2.18-blue.svg" alt="Release"></a>
 </p>
 
 > **Disclaimer:** This tool was built through iterative AI-assisted development with [Claude](https://claude.ai). It is experimental, incomplete, and not intended for production use. Coverage of GitLab CI keywords is best-effort and may lag behind GitLab's evolving spec. Use it at your own discretion — no correctness guarantees are made. Contributions and bug reports are welcome.
@@ -28,6 +28,24 @@ A local tool to validate and lint `.gitlab-ci.yml` pipelines without needing a G
 - **Extended variable declarations** — `variables:` entries may use the `{value, description, options}` map form (GitLab CI 13.7+); `default.image` accepts both string and map form; `rules.changes`/`rules.exists` accept both list and `{paths, compare_to}` map form
 - **Graph output** — `glint graph` prints a job tree (stages → jobs) to the terminal; `glint graph includes` emits a Mermaid include dependency diagram; `glint graph pipeline` renders a GitLab CI-style PNG/SVG
 - **Context simulation** — pass `--branch`, `--tag`, or `--source` to `glint check` or `glint graph` to see which jobs would be active, manual, or skipped for a specific pipeline event; evaluates `rules:if:` expressions and `only`/`except` filters
+- **Variable expansion** — `$VAR` and `${VAR}` references inside variable values are expanded after all sources are merged (pipeline defaults → workflow-rule overrides → CLI flags); transitive chains resolve automatically; visible via `--list-vars`
+- **Non-string variable scalars** — `BUILD: true`, `RETRIES: 3` and other bare boolean/integer variable values are handled correctly throughout: they render in `--list-vars` output and are injected into the evaluation context as their string equivalents, matching GitLab CI's behaviour
+- **Static reachability (GL033)** — warns when a job's `rules:` block can never activate: if every rule has `when: never` the job is permanently excluded from any pipeline run, provable without evaluating any `if:` expressions
+- **`services:` validation (GL034)** — map form requires a `name` key; `alias` must be a valid DNS label (letters, digits, hyphens, dots; no leading/trailing hyphens)
+- **`rules:changes` / `rules:exists` glob safety (GL035)** — warns when paths are absolute (start with `/`), which can never match since GitLab CI paths are always relative to the repository root
+- **`timeout:` format (GL036)** — validates that job and `default:` timeout values are valid GitLab CI duration strings (`1h 30m`, `90 minutes`, `2 hours`, etc.)
+- **`id_tokens:` validation (GL037)** — each OIDC token entry must have an `aud` key (missing `aud` is a GitLab API error at runtime)
+- **`secrets:` validation (GL038)** — each secret entry must declare exactly one provider (`vault`, `gcp_secret_manager`, or `azure_key_vault`)
+- **`pages:` keyword + `artifacts.paths` (GL039)** — warns when a job uses the `pages:` keyword but `artifacts.paths` does not include the publish directory (default: `public`)
+- **Duplicate stage names (GL040)** — warns when a stage name appears more than once in `stages:`; GitLab silently merges duplicates, which can cause confusing ordering
+- **`cache.key.files` glob detection (GL041)** — warns when `cache.key.files` entries contain glob metacharacters; this field requires exact file paths, not patterns
+- **Recursive include depth limit** — include chains are capped at 100 nesting levels (matching GitLab's own limit); project and component includes are now tracked in the visited-file set to prevent cross-include cycles
+- **`include: inputs:` substitution** — when a `component:` entry has a `with:` block, all `$[[ inputs.KEY ]]` and `$[[ inputs.KEY | default(…) ]]` placeholders in the fetched template are substituted before parsing, so component-scoped jobs get their correct `stage:` and keyword values instead of `$[[…]]` placeholders
+- **Offline mode + include cache** — pass `--cache-dir DIR` to cache fetched remote templates (project: and component: includes) to disk; `--offline` serves entirely from the cache without making network calls
+- **Structured output formats** — `--format json` emits a stable JSON report; `--format sarif` emits SARIF 2.1.0 (consumed by GitHub Code Scanning and GitLab SAST); `--format junit` emits JUnit XML (consumable as a CI test-report artifact); `--format github` emits GitHub Actions annotation lines (`::error file=…::`) so findings appear as inline PR comments
+- **Sorted findings output** — findings are sorted by source file then line number, so all issues from the same file appear together in order; pipeline-level findings (no file) sort first
+- **Consistent ruff-style warnings** — all warnings (unresolvable includes, skipped extends chains, workflow non-start) use the same `path: [warning] message` format as lint findings
+- **`--version` / `-v` flag** — prints the compiled version string (e.g. `glint v0.2.14`); the version is also shown at the top of every `--help` output
 
 See [ROADMAP.md](ROADMAP.md) for planned improvements.
 
@@ -70,6 +88,50 @@ glint check .gitlab-ci.yml
 
 Exits `0` when no errors are found, `1` when at least one error is reported.
 
+### Output formats
+
+Pass `--format` to control the output. Plain text is the default.
+
+```bash
+# Default: ruff-style text (human-readable)
+glint check .gitlab-ci.yml
+
+# JSON — stable schema, machine-readable
+glint check --format json .gitlab-ci.yml
+
+# SARIF 2.1.0 — GitHub Code Scanning / GitLab SAST
+glint check --format sarif .gitlab-ci.yml > glint.sarif
+
+# JUnit XML — CI test-report artifact (GitLab: artifacts:reports:junit)
+glint check --format junit .gitlab-ci.yml > glint-junit.xml
+
+# GitHub Actions annotations — inline PR diff comments
+glint check --format github .gitlab-ci.yml
+```
+
+In structured formats (`json`, `sarif`, `junit`, `github`) the summary line
+(`OK: … no issues found` or `N finding(s): M error(s)`) is written to stderr
+so stdout contains only the machine-readable payload.
+
+**JSON schema (`schema_version: 1`):**
+```json
+{
+  "schema_version": 1,
+  "glint_version": "v0.2.18",
+  "pipeline": ".gitlab-ci.yml",
+  "findings": [
+    {"rule":"GL004","severity":"error","file":".gitlab-ci.yml","line":14,
+     "job":"deploy","message":"stage \"production\" is not defined in 'stages'"}
+  ],
+  "summary": {"total": 1, "errors": 1, "warnings": 0}
+}
+```
+
+**GitHub annotation lines:**
+```
+::error file=.gitlab-ci.yml,line=14,title=GL004::job "deploy": stage "production" is not defined in 'stages'
+```
+
 ### Remote project includes
 
 Pipelines that include templates from other GitLab projects are supported.
@@ -92,6 +154,24 @@ glint check --token glpat-xxxx --gitlab-url https://gitlab.example.com .gitlab-c
 **Project includes** require a token; without one they are skipped with a
 warning and the rest of the pipeline is linted as-is.
 
+### Include cache and offline mode
+
+Pass `--cache-dir` to cache fetched remote templates so repeated runs skip the network:
+
+```bash
+# First run: fetches and caches
+glint check --cache-dir ~/.cache/glint .gitlab-ci.yml
+
+# Subsequent runs: served from cache
+glint check --cache-dir ~/.cache/glint .gitlab-ci.yml
+
+# Fully offline (uses ~/.cache/glint automatically when --cache-dir is absent)
+glint check --offline .gitlab-ci.yml
+glint check --offline --cache-dir ~/.cache/glint .gitlab-ci.yml
+```
+
+Cache entries are keyed by SHA-256 of the full request URL/coordinates and stored as plain YAML files in the cache directory. There is currently no automatic expiry — delete the directory or individual entries to force a fresh fetch.
+
 **Component includes** (`include: component: ...`) attempt the fetch
 unauthenticated, so public [CI/CD Catalog](https://gitlab.com/explore/catalog)
 components work without a token. A warning is emitted if the fetch fails.
@@ -200,6 +280,7 @@ glint check --branch main --var DEPLOY_ENV=production .gitlab-ci.yml
 **Evaluated:**
 - `rules:if:` — full expression language: `==`, `!=`, `=~`, `!~`, `&&`, `||`, `!`, `()`, `$VAR`, string literals, `null`
 - `only:` / `except:` — ref keywords (`branches`, `tags`, `merge_requests`, `schedules`, …), branch name globs (`feat/*`), and `/regex/` patterns
+- Variable expansion — `$VAR` / `${VAR}` references within variable values are expanded after all sources are merged; use `--list-vars` to inspect the resolved values
 
 **Not evaluated** (no git tree at lint time): `rules:changes:`, `rules:exists:`.
 Rules without an `if:` clause always match.
@@ -216,8 +297,12 @@ Rules without an `if:` clause always match.
 ### Example output
 
 ```
-# Clean pipeline, no context
-OK: .gitlab-ci.yml — no issues found (5 jobs, 3 stages)
+# Clean pipeline (implicit default: --branch main --source push)
+Context: branch=main, source=push
+
+Active  (5): build, deploy-staging, test, ...
+
+OK: .gitlab-ci.yml — no issues found (5 job(s), 3 stage(s))
 
 # With --branch develop context
 Context: branch=develop, source=push
@@ -225,7 +310,7 @@ Context: branch=develop, source=push
 Active  (3): build, deploy-staging, test
 Skipped (2): deploy-prod, release-notes
 
-OK: .gitlab-ci.yml — no issues found (5 jobs, 3 stages)
+OK: .gitlab-ci.yml — no issues found (5 job(s), 3 stage(s))
 
 # With --tag v1.0.0 context
 Context: tag=v1.0.0, source=push
@@ -233,12 +318,12 @@ Context: tag=v1.0.0, source=push
 Active  (4): build, deploy-prod, release-notes, test
 Skipped (1): deploy-staging
 
-OK: .gitlab-ci.yml — no issues found (5 jobs, 3 stages)
+OK: .gitlab-ci.yml — no issues found (5 job(s), 3 stage(s))
 
 # Pipeline with issues
-[ERROR] job "deploy": stage "production" is not defined in 'stages'
-[ERROR] job "test": needs unknown job "build-app"
-[WARNING] job "old-job": 'only'/'except' are deprecated; prefer 'rules'
+.gitlab-ci.yml:14: GL004 [error] job "deploy": stage "production" is not defined in 'stages'
+.gitlab-ci.yml:22: GL027 [error] job "test": needs unknown job "build-app"
+.gitlab-ci.yml:31: GL007 [warning] job "old-job": 'only'/'except' are deprecated; prefer 'rules'
 
 3 finding(s): 2 error(s)
 ```
@@ -253,6 +338,8 @@ Every finding includes a stable rule ID (e.g. `GL003`) that can be used to filte
 |----|----------|------|
 | GL002 | ERROR | `workflow.rules[*].when` is not `always` or `never` |
 | GL001 | WARNING | No `stages` defined (GitLab falls back to default stages) |
+| GL036 | ERROR | `default.timeout` is not a valid GitLab CI duration string |
+| GL040 | WARNING | A stage name appears more than once in `stages:` |
 
 ### Job-level — structure
 
@@ -287,6 +374,12 @@ Every finding includes a stable rule ID (e.g. `GL003`) that can be used to filte
 | GL024 | ERROR | `rules[*].when` is not one of the valid `when` values |
 | GL025 | ERROR | `image` map form missing `name` key |
 | GL026 | ERROR | `inherit.default` / `inherit.variables` is not a boolean or list |
+| GL034 | ERROR | `services:` map form missing `name`, or `alias` is not a valid DNS label |
+| GL036 | ERROR | `timeout:` is not a valid GitLab CI duration string (e.g. `1h 30m`, `90 minutes`) |
+| GL037 | ERROR | `id_tokens:` entry is missing the required `aud` key |
+| GL038 | ERROR | `secrets:` entry is missing a provider key (`vault`, `gcp_secret_manager`, or `azure_key_vault`) |
+| GL039 | WARNING | Job has `pages:` keyword but `artifacts.paths` does not include the publish directory |
+| GL041 | WARNING | `cache.key.files` entry looks like a glob pattern; must be an exact file path |
 
 ### Cross-job graph
 
@@ -303,6 +396,8 @@ Every finding includes a stable rule ID (e.g. `GL003`) that can be used to filte
 | ID | Severity | Rule |
 |----|----------|------|
 | GL032 | WARNING | `rules:if:` references `$VAR` not declared in `variables:` (pipeline, job, or `workflow:rules:variables:`) — may be a false positive for variables set in GitLab CI/CD project settings |
+| GL033 | WARNING | Every rule in `rules:` has `when: never` — job is permanently excluded from the pipeline (statically provable without context) |
+| GL035 | WARNING | `rules:changes` / `rules:exists` path is absolute; GitLab CI paths are relative to the repo root — absolute paths will never match |
 
 ### Hidden jobs (templates)
 

ROADMAP.md

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ This document tracks planned improvements to `glint`. Items are grouped by theme
 
 ---
 
-## Context-aware validation — ✓ single-context shipped in v0.2.0; expression evaluator hardened post-v0.2.0
+## Context-aware validation — ✓ single-context shipped in v0.2.0; expression evaluator hardened post-v0.2.0; implicit defaults and --list-vars shipped v0.2.11; variable expansion and scalar handling shipped v0.2.13; workflow evaluation and output fixes shipped v0.2.14
 
 Single-context simulation is fully implemented. Pass `--branch`, `--tag`, `--source`, or `--var` to either `glint check` or `glint graph`; jobs are evaluated and shown as active / manual / skipped.
 
@@ -26,6 +26,25 @@ glint graph tree --branch main .gitlab-ci.yml   # tree annotated with [skipped]
 - ✓ **Expression evaluator: bare `true` / `false` keywords** — treated as the strings `"true"` / `"false"` matching GitLab CI's own behaviour; `$GATEWAY_ENABLED == true` now evaluates correctly.
 - ✓ **Expression evaluator: integer literals** — `$COUNT == 4`, `$ENABLED == 1`, `$DISABLED == 0` compare as decimal strings.
 
+~~**Implicit default context**~~ — ✓ shipped v0.2.11; `glint check` and `glint graph` default to `--branch main --source push` when no context flag is given, so `rules:if:` expressions are always evaluated out of the box.
+
+~~**`--list-vars` debug flag**~~ — ✓ shipped v0.2.11; prints sorted `KEY=VALUE` of all collected variables (pipeline YAML + included files + workflow-rule union + effective context) to stderr.
+
+**Shipped in v0.2.13**
+
+- ✓ **Variable expansion** — `$VAR` / `${VAR}` references within variable values are expanded after all sources are merged; transitive chains resolve over multiple passes; visible in `--list-vars` effective-context output.
+- ✓ **Non-string scalar variables** — `BUILD: true`, `RETRIES: 3` and similar bare boolean/integer values now render correctly in `--list-vars` and are injected into the evaluation context as string equivalents; previously shown as `(complex)` and silently dropped.
+- ✓ **YAML `\/` escape in double-quoted strings** — regex patterns like `/^us\//` in double-quoted `if:` blocks no longer cause a parse error; the raw bytes are preprocessed before YAML unmarshalling.
+
+**Shipped in v0.2.14**
+
+- ✓ **Workflow rule strict evaluation** — workflow `rules:if:` now uses strict mode (parse failure → skip rule, not match); fixes premature matching that blocked later rules and injected wrong variables.
+- ✓ **Single `=` operator** — `=` is now accepted as an alias for `==` in `rules:if:` expressions, matching common user intent.
+- ✓ **Source location through `extends:` resolution** — `File` and `Line` are now preserved when a job is rebuilt via extends, so findings reference the correct source location.
+- ✓ **Sorted findings output** — findings are sorted by `(File, Line, Rule)`; same-file issues group together in line order.
+- ✓ **Consistent warning format** — all warnings use ruff-style `path: [warning] message` format.
+- ✓ **`--version` / `-v` flag** — prints compiled version; version also shown at the top of every `--help` output.
+
 **Remaining work**
 
 - **Multi-context simulation** — run multiple contexts in one invocation and print a comparison table:
@@ -41,16 +60,17 @@ glint graph tree --branch main .gitlab-ci.yml   # tree annotated with [skipped]
 
 The current rule set covers the most common sources of broken pipelines. These are the gaps most likely to matter in practice.
 
-- **Variable reference validation** — warn when a job references `$VAR` (or `${VAR}`) that is not declared anywhere in `variables:`, `default.variables`, or the job itself
-- **`services:` validation** — map form requires `name`; `alias` must be a valid DNS label
-- **`rules:changes` / `rules:exists`** — warn on glob patterns that can never match (e.g. absolute paths, double `**` on unsupported versions)
-- **`timeout` format** — must be a duration string GitLab understands (`1h 30m`, `90 minutes`, etc.)
-- **`id_tokens:` / `secrets:`** — presence and required-key checks
-- **`pages:publish`** — validate that the path is consistent with `artifacts.paths`
+- ~~**Variable reference validation (GL032)**~~ — ✓ shipped v0.2.11; warns when a `rules:if:` expression references `$VAR` / `${VAR}` not declared anywhere in pipeline YAML; predefined GitLab namespaces (`CI_*`, `GITLAB_*`, …) exempt; variables from included files are also considered
+- ~~**`rules:if:` static reachability (GL033)**~~ — ✓ shipped v0.2.15; warns when every rule in a job's `rules:` block has `when: never`, making the job permanently excluded from any pipeline run; no `if:` evaluation required
+- ~~**`services:` validation (GL034)**~~ — ✓ shipped v0.2.16; map form requires `name`; `alias` must be a valid DNS label
+- ~~**`rules:changes` / `rules:exists` absolute path detection (GL035)**~~ — ✓ shipped v0.2.16; warns when a path starts with `/`; GitLab CI paths are always relative to the repo root
+- ~~**`timeout` format validation (GL036)**~~ — ✓ shipped v0.2.16; validates job-level and `default.timeout` against recognised GitLab CI duration strings
+- ~~**`id_tokens:` / `secrets:` required-key checks (GL037, GL038)**~~ — ✓ shipped v0.2.16; `id_tokens` entries must have `aud`; `secrets` entries must declare a provider
+- ~~**`pages:publish` + `artifacts.paths` consistency (GL039)**~~ — ✓ shipped v0.2.16; warns when the publish directory is missing from `artifacts.paths`
+- ~~**Duplicate stage names (GL040)**~~ — ✓ shipped v0.2.16; warns when a stage appears more than once in `stages:`
+- ~~**`cache:key:files` must be exact paths (GL041)**~~ — ✓ shipped v0.2.16; warns when entries look like glob patterns
+- ~~**Unreachable jobs**~~ — covered by GL033 (shipped v0.2.15); every-`when:never` rules block is statically dead
 - **`inherit:` completeness** — flag when a job overrides a default field that would require `inherit: default: false` to suppress
-- **Unreachable jobs** — detect jobs that can never run because every `rules:` branch evaluates to `never` (static analysis only, no variable expansion)
-- **Duplicate stage names** — GitLab silently merges them; warn to avoid confusion
-- **`cache:key:files`** — must be a list of paths, not a glob
 
 ---
 
@@ -58,20 +78,18 @@ The current rule set covers the most common sources of broken pipelines. These a
 
 - ~~**`include: local:`** full resolution~~ — ✓ shipped in v0.2.0; local files are read from disk, recursively resolved, and merged before linting
 - ~~**`include: remote:`** (URL)~~ — ✓ shipped post-v0.2.0; plain HTTPS URLs are fetched (unauthenticated), parsed, and merged; sub-includes are resolved recursively; unreachable URLs emit `[WARNING]` and linting continues
-- **Recursive include depth limit** — guard against include cycles across files
-- **Offline mode / cache** — persist fetched remote templates to a local cache directory; `--offline` flag to skip network calls and use only cached copies
-- **`include: inputs:`** — substitute CI component input values into fetched templates before merging, so component-scoped jobs get their correct `stage:` and keyword values
+- ~~**Recursive include depth limit**~~ — ✓ shipped v0.2.17; depth capped at 100 (matching GitLab); project/component includes now tracked in visited set to prevent cross-file cycles
+- ~~**Offline mode / cache**~~ — ✓ shipped v0.2.17; `--cache-dir DIR` persists fetched templates; `--offline` serves from cache only; default cache dir (`~/.cache/glint`) used automatically with `--offline`
+- ~~**`include: inputs:`**~~ — ✓ shipped v0.2.17; `$[[ inputs.KEY ]]` and `$[[ inputs.KEY | default(…) ]]` placeholders in fetched component YAML are substituted from the include's `with:` block before parsing
 
 ---
 
-## Output formats
+## Output formats — ✓ shipped v0.2.18
 
-Right now the only output is plain-text findings. Structured output enables integration with other tools.
-
-- **JSON** (`--format json`) — machine-readable findings with file, job, severity, rule ID, and message; stable schema
-- **SARIF** (`--format sarif`) — [Static Analysis Results Interchange Format](https://sarifweb.azurewebsites.net); consumed natively by GitHub Code Scanning and GitLab SAST
-- **JUnit XML** (`--format junit`) — lets CI pipelines publish lint results as a test report artifact
-- **GitHub / GitLab annotation format** — emit `::error file=…,line=…::message` lines so findings appear as inline comments in PR diffs
+- ~~**JSON** (`--format json`)~~ — ✓ shipped v0.2.18; machine-readable findings with stable schema (version 1)
+- ~~**SARIF** (`--format sarif`)~~ — ✓ shipped v0.2.18; SARIF 2.1.0; consumed natively by GitHub Code Scanning and GitLab SAST
+- ~~**JUnit XML** (`--format junit`)~~ — ✓ shipped v0.2.18; lets CI pipelines publish lint results as a test report artifact
+- ~~**GitHub annotation format** (`--format github`)~~ — ✓ shipped v0.2.18; emits `::error file=…,line=…,title=RULE::message` lines so findings appear as inline comments in PR diffs
 
 ---
 
@@ -90,9 +108,11 @@ The SVG renderer and terminal tree cover the basic layout. These would bring it
 
 ---
 
-## Findings quality — ✓ file and line numbers shipped post-v0.2.0
+## Findings quality — ✓ file and line numbers shipped post-v0.2.0; ruff-style format shipped v0.2.11
 
-~~**File and line numbers on findings**~~ — ✓ shipped post-v0.2.0; every `[ERROR]` / `[WARNING]` now includes the source file and exact line of the job key (e.g. `job "deploy" (src/deploy.yml:14): …`). Works across local includes, remote project templates, and fetched component templates.
+~~**File and line numbers on findings**~~ — ✓ shipped post-v0.2.0; every finding includes the source file and exact line of the job key. Works across local includes, remote project templates, and fetched component templates.
+
+~~**Ruff-style output format**~~ — ✓ shipped v0.2.11; findings follow `file:line: RULEID [severity] message` matching the convention used by ruff and other modern linters.
 
 **Remaining improvements**
 
@@ -125,7 +145,7 @@ The SVG renderer and terminal tree cover the basic layout. These would bring it
 
 ## Reliability and developer experience
 
-- **Structured rule IDs** — assign a stable short ID to every rule (e.g. `GS001`) so suppression, documentation, and SARIF output are stable across versions
+- ~~**Structured rule IDs**~~ — ✓ shipped post-v0.2.0; GL001–GL031 assigned; GL032 added v0.2.11; GL033 added v0.2.15; GL034–GL041 added v0.2.16; output formats (--format json/sarif/junit/github) added v0.2.18
 - **`--explain <rule-id>`** — print the rule description, rationale, and an example fix
 - ~~**Semantic versioning and first release**~~ — shipped as `v0.1.0` (2026-06-07)
 - ~~**Subcommand CLI**~~ — shipped as `v0.2.0` (2026-06-11); `glint check` / `glint graph [mode]` with ruff-style `--help`

Taskfile.yml

@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ version: "3"
 vars:
   BINARY: glint
   GO: /usr/local/go/bin/go
+  VERSION:
+    sh: git describe --tags --always --dirty 2>/dev/null || echo "dev"
 
 tasks:
   default:
@@ -12,7 +14,7 @@ tasks:
   build:
     desc: Build the glint binary
     cmds:
-      - "{{.GO}} build -o {{.BINARY}} ./cmd/glint/..."
+      - "{{.GO}} build -ldflags \"-X main.version={{.VERSION}}\" -o {{.BINARY}} ./cmd/glint/..."
     sources:
       - "**/*.go"
       - go.mod
@@ -73,16 +75,32 @@ tasks:
         ignore_error: false
       - cmd: ./{{.BINARY}} check --branch feat/x testdata/workflow_vars.yml
         ignore_error: false
+      - cmd: ./{{.BINARY}} check testdata/workflow_escape.yml
+        ignore_error: false
       - cmd: ./{{.BINARY}} check testdata/variable_refs.yml
         ignore_error: false
       - cmd: ./{{.BINARY}} check testdata/variable_refs_included.yml
         ignore_error: false
+      - cmd: ./{{.BINARY}} check testdata/dead_rules.yml
+        ignore_error: false
+      - cmd: ./{{.BINARY}} check testdata/new_rules_valid.yml
+        ignore_error: false
+      - cmd: ./{{.BINARY}} check testdata/new_rules_invalid.yml
+        ignore_error: true
       - cmd: ./{{.BINARY}} check testdata/samba/.gitlab-ci.yml
         ignore_error: false
       - cmd: ./{{.BINARY}} check testdata/samba/.gitlab-ci-coverage.yml
         ignore_error: false
       - cmd: ./{{.BINARY}} check testdata/samba/.gitlab-ci-private.yml
         ignore_error: false
+      - cmd: ./{{.BINARY}} check --format json testdata/valid.yml
+        ignore_error: false
+      - cmd: ./{{.BINARY}} check --format sarif testdata/valid.yml
+        ignore_error: false
+      - cmd: ./{{.BINARY}} check --format junit testdata/valid.yml
+        ignore_error: false
+      - cmd: ./{{.BINARY}} check --format github testdata/invalid.yml
+        ignore_error: true
 
   lint-go:
     desc: Run go vet on all packages
@@ -110,7 +128,7 @@ tasks:
       - sh: git describe --tags --exact-match
         msg: "Current commit is not tagged — Windows build requires a git tag"
     cmds:
-      - "GOOS=windows GOARCH=amd64 {{.GO}} build -o {{.BINARY}}-{{.TAG}}.exe ./cmd/glint/..."
+      - "GOOS=windows GOARCH=amd64 {{.GO}} build -ldflags \"-X main.version={{.TAG}}\" -o {{.BINARY}}-{{.TAG}}.exe ./cmd/glint/..."
     sources:
       - "**/*.go"
       - go.mod
@@ -126,7 +144,7 @@ tasks:
       - sh: git describe --tags --exact-match
         msg: "Current commit is not tagged — Linux build requires a git tag"
     cmds:
-      - "GOOS=linux GOARCH=amd64 {{.GO}} build -o {{.BINARY}}-{{.TAG}}-linux-amd64 ./cmd/glint/..."
+      - "GOOS=linux GOARCH=amd64 {{.GO}} build -ldflags \"-X main.version={{.TAG}}\" -o {{.BINARY}}-{{.TAG}}-linux-amd64 ./cmd/glint/..."
     sources:
       - "**/*.go"
       - go.mod

cmd/glint/format.go

@@ -0,0 +1,332 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"encoding/xml"
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"strings"
+
+	"git.k3nny.fr/glint/internal/linter"
+)
+
+// --- JSON ---
+
+type jsonReport struct {
+	SchemaVersion int           `json:"schema_version"`
+	GlintVersion  string        `json:"glint_version"`
+	Pipeline      string        `json:"pipeline"`
+	Findings      []jsonFinding `json:"findings"`
+	Summary       jsonSummary   `json:"summary"`
+}
+
+type jsonFinding struct {
+	Rule     string `json:"rule,omitempty"`
+	Severity string `json:"severity"`
+	File     string `json:"file,omitempty"`
+	Line     int    `json:"line,omitempty"`
+	Job      string `json:"job,omitempty"`
+	Message  string `json:"message"`
+}
+
+type jsonSummary struct {
+	Total    int `json:"total"`
+	Errors   int `json:"errors"`
+	Warnings int `json:"warnings"`
+}
+
+func writeJSON(w io.Writer, findings []linter.Finding, pipeline string) {
+	errs, warns := countSeverities(findings)
+	jf := make([]jsonFinding, 0, len(findings))
+	for _, f := range findings {
+		jf = append(jf, jsonFinding{
+			Rule:     f.Rule,
+			Severity: strings.ToLower(string(f.Severity)),
+			File:     f.File,
+			Line:     f.Line,
+			Job:      f.Job,
+			Message:  f.Message,
+		})
+	}
+	report := jsonReport{
+		SchemaVersion: 1,
+		GlintVersion:  version,
+		Pipeline:      pipeline,
+		Findings:      jf,
+		Summary:       jsonSummary{Total: len(findings), Errors: errs, Warnings: warns},
+	}
+	enc := json.NewEncoder(w)
+	enc.SetIndent("", "  ")
+	_ = enc.Encode(report)
+}
+
+// --- SARIF 2.1.0 ---
+
+type sarifLog struct {
+	Schema  string     `json:"$schema"`
+	Version string     `json:"version"`
+	Runs    []sarifRun `json:"runs"`
+}
+
+type sarifRun struct {
+	Tool    sarifTool     `json:"tool"`
+	Results []sarifResult `json:"results"`
+}
+
+type sarifTool struct {
+	Driver sarifDriver `json:"driver"`
+}
+
+type sarifDriver struct {
+	Name           string      `json:"name"`
+	Version        string      `json:"version"`
+	InformationURI string      `json:"informationUri"`
+	Rules          []sarifRule `json:"rules"`
+}
+
+type sarifRule struct {
+	ID               string       `json:"id"`
+	ShortDescription sarifMessage `json:"shortDescription"`
+	HelpURI          string       `json:"helpUri,omitempty"`
+}
+
+type sarifMessage struct {
+	Text string `json:"text"`
+}
+
+type sarifResult struct {
+	RuleID    string          `json:"ruleId,omitempty"`
+	Level     string          `json:"level"`
+	Message   sarifMessage    `json:"message"`
+	Locations []sarifLocation `json:"locations,omitempty"`
+}
+
+type sarifLocation struct {
+	PhysicalLocation sarifPhysLoc `json:"physicalLocation"`
+}
+
+type sarifPhysLoc struct {
+	ArtifactLocation sarifArtifact `json:"artifactLocation"`
+	Region           *sarifRegion  `json:"region,omitempty"`
+}
+
+type sarifArtifact struct {
+	URI       string `json:"uri"`
+	URIBaseID string `json:"uriBaseId,omitempty"`
+}
+
+type sarifRegion struct {
+	StartLine int `json:"startLine"`
+}
+
+func writeSARIF(w io.Writer, findings []linter.Finding, _ string) {
+	// Collect unique rule IDs (preserving first-seen order).
+	seenRules := map[string]bool{}
+	var rules []sarifRule
+	for _, f := range findings {
+		if f.Rule != "" && !seenRules[f.Rule] {
+			seenRules[f.Rule] = true
+			rules = append(rules, sarifRule{
+				ID:               f.Rule,
+				ShortDescription: sarifMessage{Text: "glint rule " + f.Rule},
+				HelpURI:          "https://git.k3nny.fr/glint",
+			})
+		}
+	}
+	if rules == nil {
+		rules = []sarifRule{}
+	}
+
+	var results []sarifResult
+	for _, f := range findings {
+		level := "warning"
+		if f.Severity == linter.Error {
+			level = "error"
+		}
+		msg := f.Message
+		if f.Job != "" {
+			msg = fmt.Sprintf("job %q: %s", f.Job, msg)
+		}
+		result := sarifResult{
+			RuleID:  f.Rule,
+			Level:   level,
+			Message: sarifMessage{Text: msg},
+		}
+		if f.File != "" {
+			loc := sarifLocation{
+				PhysicalLocation: sarifPhysLoc{
+					ArtifactLocation: sarifArtifact{URI: f.File, URIBaseID: "%SRCROOT%"},
+				},
+			}
+			if f.Line > 0 {
+				loc.PhysicalLocation.Region = &sarifRegion{StartLine: f.Line}
+			}
+			result.Locations = []sarifLocation{loc}
+		}
+		results = append(results, result)
+	}
+	if results == nil {
+		results = []sarifResult{}
+	}
+
+	log := sarifLog{
+		Schema:  "https://json.schemastore.org/sarif-2.1.0.json",
+		Version: "2.1.0",
+		Runs: []sarifRun{{
+			Tool: sarifTool{Driver: sarifDriver{
+				Name:           "glint",
+				Version:        strings.TrimPrefix(version, "v"),
+				InformationURI: "https://git.k3nny.fr/glint",
+				Rules:          rules,
+			}},
+			Results: results,
+		}},
+	}
+	enc := json.NewEncoder(w)
+	enc.SetIndent("", "  ")
+	_ = enc.Encode(log)
+}
+
+// --- JUnit XML ---
+
+type junitTestsuites struct {
+	XMLName  xml.Name         `xml:"testsuites"`
+	Name     string           `xml:"name,attr"`
+	Tests    int              `xml:"tests,attr"`
+	Failures int              `xml:"failures,attr"`
+	Time     string           `xml:"time,attr"`
+	Suites   []junitTestsuite `xml:"testsuite"`
+}
+
+type junitTestsuite struct {
+	Name     string          `xml:"name,attr"`
+	Tests    int             `xml:"tests,attr"`
+	Failures int             `xml:"failures,attr"`
+	Time     string          `xml:"time,attr"`
+	Cases    []junitTestcase `xml:"testcase"`
+}
+
+type junitTestcase struct {
+	Name      string        `xml:"name,attr"`
+	Classname string        `xml:"classname,attr"`
+	Failure   *junitFailure `xml:"failure,omitempty"`
+}
+
+type junitFailure struct {
+	Message string `xml:"message,attr"`
+	Type    string `xml:"type,attr"`
+	Body    string `xml:",chardata"`
+}
+
+func writeJUnit(w io.Writer, findings []linter.Finding, pipeline string) {
+	_, fails := countSeverities(findings)
+	_ = fails // re-derive below to count both errors and warnings as failures
+
+	var cases []junitTestcase
+	if len(findings) == 0 {
+		cases = []junitTestcase{{Name: "no issues found", Classname: pipeline}}
+	} else {
+		for _, f := range findings {
+			name := f.Rule
+			if name == "" {
+				name = "lint"
+			}
+			classname := f.File
+			if classname == "" {
+				classname = pipeline
+			}
+			if f.Job != "" {
+				classname += "#" + f.Job
+			}
+			msg := f.Message
+			if f.Job != "" {
+				msg = fmt.Sprintf("job %q: %s", f.Job, msg)
+			}
+			cases = append(cases, junitTestcase{
+				Name:      name,
+				Classname: classname,
+				Failure: &junitFailure{
+					Message: msg,
+					Type:    strings.ToLower(string(f.Severity)),
+					Body:    f.String(),
+				},
+			})
+		}
+	}
+
+	suite := junitTestsuite{
+		Name:     pipeline,
+		Tests:    len(cases),
+		Failures: len(findings), // all findings are failures
+		Time:     "0",
+		Cases:    cases,
+	}
+	suites := junitTestsuites{
+		Name:     "glint",
+		Tests:    len(cases),
+		Failures: len(findings),
+		Time:     "0",
+		Suites:   []junitTestsuite{suite},
+	}
+
+	fmt.Fprint(w, `<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>`)
+	fmt.Fprintln(w)
+	enc := xml.NewEncoder(w)
+	enc.Indent("", "  ")
+	_ = enc.Encode(suites)
+	_ = enc.Flush()
+	fmt.Fprintln(w)
+}
+
+// --- GitHub Actions annotations ---
+
+// writeGitHub emits GitHub Actions workflow command annotation lines.
+// Each finding becomes an ::error:: or ::warning:: line that GitHub CI
+// renders as an inline comment on the relevant file in pull requests.
+func writeGitHub(w io.Writer, findings []linter.Finding) {
+	for _, f := range findings {
+		level := "warning"
+		if f.Severity == linter.Error {
+			level = "error"
+		}
+		msg := f.Message
+		if f.Job != "" {
+			msg = fmt.Sprintf("job %q: %s", f.Job, msg)
+		}
+		// GitHub annotation messages must not contain raw newlines, percent signs,
+		// carriage returns, or colons in the parameter block.
+		msg = strings.ReplaceAll(msg, "%", "%25")
+		msg = strings.ReplaceAll(msg, "\r", "%0D")
+		msg = strings.ReplaceAll(msg, "\n", "%0A")
+
+		var params []string
+		if f.File != "" {
+			params = append(params, "file="+f.File)
+			if f.Line > 0 {
+				params = append(params, fmt.Sprintf("line=%d", f.Line))
+			}
+		}
+		if f.Rule != "" {
+			params = append(params, "title="+f.Rule)
+		}
+
+		paramStr := ""
+		if len(params) > 0 {
+			paramStr = " " + strings.Join(params, ",")
+		}
+		fmt.Fprintf(w, "::%s%s::%s\n", level, paramStr, msg)
+	}
+}
+
+// --- shared helpers ---
+
+func countSeverities(findings []linter.Finding) (errors, warnings int) {
+	for _, f := range findings {
+		if f.Severity == linter.Error {
+			errors++
+		} else {
+			warnings++
+		}
+	}
+	return
+}

cmd/glint/format_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,228 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"encoding/xml"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+
+	"git.k3nny.fr/glint/internal/linter"
+)
+
+var testFindings = []linter.Finding{
+	{
+		Severity: linter.Error,
+		Rule:     "GL004",
+		Job:      "deploy",
+		File:     ".gitlab-ci.yml",
+		Line:     14,
+		Message:  `stage "production" is not defined in 'stages'`,
+	},
+	{
+		Severity: linter.Warning,
+		Rule:     "GL007",
+		Job:      "old-job",
+		File:     ".gitlab-ci.yml",
+		Line:     31,
+		Message:  "'only'/'except' are deprecated; prefer 'rules'",
+	},
+}
+
+func TestWriteJSON(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("findings", func(t *testing.T) {
+		var buf bytes.Buffer
+		writeJSON(&buf, testFindings, ".gitlab-ci.yml")
+
+		var got jsonReport
+		if err := json.Unmarshal(buf.Bytes(), &got); err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("invalid JSON: %v", err)
+		}
+		if got.SchemaVersion != 1 {
+			t.Errorf("schema_version = %d, want 1", got.SchemaVersion)
+		}
+		if len(got.Findings) != 2 {
+			t.Fatalf("got %d findings, want 2", len(got.Findings))
+		}
+		if got.Summary.Errors != 1 || got.Summary.Warnings != 1 {
+			t.Errorf("summary = %+v, want {2,1,1}", got.Summary)
+		}
+		if got.Findings[0].Rule != "GL004" || got.Findings[0].Severity != "error" {
+			t.Errorf("finding[0] = %+v", got.Findings[0])
+		}
+		if got.Findings[0].Job != "deploy" || got.Findings[0].Line != 14 {
+			t.Errorf("finding[0] job/line = %s/%d", got.Findings[0].Job, got.Findings[0].Line)
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("empty", func(t *testing.T) {
+		var buf bytes.Buffer
+		writeJSON(&buf, nil, "ci.yml")
+
+		var got jsonReport
+		if err := json.Unmarshal(buf.Bytes(), &got); err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("invalid JSON: %v", err)
+		}
+		if got.Findings == nil {
+			t.Error("findings must be [] not null")
+		}
+		if got.Summary.Total != 0 {
+			t.Errorf("total = %d, want 0", got.Summary.Total)
+		}
+	})
+}
+
+func TestWriteSARIF(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("findings", func(t *testing.T) {
+		var buf bytes.Buffer
+		writeSARIF(&buf, testFindings, ".gitlab-ci.yml")
+
+		var got sarifLog
+		if err := json.Unmarshal(buf.Bytes(), &got); err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("invalid JSON: %v", err)
+		}
+		if got.Version != "2.1.0" {
+			t.Errorf("version = %q, want 2.1.0", got.Version)
+		}
+		if len(got.Runs) != 1 {
+			t.Fatalf("runs count = %d, want 1", len(got.Runs))
+		}
+		run := got.Runs[0]
+		if run.Tool.Driver.Name != "glint" {
+			t.Errorf("driver.name = %q", run.Tool.Driver.Name)
+		}
+		if len(run.Results) != 2 {
+			t.Fatalf("results count = %d, want 2", len(run.Results))
+		}
+		r0 := run.Results[0]
+		if r0.RuleID != "GL004" || r0.Level != "error" {
+			t.Errorf("result[0] ruleId/level = %s/%s", r0.RuleID, r0.Level)
+		}
+		if len(r0.Locations) != 1 {
+			t.Fatalf("result[0] locations count = %d, want 1", len(r0.Locations))
+		}
+		loc := r0.Locations[0].PhysicalLocation
+		if loc.ArtifactLocation.URI != ".gitlab-ci.yml" {
+			t.Errorf("artifactLocation.uri = %q", loc.ArtifactLocation.URI)
+		}
+		if loc.Region == nil || loc.Region.StartLine != 14 {
+			t.Errorf("region = %v", loc.Region)
+		}
+		// Message should include job name prefix.
+		if !strings.Contains(r0.Message.Text, `job "deploy"`) {
+			t.Errorf("message missing job prefix: %q", r0.Message.Text)
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("empty", func(t *testing.T) {
+		var buf bytes.Buffer
+		writeSARIF(&buf, nil, "ci.yml")
+
+		var got sarifLog
+		if err := json.Unmarshal(buf.Bytes(), &got); err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("invalid JSON: %v", err)
+		}
+		run := got.Runs[0]
+		if run.Results == nil {
+			t.Error("results must be [] not null")
+		}
+		if run.Tool.Driver.Rules == nil {
+			t.Error("rules must be [] not null")
+		}
+	})
+}
+
+func TestWriteJUnit(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("findings", func(t *testing.T) {
+		var buf bytes.Buffer
+		writeJUnit(&buf, testFindings, ".gitlab-ci.yml")
+
+		if !strings.HasPrefix(buf.String(), "<?xml") {
+			t.Error("output does not start with XML declaration")
+		}
+
+		var got junitTestsuites
+		if err := xml.Unmarshal(buf.Bytes(), &got); err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("invalid XML: %v\noutput:\n%s", err, buf.String())
+		}
+		if got.Failures != 2 {
+			t.Errorf("failures = %d, want 2", got.Failures)
+		}
+		if len(got.Suites) != 1 {
+			t.Fatalf("suites count = %d, want 1", len(got.Suites))
+		}
+		suite := got.Suites[0]
+		if len(suite.Cases) != 2 {
+			t.Fatalf("test cases count = %d, want 2", len(suite.Cases))
+		}
+		if suite.Cases[0].Name != "GL004" {
+			t.Errorf("case[0].name = %q", suite.Cases[0].Name)
+		}
+		if suite.Cases[0].Failure == nil {
+			t.Error("case[0] has no failure element")
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("empty_is_passing", func(t *testing.T) {
+		var buf bytes.Buffer
+		writeJUnit(&buf, nil, "ci.yml")
+
+		var got junitTestsuites
+		if err := xml.Unmarshal(buf.Bytes(), &got); err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("invalid XML: %v", err)
+		}
+		if got.Failures != 0 {
+			t.Errorf("failures = %d, want 0", got.Failures)
+		}
+		suite := got.Suites[0]
+		if len(suite.Cases) != 1 || suite.Cases[0].Failure != nil {
+			t.Error("expected exactly one passing testcase when no findings")
+		}
+	})
+}
+
+func TestWriteGitHub(t *testing.T) {
+	cases := []struct {
+		name     string
+		findings []linter.Finding
+		wantLine string
+	}{
+		{
+			name:     "error with file and line",
+			findings: []linter.Finding{testFindings[0]},
+			wantLine: "::error file=.gitlab-ci.yml,line=14,title=GL004::job \"deploy\": stage \"production\" is not defined in 'stages'",
+		},
+		{
+			name:     "warning",
+			findings: []linter.Finding{testFindings[1]},
+			wantLine: "::warning file=.gitlab-ci.yml,line=31,title=GL007::job \"old-job\": 'only'/'except' are deprecated; prefer 'rules'",
+		},
+		{
+			name: "no file or line",
+			findings: []linter.Finding{{
+				Severity: linter.Error,
+				Rule:     "GL001",
+				Message:  "no stages defined",
+			}},
+			wantLine: "::error title=GL001::no stages defined",
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range cases {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			var buf bytes.Buffer
+			writeGitHub(&buf, tc.findings)
+			got := strings.TrimRight(buf.String(), "\n")
+			if got != tc.wantLine {
+				t.Errorf("\ngot:  %s\nwant: %s", got, tc.wantLine)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestCountSeverities(t *testing.T) {
+	errs, warns := countSeverities(testFindings)
+	if errs != 1 || warns != 1 {
+		t.Errorf("countSeverities = (%d, %d), want (1, 1)", errs, warns)
+	}
+}

cmd/glint/main.go

@@ -16,6 +16,21 @@ import (
 	"git.k3nny.fr/glint/internal/resolver"
 )
 
+// version is set at build time via -ldflags "-X main.version=vX.Y.Z".
+var version = "dev"
+
+// defaultCacheDir returns the platform-default glint cache directory:
+// $XDG_CACHE_HOME/glint or ~/.cache/glint.
+func defaultCacheDir() string {
+	if xdg := os.Getenv("XDG_CACHE_HOME"); xdg != "" {
+		return filepath.Join(xdg, "glint")
+	}
+	if home, err := os.UserHomeDir(); err == nil {
+		return filepath.Join(home, ".cache", "glint")
+	}
+	return ""
+}
+
 const globalUsage = `glint: Lint and visualise GitLab CI pipelines locally.
 
 Usage: glint [OPTIONS] <COMMAND>
@@ -25,7 +40,8 @@ Commands:
   graph    Visualise the pipeline as a job tree or Mermaid graph
 
 Options:
-  -h, --help  Print help
+  -h, --help     Print help
+  -v, --version  Print version
 
 For help with a specific command, see: ` + "`glint <command> --help`" + `.
 `
@@ -41,7 +57,10 @@ func main() {
 	case "graph":
 		cmdGraph(os.Args[2:])
 	case "-h", "--help", "help":
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "glint %s\n\n", version)
 		fmt.Fprint(os.Stderr, globalUsage)
+	case "-v", "--version", "version":
+		fmt.Printf("glint %s\n", version)
 	default:
 		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "glint: unknown command %q\n\n%s", os.Args[1], globalUsage)
 		os.Exit(2)
@@ -61,12 +80,17 @@ func cmdCheck(args []string) {
 	fs := flag.NewFlagSet("glint check", flag.ExitOnError)
 	token := fs.String("token", "", "GitLab personal access token (overrides GITLAB_TOKEN)")
 	gitlabURL := fs.String("gitlab-url", "", "GitLab instance URL (overrides CI_SERVER_URL / GITLAB_URL)")
+	cacheDir := fs.String("cache-dir", "", "directory to cache fetched remote includes (created if needed)")
+	offline := fs.Bool("offline", false, "skip all network calls; serve only from --cache-dir")
+	format := fs.String("format", "text", "output format: text, json, sarif, junit, github")
 	branch := fs.String("branch", "", "simulate a branch push (sets CI_COMMIT_BRANCH, …)")
 	tag := fs.String("tag", "", "simulate a tag push (sets CI_COMMIT_TAG, …)")
 	source := fs.String("source", "", "set CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE")
+	listVars := fs.Bool("list-vars", false, "print all collected pipeline variables (from root and included files) to stderr, then continue")
 	var vars multiFlag
 	fs.Var(&vars, "var", "set a CI variable as KEY=VALUE; repeatable")
 	fs.Usage = func() {
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "glint %s\n\n", version)
 		fmt.Fprint(os.Stderr, `Lint a GitLab CI pipeline file.
 
 Resolves local includes and extends chains, then runs all lint rules.
@@ -78,6 +102,10 @@ Arguments:
   <PIPELINE>  Path to the .gitlab-ci.yml file to lint
 
 Options:
+      --format <FORMAT>
+          Output format for findings.
+          [default: text] [possible values: text, json, sarif, junit, github]
+
       --token <TOKEN>
           GitLab personal access token. Required to fetch project: includes;
           component: includes are attempted unauthenticated.
@@ -87,9 +115,21 @@ Options:
           GitLab instance URL.
           [env: CI_SERVER_URL | GITLAB_URL] [default: https://gitlab.com]
 
+      --cache-dir <DIR>
+          Cache fetched remote templates (project: and component: includes) in
+          DIR. The directory is created on first use. Subsequent runs read from
+          cache first, avoiding repeated network calls.
+
+      --offline
+          Do not make any network calls. All remote includes must already be
+          present in --cache-dir; missing entries emit a warning (same as
+          having no token). Implies the default cache dir (~/.cache/glint) when
+          --cache-dir is not set.
+
       --branch <NAME>
           Simulate a branch push. Populates: CI_COMMIT_BRANCH,
           CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME, CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG, CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE=push.
+          [default: main]
 
       --tag <NAME>
           Simulate a tag push. Populates: CI_COMMIT_TAG, CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME,
@@ -97,32 +137,70 @@ Options:
 
       --source <EVENT>
           Override CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE.
-          [possible values: push, merge_request_event, schedule, web, api]
+          [default: push] [possible values: push, merge_request_event, schedule, web, api]
 
       --var <KEY=VALUE>
           Set or override a CI variable. Takes precedence over --branch, --tag,
           and --source. Repeatable.
 
+      --list-vars
+          Print all pipeline-level variables collected from the root file and
+          every included file (sorted KEY=VALUE) to stderr, then continue
+          normally. Useful for debugging variable resolution and GL032 findings.
+
   -h, --help
           Print help
 
+Note: when none of --branch, --tag, --source, or --var are given, glint
+defaults to --branch main --source push so that rules:if: expressions are
+always evaluated.
+
 Examples:
   glint check .gitlab-ci.yml
-  glint check --branch main .gitlab-ci.yml
+  glint check --format json .gitlab-ci.yml
+  glint check --format sarif .gitlab-ci.yml | upload-to-github-code-scanning
+  glint check --format junit .gitlab-ci.yml > junit.xml
+  glint check --format github .gitlab-ci.yml
+  glint check --branch develop .gitlab-ci.yml
+  glint check --tag v1.0.0 .gitlab-ci.yml
+  glint check --source merge_request_event .gitlab-ci.yml
+  glint check --list-vars .gitlab-ci.yml
   GITLAB_TOKEN=glpat-xxxx glint check .gitlab-ci.yml
   glint check --token glpat-xxxx --gitlab-url https://gitlab.example.com .gitlab-ci.yml
   glint check --branch main --var DEPLOY_ENV=production .gitlab-ci.yml
+  glint check --cache-dir ~/.cache/glint .gitlab-ci.yml
+  glint check --offline --cache-dir ~/.cache/glint .gitlab-ci.yml
 `)
 	}
 	_ = fs.Parse(args)
 
+	// Apply implicit defaults when no context flag is given at all.
+	if *branch == "" && *tag == "" && *source == "" && len(vars) == 0 {
+		*branch = "main"
+		*source = "push"
+	}
+
+	validFormats := map[string]bool{
+		"text": true, "json": true, "sarif": true, "junit": true, "github": true,
+	}
+	if !validFormats[*format] {
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "glint: unknown format %q; valid: text, json, sarif, junit, github\n", *format)
+		os.Exit(2)
+	}
+
 	if fs.NArg() != 1 {
 		fs.Usage()
 		os.Exit(2)
 	}
 	path := fs.Arg(0)
 
-	cfg := fetcher.AutoConfig().WithOverrides(*gitlabURL, *token)
+	// --offline with no explicit --cache-dir defaults to ~/.cache/glint.
+	resolvedCacheDir := *cacheDir
+	if *offline && resolvedCacheDir == "" {
+		resolvedCacheDir = defaultCacheDir()
+	}
+
+	cfg := fetcher.AutoConfig().WithOverrides(*gitlabURL, *token, resolvedCacheDir, *offline)
 
 	p, err := model.Parse(path)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -133,7 +211,7 @@ Examples:
 	rootDir := filepath.Dir(filepath.Clean(path))
 	warnings, _ := resolver.ResolveIncludes(p, cfg, rootDir)
 	for _, w := range warnings {
-		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "[WARNING] include %s\n", w)
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "%s: [warning] include %s\n", path, w)
 	}
 
 	extWarnings, err := resolver.Resolve(p)
@@ -142,37 +220,55 @@ Examples:
 		os.Exit(2)
 	}
 	for _, w := range extWarnings {
-		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "[WARNING] job %q extends unknown job %q; extends chain skipped\n", w.Job, w.Base)
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "%s: [warning] job %q extends unknown job %q; extends chain skipped\n", path, w.Job, w.Base)
 	}
 
 	ctx := cicontext.New(*branch, *tag, *source, vars)
 	if !ctx.IsEmpty() {
-		enrichContext(ctx, p)
+		if !enrichContext(ctx, p) {
+			fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "%s: [warning] workflow:rules: pipeline would not start for this context\n", path)
+		}
+	}
+	if *listVars {
+		printVars(p, ctx)
+	}
+	// Context summary only makes sense in plain-text output; suppress it in
+	// structured formats so stdout contains only the machine-readable payload.
+	if !ctx.IsEmpty() && *format == "text" {
 		printContext(p, ctx)
 	}
 
 	findings := linter.Lint(p)
-	hasErrors := false
-	for _, f := range findings {
-		fmt.Println(f)
-		if f.Severity == linter.Error {
-			hasErrors = true
+	errCount, _ := countSeverities(findings)
+
+	// In structured formats the summary line goes to stderr so stdout is clean.
+	summaryOut := os.Stdout
+	if *format != "text" {
+		summaryOut = os.Stderr
+	}
+
+	switch *format {
+	case "json":
+		writeJSON(os.Stdout, findings, path)
+	case "sarif":
+		writeSARIF(os.Stdout, findings, path)
+	case "junit":
+		writeJUnit(os.Stdout, findings, path)
+	case "github":
+		writeGitHub(os.Stdout, findings)
+	default: // "text"
+		for _, f := range findings {
+			fmt.Println(f)
 		}
 	}
 
 	if len(findings) == 0 {
-		fmt.Printf("OK: %s — no issues found (%d job(s), %d stage(s))\n", path, len(p.Jobs), len(p.Stages))
+		fmt.Fprintf(summaryOut, "OK: %s — no issues found (%d job(s), %d stage(s))\n", path, len(p.Jobs), len(p.Stages))
 	} else {
-		errCount := 0
-		for _, f := range findings {
-			if f.Severity == linter.Error {
-				errCount++
-			}
-		}
-		fmt.Printf("%d finding(s): %d error(s)\n", len(findings), errCount)
+		fmt.Fprintf(summaryOut, "%d finding(s): %d error(s)\n", len(findings), errCount)
 	}
 
-	if hasErrors {
+	if errCount > 0 {
 		os.Exit(1)
 	}
 }
@@ -192,8 +288,11 @@ func cmdGraph(args []string) {
 	fs := flag.NewFlagSet("glint graph", flag.ExitOnError)
 	token := fs.String("token", "", "GitLab personal access token (overrides GITLAB_TOKEN)")
 	gitlabURL := fs.String("gitlab-url", "", "GitLab instance URL (overrides CI_SERVER_URL / GITLAB_URL)")
+	cacheDir := fs.String("cache-dir", "", "directory to cache fetched remote includes (created if needed)")
+	offline := fs.Bool("offline", false, "skip all network calls; serve only from --cache-dir")
 	out := fs.String("out", "glint-out", "output directory for Mermaid graph files (pipeline mode)")
 	fs.Usage = func() {
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "glint %s\n\n", version)
 		fmt.Fprint(os.Stderr, `Visualise the pipeline as a job tree and/or Mermaid graph.
 
 Usage: glint graph [MODE] [OPTIONS] <PIPELINE>
@@ -222,6 +321,7 @@ Options:
           evaluated state ([skipped] or [manual]; no tag means active).
           Populates: CI_COMMIT_BRANCH, CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME, CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG,
           CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE=push.
+          [default: main]
 
       --tag <NAME>
           Simulate a tag push. Populates: CI_COMMIT_TAG, CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME,
@@ -229,18 +329,29 @@ Options:
 
       --source <EVENT>
           Override CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE.
-          [possible values: push, merge_request_event, schedule, web, api]
+          [default: push] [possible values: push, merge_request_event, schedule, web, api]
 
       --var <KEY=VALUE>
           Set or override a CI variable. Repeatable.
 
+      --list-vars
+          Print all pipeline-level variables collected from the root file and
+          every included file (sorted KEY=VALUE) to stderr, then continue
+          normally. Useful for debugging variable resolution.
+
   -h, --help
           Print help
 
+Note: when none of --branch, --tag, --source, or --var are given, glint
+defaults to --branch main --source push so that rules:if: expressions are
+always evaluated.
+
 Examples:
   glint graph .gitlab-ci.yml
   glint graph tree .gitlab-ci.yml
-  glint graph tree --branch main .gitlab-ci.yml
+  glint graph tree --branch develop .gitlab-ci.yml
+  glint graph tree --tag v1.0.0 .gitlab-ci.yml
+  glint graph tree --list-vars .gitlab-ci.yml
   glint graph includes .gitlab-ci.yml > includes.mmd
   glint graph pipeline .gitlab-ci.yml
   glint graph pipeline --out /tmp/graphs .gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -250,17 +361,29 @@ Examples:
 	branch := fs.String("branch", "", "simulate a branch push (sets CI_COMMIT_BRANCH, …)")
 	tag := fs.String("tag", "", "simulate a tag push (sets CI_COMMIT_TAG, …)")
 	source := fs.String("source", "", "set CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE")
+	listVars := fs.Bool("list-vars", false, "print all collected pipeline variables to stderr, then continue")
 	var vars multiFlag
 	fs.Var(&vars, "var", "set a CI variable as KEY=VALUE; repeatable")
 	_ = fs.Parse(args)
 
+	// Apply implicit defaults when no context flag is given at all.
+	if *branch == "" && *tag == "" && *source == "" && len(vars) == 0 {
+		*branch = "main"
+		*source = "push"
+	}
+
 	if fs.NArg() != 1 {
 		fs.Usage()
 		os.Exit(2)
 	}
 	path := fs.Arg(0)
 
-	cfg := fetcher.AutoConfig().WithOverrides(*gitlabURL, *token)
+	resolvedCacheDir := *cacheDir
+	if *offline && resolvedCacheDir == "" {
+		resolvedCacheDir = defaultCacheDir()
+	}
+
+	cfg := fetcher.AutoConfig().WithOverrides(*gitlabURL, *token, resolvedCacheDir, *offline)
 
 	p, err := model.Parse(path)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -270,12 +393,15 @@ Examples:
 
 	rootDir := filepath.Dir(filepath.Clean(path))
 	resolver.ResolveIncludes(p, cfg, rootDir) //nolint:errcheck
-	resolver.Resolve(p)                        //nolint:errcheck
+	resolver.Resolve(p)                       //nolint:errcheck
 
 	ctx := cicontext.New(*branch, *tag, *source, vars)
 	if !ctx.IsEmpty() {
 		enrichContext(ctx, p)
 	}
+	if *listVars {
+		printVars(p, ctx)
+	}
 
 	switch mode {
 	case "default":
@@ -304,22 +430,83 @@ Examples:
 	}
 }
 
+// printVars prints the collected variable namespaces to stderr:
+//  1. Pipeline variables — declared in variables: blocks across the root file
+//     and all included files (merged by ResolveIncludes).
+//  2. Workflow-rule variables — union of variables: from every workflow:rules
+//     entry; any one of them may be injected at runtime.
+//  3. Effective context variables — only when ctx is non-empty; shows the
+//     fully merged set visible to job rules:if: after enrichContext.
+func printVars(p *model.Pipeline, ctx *cicontext.Context) {
+	fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "Pipeline variables (YAML, root + includes):")
+	printVarMap(p.Variables)
+
+	if p.Workflow != nil {
+		union := map[string]any{}
+		for _, rule := range p.Workflow.Rules {
+			for k, v := range rule.Variables {
+				union[k] = v
+			}
+		}
+		if len(union) > 0 {
+			fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "Workflow-rule variables (union across all rules):")
+			printVarMap(union)
+		}
+	}
+
+	if !ctx.IsEmpty() {
+		fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "Effective context variables (after workflow + CLI flags):")
+		keys := make([]string, 0, len(ctx.Vars))
+		for k := range ctx.Vars {
+			keys = append(keys, k)
+		}
+		sort.Strings(keys)
+		for _, k := range keys {
+			fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "  %s=%s\n", k, ctx.Vars[k])
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func printVarMap(m map[string]any) {
+	keys := make([]string, 0, len(m))
+	for k := range m {
+		keys = append(keys, k)
+	}
+	sort.Strings(keys)
+	if len(keys) == 0 {
+		fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "  (none)")
+		return
+	}
+	for _, k := range keys {
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "  %s=%s\n", k, varValueString(m[k]))
+	}
+}
+
+func varValueString(v any) string {
+	if s, ok := cicontext.ScalarString(v); ok {
+		return s
+	}
+	return "(complex)"
+}
+
 // enrichContext injects pipeline-level variable defaults and then
 // workflow-rule-generated variables into ctx before job evaluation.
 // Injection respects pinned variables (--branch/--tag/--source/--var always win).
-func enrichContext(ctx *cicontext.Context, p *model.Pipeline) {
+// Returns false when workflow:rules: would prevent the pipeline from starting.
+func enrichContext(ctx *cicontext.Context, p *model.Pipeline) bool {
 	// Pipeline variables: injected as defaults (lowest priority).
 	for k, v := range cicontext.ExtractStringVars(p.Variables) {
 		ctx.Inject(k, v)
 	}
 	// Workflow rules: evaluate to find which rule matches, then inject its variables.
 	runs, ruleVars := cicontext.EvalWorkflow(p, ctx)
-	if !runs {
-		fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "[WARNING] workflow:rules: pipeline would not start for this context")
-	}
 	for k, v := range ruleVars {
 		ctx.Inject(k, v)
 	}
+	// Expand $VAR / ${VAR} references within variable values now that all
+	// sources (pipeline, workflow rules, CLI) have been merged.
+	ctx.ExpandVars()
+	return runs
 }
 
 func printContext(p *model.Pipeline, ctx *cicontext.Context) {

internal/cicontext/context.go

@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 package cicontext
 
-import "strings"
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"strings"
+)
 
 // Context holds the simulated CI execution environment used for context-aware
 // pipeline evaluation (rules:if:, only:, except:, workflow:rules:).
@@ -117,26 +120,131 @@ func (c *Context) Summary() string {
 
 // ExtractStringVars converts a map[string]any variable block (as used by
 // Pipeline.Variables and Rule.Variables) to a flat map[string]string.
-// Plain string values are used directly. Extended {value: "..."} map form
-// uses the "value" key. Other forms are skipped.
+// Plain string values are used directly. Extended {value: ...} map form uses
+// the "value" key. Scalar non-string values (bool, int, float64) are
+// converted to their string representation, matching GitLab's own behaviour
+// where all CI variable values are strings.
 func ExtractStringVars(m map[string]any) map[string]string {
 	if len(m) == 0 {
 		return nil
 	}
 	out := make(map[string]string, len(m))
 	for k, v := range m {
-		switch val := v.(type) {
-		case string:
-			out[k] = val
-		case map[string]any:
-			if s, ok := val["value"].(string); ok {
-				out[k] = s
-			}
+		if s, ok := ScalarString(v); ok {
+			out[k] = s
 		}
 	}
 	return out
 }
 
+// ScalarString converts a YAML-decoded CI variable value to its string
+// representation. Handles plain scalars and the extended {value: ...} map
+// form. Returns (s, true) on success, ("", false) for unrecognised forms.
+func ScalarString(v any) (string, bool) {
+	switch val := v.(type) {
+	case string:
+		return val, true
+	case bool:
+		return fmt.Sprintf("%t", val), true
+	case int:
+		return fmt.Sprintf("%d", val), true
+	case float64:
+		return fmt.Sprintf("%g", val), true
+	case map[string]any:
+		inner, ok := val["value"]
+		if !ok {
+			return "", false
+		}
+		return ScalarString(inner)
+	}
+	return "", false
+}
+
+// ExpandVars expands $VAR and ${VAR} references within every value in
+// ctx.Vars, using the same map as the expansion source. Iteration repeats
+// (up to 10 passes) so transitive chains like A=$B, B=$C resolve fully.
+// Variables that form circular references are left as-is after the limit.
+func (c *Context) ExpandVars() {
+	if c == nil || len(c.Vars) == 0 {
+		return
+	}
+	for range 10 {
+		changed := false
+		for k, v := range c.Vars {
+			expanded := expandVarRefs(v, c.Vars)
+			if expanded != v {
+				c.Vars[k] = expanded
+				changed = true
+			}
+		}
+		if !changed {
+			return
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// expandVarRefs replaces $VAR and ${VAR} occurrences in s with their values
+// from vars. Unknown variables are left unchanged.
+func expandVarRefs(s string, vars map[string]string) string {
+	if !strings.Contains(s, "$") {
+		return s
+	}
+	var sb strings.Builder
+	i := 0
+	for i < len(s) {
+		if s[i] != '$' {
+			sb.WriteByte(s[i])
+			i++
+			continue
+		}
+		i++ // consume '$'
+		if i >= len(s) {
+			sb.WriteByte('$')
+			break
+		}
+		if s[i] == '{' {
+			i++ // consume '{'
+			j := i
+			for j < len(s) && isIdentByte(s[j]) {
+				j++
+			}
+			if j < len(s) && s[j] == '}' {
+				name := s[i:j]
+				if val, ok := vars[name]; ok {
+					sb.WriteString(val)
+				} else {
+					sb.WriteString("${")
+					sb.WriteString(name)
+					sb.WriteByte('}')
+				}
+				i = j + 1
+			} else {
+				// Malformed ${…} — emit literally
+				sb.WriteString("${")
+				i = j
+			}
+		} else {
+			j := i
+			for j < len(s) && isIdentByte(s[j]) {
+				j++
+			}
+			if j > i {
+				name := s[i:j]
+				if val, ok := vars[name]; ok {
+					sb.WriteString(val)
+				} else {
+					sb.WriteByte('$')
+					sb.WriteString(name)
+				}
+				i = j
+			} else {
+				sb.WriteByte('$')
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	return sb.String()
+}
+
 // slugify converts a ref name to its GitLab slug form:
 // lowercased, non-alphanumeric characters replaced with '-', leading/trailing '-' removed.
 func slugify(s string) string {

internal/cicontext/eval.go

@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ import (
 //   - Variable references: $VAR_NAME or ${VAR_NAME}
 //   - String literals:     "value" or 'value'
 //   - Null keyword:        null
-//   - Comparison:          == != =~ !~
+//   - Comparison:          == != =~ !~  (single = is accepted as == for user convenience)
 //   - Boolean:             && || !
 //   - Grouping:            ( )
 //   - Regex flags:         /pattern/i (case-insensitive), /pattern/m, /pattern/s
@@ -23,10 +23,21 @@ import (
 // used by GitLab CI. Unsupported or unparseable expressions fall back to true
 // (permissive) so the linter never silently drops jobs it cannot evaluate.
 func EvalIf(expr string, vars func(string) string) bool {
+	return evalIf(expr, vars, true)
+}
+
+// EvalIfStrict is like EvalIf but returns false (instead of true) when the
+// expression cannot be fully parsed. Use for workflow:rules: evaluation where
+// a failed parse should skip to the next rule rather than matching everything.
+func EvalIfStrict(expr string, vars func(string) string) bool {
+	return evalIf(expr, vars, false)
+}
+
+func evalIf(expr string, vars func(string) string, permissive bool) bool {
 	p := &exprParser{s: strings.TrimSpace(expr), vars: vars}
 	result, ok := p.parseOr()
 	if !ok || p.pos < len(p.s) {
-		return true // unparseable → permissive
+		return permissive
 	}
 	return result
 }
@@ -200,6 +211,17 @@ func (p *exprParser) parseComparison() (bool, bool) {
 			return true, true // bad pattern → permissive
 		}
 		return !re.MatchString(leftStr), true
+
+	// Single = not followed by = or ~ — accepted as == (common user mistake;
+	// GitLab CI only supports == but = is frequently written by accident).
+	case p.peek() == '=' && !p.startsWith("==") && !p.startsWith("=~"):
+		p.pos++ // consume '='
+		p.skipWS()
+		rightStr, ok := p.parseValue()
+		if !ok {
+			return false, false
+		}
+		return leftStr == rightStr, true
 	}
 
 	// No operator: variable is truthy when non-empty (defined and non-null).

internal/cicontext/eval_test.go

@@ -120,6 +120,12 @@ func TestEvalIf(t *testing.T) {
 		// ── Permissive fallback ───────────────────────────────────────────────
 		{"unparseable returns true", `this is not valid syntax %%%`, true},
 		{"empty expr returns true", ``, true},
+
+		// ── Single = as alias for == ──────────────────────────────────────────
+		{"single eq match", `$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH = "develop"`, true},
+		{"single eq no match", `$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH = "main"`, false},
+		{"single eq in compound", `$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH = "develop" && $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE = "push"`, true},
+		{"single eq compound false", `$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH = "main" && $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE = "push"`, false},
 	}
 
 	for _, tc := range tests {
@@ -131,3 +137,48 @@ func TestEvalIf(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func TestEvalIfStrict(t *testing.T) {
+	vars := func(key string) string {
+		m := map[string]string{
+			"CI_COMMIT_BRANCH":   "develop",
+			"CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE": "push",
+			"WORKFLOW":           "",
+		}
+		return m[key]
+	}
+
+	tests := []struct {
+		name string
+		expr string
+		want bool
+	}{
+		// Parseable expressions behave identically to EvalIf.
+		{"parseable match", `$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "develop"`, true},
+		{"parseable no match", `$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "main"`, false},
+		{"single eq match", `$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH = "develop"`, true},
+		// Empty expression: ruleIfMatchesStrict handles the empty→true case
+		// before calling EvalIfStrict, so empty falls through to false here.
+		{"empty expr", ``, false},
+
+		// Unparseable expressions return false (strict) instead of true (permissive).
+		{"unparseable returns false", `this is not valid syntax %%%`, false},
+
+		// The key workflow-rule scenario: a complex condition with an
+		// unevaluable sub-expression should not match (strict=false) so that
+		// later workflow rules can be evaluated.
+		{"workflow rule complex no match", `$WORKFLOW = "gitflow" && $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == /(push|web)/`, false},
+
+		// Compound with a bad second operand: strict returns false.
+		{"and with bad rhs strict false", `$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "develop" && !(((`, false},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range tests {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			got := EvalIfStrict(tc.expr, vars)
+			if got != tc.want {
+				t.Errorf("EvalIfStrict(%q) = %v, want %v", tc.expr, got, tc.want)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}

internal/cicontext/reachability.go

@@ -42,7 +42,11 @@ func EvalWorkflow(p *model.Pipeline, ctx *Context) (bool, map[string]string) {
 	}
 	vars := ctx.Get
 	for _, rule := range p.Workflow.Rules {
-		if !ruleIfMatches(rule.If, vars) {
+		// Workflow rules use strict evaluation: an unparseable condition is
+		// treated as no-match so later rules (with valid conditions or a
+		// bare when:) are reached. Permissive-true would cause an early rule
+		// with a complex/invalid condition to block all subsequent rules.
+		if !ruleIfMatchesStrict(rule.If, vars) {
 			continue
 		}
 		when := rule.When
@@ -94,6 +98,13 @@ func ruleIfMatches(ifExpr string, vars func(string) string) bool {
 	return EvalIf(ifExpr, vars)
 }
 
+func ruleIfMatchesStrict(ifExpr string, vars func(string) string) bool {
+	if ifExpr == "" {
+		return true // no if: condition → rule always matches
+	}
+	return EvalIfStrict(ifExpr, vars)
+}
+
 func whenToState(when string) JobState {
 	switch when {
 	case "never":

internal/fetcher/cache.go

@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+package fetcher
+
+import (
+	"crypto/sha256"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+)
+
+// cacheRead returns the cached bytes for the given cache key, or (nil, false)
+// on a miss (key not present, dir empty, or any read error).
+func cacheRead(dir, key string) ([]byte, bool) {
+	if dir == "" {
+		return nil, false
+	}
+	data, err := os.ReadFile(cachePath(dir, key))
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, false
+	}
+	return data, true
+}
+
+// cacheWrite stores bytes in the cache for the given key. Write errors are
+// silently ignored so cache failures never block the normal fetch path.
+func cacheWrite(dir, key string, data []byte) {
+	if dir == "" {
+		return
+	}
+	if err := os.MkdirAll(dir, 0o755); err != nil {
+		return
+	}
+	_ = os.WriteFile(cachePath(dir, key), data, 0o644)
+}
+
+// cachePath returns the filesystem path for a cache entry.
+// The filename is the SHA-256 hex digest of the key so arbitrary keys (URLs,
+// "project:file@ref" strings) map to safe, stable filenames.
+func cachePath(dir, key string) string {
+	h := sha256.Sum256([]byte(key))
+	return filepath.Join(dir, fmt.Sprintf("%x.yml", h))
+}

internal/fetcher/gitlab.go

@@ -22,9 +22,11 @@ const (
 
 // GitLabConfig holds everything needed to reach a GitLab instance.
 type GitLabConfig struct {
-	BaseURL string
-	Token   string
-	Source  TokenSource
+	BaseURL  string
+	Token    string
+	Source   TokenSource
+	CacheDir string // local cache directory; empty = caching disabled
+	Offline  bool   // when true, return an error instead of making network calls
 }
 
 // AutoConfig builds a GitLabConfig from environment variables.
@@ -54,8 +56,11 @@ func AutoConfig() GitLabConfig {
 	return cfg
 }
 
-// WithOverrides returns a copy of cfg with non-empty overrides applied.
-func (cfg GitLabConfig) WithOverrides(baseURL, token string) GitLabConfig {
+// WithOverrides returns a copy of cfg with the provided overrides applied.
+// Non-empty strings overwrite the corresponding field; booleans are always
+// applied (so offline: false explicitly clears offline mode).
+// cacheDir: empty string disables caching.
+func (cfg GitLabConfig) WithOverrides(baseURL, token, cacheDir string, offline bool) GitLabConfig {
 	if baseURL != "" {
 		cfg.BaseURL = strings.TrimRight(baseURL, "/")
 	}
@@ -63,6 +68,8 @@ func (cfg GitLabConfig) WithOverrides(baseURL, token string) GitLabConfig {
 		cfg.Token = token
 		cfg.Source = TokenPrivate
 	}
+	cfg.CacheDir = cacheDir
+	cfg.Offline = offline
 	return cfg
 }
 
@@ -84,16 +91,24 @@ func (cfg GitLabConfig) HasToken() bool { return cfg.Token != "" }
 //   - filePath — repository file path, e.g. "/templates/ci.yml"
 //   - ref      — branch, tag, or commit SHA; empty string defaults to HEAD
 func (cfg GitLabConfig) FetchFile(project, filePath, ref string) ([]byte, error) {
+	if ref == "" {
+		ref = "HEAD"
+	}
+
+	cKey := cfg.BaseURL + "|" + project + "|" + filePath + "|" + ref
+	if data, ok := cacheRead(cfg.CacheDir, cKey); ok {
+		return data, nil
+	}
+	if cfg.Offline {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("offline mode: %s:%s@%s is not in the local cache (run without --offline first to populate the cache)", project, filePath, ref)
+	}
+
 	encodedProject := url.PathEscape(project)
 	encodedFile := url.PathEscape(strings.TrimPrefix(filePath, "/"))
 
 	apiURL := fmt.Sprintf("%s/api/v4/projects/%s/repository/files/%s/raw",
 		cfg.BaseURL, encodedProject, encodedFile)
 
-	if ref == "" {
-		ref = "HEAD"
-	}
-
 	req, err := http.NewRequest(http.MethodGet, apiURL, nil)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("building request: %w", err)
@@ -139,12 +154,21 @@ func (cfg GitLabConfig) FetchFile(project, filePath, ref string) ([]byte, error)
 		}
 	}
 
+	cacheWrite(cfg.CacheDir, cKey, body)
 	return body, nil
 }
 
 // FetchURL downloads the content at a plain HTTPS URL without authentication.
 // Used for include: remote: entries which are public by definition.
-func FetchURL(rawURL string) ([]byte, error) {
+// Responses are read from and written to the local cache when CacheDir is set.
+func (cfg GitLabConfig) FetchURL(rawURL string) ([]byte, error) {
+	if data, ok := cacheRead(cfg.CacheDir, rawURL); ok {
+		return data, nil
+	}
+	if cfg.Offline {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("offline mode: %s is not in the local cache (run without --offline first to populate the cache)", rawURL)
+	}
+
 	resp, err := http.Get(rawURL) //nolint:noctx
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("GET %s: %w", rawURL, err)
@@ -157,6 +181,7 @@ func FetchURL(rawURL string) ([]byte, error) {
 	if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("GET %s: status %d", rawURL, resp.StatusCode)
 	}
+	cacheWrite(cfg.CacheDir, rawURL, body)
 	return body, nil
 }
 

internal/graph/includes.go

@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ func (b *treeBuilder) recurseRemote(node *treeNode, rawURL string) {
 	}
 	b.visited[key] = true
 
-	data, err := fetcher.FetchURL(rawURL)
+	data, err := b.cfg.FetchURL(rawURL)
 	if err != nil {
 		return
 	}

internal/linter/dead_rules_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+package linter
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"git.k3nny.fr/glint/internal/model"
+)
+
+func TestCheckDeadRules(t *testing.T) {
+	cases := []struct {
+		name     string
+		rules    []model.Rule
+		wantHit  bool // whether GL033 should fire
+	}{
+		{
+			name:    "no rules — not dead",
+			rules:   nil,
+			wantHit: false,
+		},
+		{
+			name:    "single bare when:never — dead",
+			rules:   []model.Rule{{When: "never"}},
+			wantHit: true,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "all rules when:never with if — dead",
+			rules: []model.Rule{
+				{If: `$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "main"`, When: "never"},
+				{If: `$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "develop"`, When: "never"},
+				{When: "never"},
+			},
+			wantHit: true,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "first rule on_success — not dead",
+			rules: []model.Rule{
+				{If: `$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "main"`, When: "on_success"},
+				{When: "never"},
+			},
+			wantHit: false,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "rule with empty when (defaults to on_success) — not dead",
+			rules: []model.Rule{
+				{If: `$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "main"`},
+				{When: "never"},
+			},
+			wantHit: false,
+		},
+		{
+			name:    "when:manual — not dead",
+			rules:   []model.Rule{{When: "manual"}},
+			wantHit: false,
+		},
+		{
+			name:    "when:always — not dead",
+			rules:   []model.Rule{{When: "always"}},
+			wantHit: false,
+		},
+		{
+			name:    "when:on_failure — not dead",
+			rules:   []model.Rule{{When: "on_failure"}},
+			wantHit: false,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "mixed never and manual — not dead",
+			rules: []model.Rule{
+				{If: `$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "main"`, When: "never"},
+				{When: "manual"},
+			},
+			wantHit: false,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range cases {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			job := model.Job{Rules: tc.rules}
+			findings := checkDeadRules("test-job", job)
+			hit := false
+			for _, f := range findings {
+				if f.Rule == RuleDeadRules {
+					hit = true
+				}
+			}
+			if hit != tc.wantHit {
+				t.Errorf("checkDeadRules: got hit=%v, want hit=%v; findings=%v", hit, tc.wantHit, findings)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}

internal/linter/keywords.go

@@ -8,6 +8,15 @@ import (
 	"git.k3nny.fr/glint/internal/model"
 )
 
+// dnsLabelPattern matches a valid hostname label: starts and ends with
+// alphanumeric, middle may contain hyphens and dots; max 63 chars per label.
+var dnsLabelPattern = regexp.MustCompile(`^[a-zA-Z0-9]([a-zA-Z0-9.-]{0,61}[a-zA-Z0-9])?$`)
+
+// timeoutPattern matches a GitLab CI duration string: one or more pairs of
+// "<number> <unit>" where unit is a recognised time word or abbreviation.
+var timeoutPattern = regexp.MustCompile(
+	`(?i)^\s*(\d+\s*(weeks?|w|days?|d|hours?|h|minutes?|mins?|m|seconds?|secs?|s)\s*)+$`)
+
 var validJobWhen = map[string]bool{
 	"on_success": true,
 	"on_failure": true,
@@ -95,8 +104,16 @@ func checkJobKeywords(name string, job model.Job) []Finding {
 	findings = append(findings, checkArtifacts(name, job)...)
 	findings = append(findings, checkCache(name, job)...)
 	findings = append(findings, checkRules(name, job)...)
+	findings = append(findings, checkDeadRules(name, job)...)
 	findings = append(findings, checkImage(name, job)...)
 	findings = append(findings, checkInherit(name, job)...)
+	findings = append(findings, checkServices(name, job)...)
+	findings = append(findings, checkRulesGlobs(name, job)...)
+	findings = append(findings, checkTimeout(name, job)...)
+	findings = append(findings, checkIDTokens(name, job)...)
+	findings = append(findings, checkSecrets(name, job)...)
+	findings = append(findings, checkPagesKeyword(name, job)...)
+	findings = append(findings, checkCacheKeyFiles(name, job)...)
 	return findings
 }
 
@@ -401,8 +418,9 @@ func checkArtifacts(name string, job model.Job) []Finding {
 			})
 		}
 	}
-	// Pages job should publish to public/
-	if name == "pages" {
+	// Pages job should publish to public/. Skip when pages: keyword is set;
+	// GL039 (checkPagesKeyword) handles that case with a more precise check.
+	if name == "pages" && job.Pages == nil {
 		if paths, ok := m["paths"].([]any); ok {
 			found := false
 			for _, p := range paths {
@@ -476,6 +494,28 @@ func checkRules(name string, job model.Job) []Finding {
 	return findings
 }
 
+// checkDeadRules reports when every rule in a job's rules: block has an
+// explicit when: never, making the job permanently unreachable. This is a
+// provably-correct static claim: no matter which if: condition matches, the
+// outcome is always "never"; and if no rule matches, the implicit fallback is
+// also skip. No if: evaluation is required.
+func checkDeadRules(name string, job model.Job) []Finding {
+	if len(job.Rules) == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+	for _, r := range job.Rules {
+		if r.When != "never" {
+			return nil
+		}
+	}
+	return []Finding{{
+		Severity: Warning,
+		Rule:     RuleDeadRules,
+		Job:      name,
+		Message:  "rules: block can never activate; every rule has 'when: never' — job is permanently excluded from the pipeline",
+	}}
+}
+
 func checkImage(name string, job model.Job) []Finding {
 	if job.Image == nil {
 		return nil
@@ -524,3 +564,289 @@ func checkInherit(name string, job model.Job) []Finding {
 	}
 	return findings
 }
+
+// GL034: services: map form requires 'name'; 'alias' must be a valid DNS label.
+func checkServices(name string, job model.Job) []Finding {
+	if len(job.Services) == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+	var findings []Finding
+	for i, svc := range job.Services {
+		m, ok := svc.(map[string]any)
+		if !ok {
+			continue // string form is valid
+		}
+		n := m["name"]
+		if n == nil || n == "" {
+			findings = append(findings, Finding{
+				Severity: Error,
+				Rule:     RuleInvalidService,
+				Job:      name,
+				Message:  fmt.Sprintf("services[%d]: map form requires a 'name' key", i),
+			})
+		}
+		if alias, ok := m["alias"].(string); ok && alias != "" {
+			if !dnsLabelPattern.MatchString(alias) {
+				findings = append(findings, Finding{
+					Severity: Error,
+					Rule:     RuleInvalidService,
+					Job:      name,
+					Message:  fmt.Sprintf("services[%d]: alias %q is not a valid DNS label (only letters, digits, hyphens, and dots; must start and end with alphanumeric)", i, alias),
+				})
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	return findings
+}
+
+// GL035: rules:changes and rules:exists paths must not be absolute.
+func checkRulesGlobs(name string, job model.Job) []Finding {
+	var findings []Finding
+	for i, rule := range job.Rules {
+		findings = append(findings, checkAbsolutePaths(name, fmt.Sprintf("rules[%d].changes", i), rule.Changes)...)
+		findings = append(findings, checkAbsolutePaths(name, fmt.Sprintf("rules[%d].exists", i), rule.Exists)...)
+	}
+	return findings
+}
+
+func checkAbsolutePaths(name, field string, val any) []Finding {
+	var paths []string
+	switch v := val.(type) {
+	case []any:
+		for _, item := range v {
+			if s, ok := item.(string); ok {
+				paths = append(paths, s)
+			}
+		}
+	case map[string]any:
+		if ps, ok := v["paths"].([]any); ok {
+			for _, item := range ps {
+				if s, ok := item.(string); ok {
+					paths = append(paths, s)
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	var findings []Finding
+	for _, p := range paths {
+		if strings.HasPrefix(p, "/") {
+			findings = append(findings, Finding{
+				Severity: Warning,
+				Rule:     RuleAbsoluteGlobPath,
+				Job:      name,
+				Message:  fmt.Sprintf("%s: path %q is absolute; GitLab CI paths are relative to the repository root — absolute paths will never match", field, p),
+			})
+		}
+	}
+	return findings
+}
+
+// GL036: timeout: must be a valid GitLab CI duration string.
+func checkTimeout(name string, job model.Job) []Finding {
+	if job.Timeout == "" {
+		return nil
+	}
+	if !timeoutPattern.MatchString(job.Timeout) {
+		return []Finding{{
+			Severity: Error,
+			Rule:     RuleInvalidTimeout,
+			Job:      name,
+			Message:  fmt.Sprintf("'timeout' has invalid value %q; expected a duration like '1h 30m', '90 minutes', '2 hours'", job.Timeout),
+		}}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// CheckDefaultTimeout validates the pipeline-level default: timeout: field.
+// Exported so it can be called from linter.go.
+func checkDefaultTimeout(timeout, file string) []Finding {
+	if timeout == "" {
+		return nil
+	}
+	if !timeoutPattern.MatchString(timeout) {
+		return []Finding{{
+			Severity: Error,
+			Rule:     RuleInvalidTimeout,
+			File:     file,
+			Message:  fmt.Sprintf("'default.timeout' has invalid value %q; expected a duration like '1h 30m', '90 minutes', '2 hours'", timeout),
+		}}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// GL037: id_tokens: each entry must have an 'aud' key.
+func checkIDTokens(name string, job model.Job) []Finding {
+	if job.IDTokens == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+	m, ok := job.IDTokens.(map[string]any)
+	if !ok {
+		return nil
+	}
+	var findings []Finding
+	for tokenName, tokenVal := range m {
+		tokenMap, ok := tokenVal.(map[string]any)
+		if !ok {
+			findings = append(findings, Finding{
+				Severity: Error,
+				Rule:     RuleInvalidIDToken,
+				Job:      name,
+				Message:  fmt.Sprintf("id_tokens.%s: must be a map with an 'aud' key", tokenName),
+			})
+			continue
+		}
+		if _, hasAud := tokenMap["aud"]; !hasAud {
+			findings = append(findings, Finding{
+				Severity: Error,
+				Rule:     RuleInvalidIDToken,
+				Job:      name,
+				Message:  fmt.Sprintf("id_tokens.%s: missing required 'aud' key", tokenName),
+			})
+		}
+	}
+	return findings
+}
+
+// GL038: secrets: each entry must have a provider key (vault, gcp_secret_manager, azure_key_vault).
+func checkSecrets(name string, job model.Job) []Finding {
+	if job.Secrets == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+	m, ok := job.Secrets.(map[string]any)
+	if !ok {
+		return nil
+	}
+	validProviders := []string{"vault", "gcp_secret_manager", "azure_key_vault"}
+	var findings []Finding
+	for secretName, secretVal := range m {
+		secretMap, ok := secretVal.(map[string]any)
+		if !ok {
+			findings = append(findings, Finding{
+				Severity: Error,
+				Rule:     RuleInvalidSecret,
+				Job:      name,
+				Message:  fmt.Sprintf("secrets.%s: must be a map with a provider key (vault, gcp_secret_manager, or azure_key_vault)", secretName),
+			})
+			continue
+		}
+		hasProvider := false
+		for _, provider := range validProviders {
+			if _, ok := secretMap[provider]; ok {
+				hasProvider = true
+				break
+			}
+		}
+		if !hasProvider {
+			findings = append(findings, Finding{
+				Severity: Error,
+				Rule:     RuleInvalidSecret,
+				Job:      name,
+				Message:  fmt.Sprintf("secrets.%s: missing provider key; must include one of: vault, gcp_secret_manager, azure_key_vault", secretName),
+			})
+		}
+	}
+	return findings
+}
+
+// GL039: a job with the pages: keyword must have the publish directory in artifacts.paths.
+func checkPagesKeyword(name string, job model.Job) []Finding {
+	if job.Pages == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+	publishDir := "public"
+	if m, ok := job.Pages.(map[string]any); ok {
+		if p, ok := m["publish"].(string); ok && p != "" {
+			publishDir = p
+		}
+	}
+	if job.Artifacts == nil {
+		return []Finding{{
+			Severity: Warning,
+			Rule:     RulePagesPublish,
+			Job:      name,
+			Message:  fmt.Sprintf("job uses 'pages:' keyword with publish dir %q but has no 'artifacts:' block — GitLab Pages will not deploy", publishDir),
+		}}
+	}
+	m, ok := job.Artifacts.(map[string]any)
+	if !ok {
+		return nil
+	}
+	paths, ok := m["paths"].([]any)
+	if !ok || len(paths) == 0 {
+		return []Finding{{
+			Severity: Warning,
+			Rule:     RulePagesPublish,
+			Job:      name,
+			Message:  fmt.Sprintf("job uses 'pages:' keyword with publish dir %q but 'artifacts.paths' is missing — GitLab Pages will not deploy", publishDir),
+		}}
+	}
+	for _, p := range paths {
+		if s, ok := p.(string); ok && (s == publishDir || strings.HasPrefix(s, publishDir+"/")) {
+			return nil
+		}
+	}
+	return []Finding{{
+		Severity: Warning,
+		Rule:     RulePagesPublish,
+		Job:      name,
+		Message:  fmt.Sprintf("'pages.publish' is %q but 'artifacts.paths' does not include it — GitLab Pages will not deploy", publishDir),
+	}}
+}
+
+// GL041: cache.key.files must be a list of exact file paths, not glob patterns.
+func checkCacheKeyFiles(name string, job model.Job) []Finding {
+	if job.Cache == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+	var maps []map[string]any
+	switch v := job.Cache.(type) {
+	case map[string]any:
+		maps = []map[string]any{v}
+	case []any:
+		for _, item := range v {
+			if m, ok := item.(map[string]any); ok {
+				maps = append(maps, m)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	var findings []Finding
+	for _, m := range maps {
+		keyVal, ok := m["key"]
+		if !ok {
+			continue
+		}
+		keyMap, ok := keyVal.(map[string]any)
+		if !ok {
+			continue
+		}
+		filesVal, ok := keyMap["files"]
+		if !ok {
+			continue
+		}
+		filesList, ok := filesVal.([]any)
+		if !ok {
+			findings = append(findings, Finding{
+				Severity: Error,
+				Rule:     RuleInvalidCacheKeyFiles,
+				Job:      name,
+				Message:  "'cache.key.files' must be a list of file paths",
+			})
+			continue
+		}
+		for _, item := range filesList {
+			s, ok := item.(string)
+			if !ok {
+				continue
+			}
+			if strings.ContainsAny(s, "*?[") {
+				findings = append(findings, Finding{
+					Severity: Warning,
+					Rule:     RuleInvalidCacheKeyFiles,
+					Job:      name,
+					Message:  fmt.Sprintf("cache.key.files: %q looks like a glob pattern; 'key.files' must be exact file paths, not globs", s),
+				})
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	return findings
+}

internal/linter/linter.go

@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 package linter
 
 import (
+	"cmp"
 	"fmt"
+	"slices"
 	"strings"
 
 	"git.k3nny.fr/glint/internal/model"
@@ -24,36 +26,51 @@ type Finding struct {
 }
 
 func (f Finding) String() string {
-	loc := ""
+	var loc string
 	if f.File != "" {
 		if f.Line > 0 {
-			loc = fmt.Sprintf(" (%s:%d)", f.File, f.Line)
+			loc = fmt.Sprintf("%s:%d: ", f.File, f.Line)
 		} else {
-			loc = fmt.Sprintf(" (%s)", f.File)
+			loc = fmt.Sprintf("%s: ", f.File)
 		}
 	}
-	ruleStr := ""
+
+	rule := ""
 	if f.Rule != "" {
-		ruleStr = " " + f.Rule
+		rule = f.Rule + " "
 	}
+
+	sev := "[" + strings.ToLower(string(f.Severity)) + "]"
+
+	msg := f.Message
 	if f.Job != "" {
-		return fmt.Sprintf("[%s] job %q%s%s: %s", f.Severity, f.Job, loc, ruleStr, f.Message)
+		msg = fmt.Sprintf("job %q: %s", f.Job, f.Message)
 	}
-	if loc != "" || ruleStr != "" {
-		return fmt.Sprintf("[%s]%s%s: %s", f.Severity, loc, ruleStr, f.Message)
-	}
-	return fmt.Sprintf("[%s] %s", f.Severity, f.Message)
+
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%s%s%s %s", loc, rule, sev, msg)
 }
 
-// Lint runs all rules against p and returns findings sorted by job name.
+// Lint runs all rules against p and returns findings sorted by (File, Line, Rule).
+// Findings with no File (pipeline-level) sort before file-scoped ones.
 func Lint(p *model.Pipeline) []Finding {
 	var findings []Finding
 	findings = append(findings, checkStages(p)...)
+	findings = append(findings, checkDuplicateStages(p)...)
+	findings = append(findings, checkDefault(p)...)
 	findings = append(findings, checkWorkflow(p)...)
 	findings = append(findings, checkJobs(p)...)
 	findings = append(findings, checkNeeds(p)...)
 	findings = append(findings, checkDependencies(p)...)
 	findings = append(findings, checkVariableRefs(p)...)
+	slices.SortStableFunc(findings, func(a, b Finding) int {
+		if c := cmp.Compare(a.File, b.File); c != 0 {
+			return c
+		}
+		if c := cmp.Compare(a.Line, b.Line); c != 0 {
+			return c
+		}
+		return cmp.Compare(a.Rule, b.Rule)
+	})
 	return findings
 }
 
@@ -70,6 +87,32 @@ func checkStages(p *model.Pipeline) []Finding {
 	return findings
 }
 
+// GL040: warn when a stage name appears more than once in stages:.
+func checkDuplicateStages(p *model.Pipeline) []Finding {
+	seen := make(map[string]bool, len(p.Stages))
+	var findings []Finding
+	for _, s := range p.Stages {
+		if seen[s] {
+			findings = append(findings, Finding{
+				Severity: Warning,
+				Rule:     RuleDuplicateStage,
+				File:     p.SourceFile,
+				Message:  fmt.Sprintf("stage %q appears more than once in 'stages'; GitLab silently merges duplicate stage entries", s),
+			})
+		}
+		seen[s] = true
+	}
+	return findings
+}
+
+// checkDefault validates the pipeline-level default: block.
+func checkDefault(p *model.Pipeline) []Finding {
+	if p.Default == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+	return checkDefaultTimeout(p.Default.Timeout, p.SourceFile)
+}
+
 func checkWorkflow(p *model.Pipeline) []Finding {
 	if p.Workflow == nil {
 		return nil

internal/linter/rules.go

@@ -114,4 +114,33 @@ const (
 	// the job's own variables:, or any workflow:rules:variables: block.
 	// May be a false positive for variables set in GitLab CI/CD project settings.
 	RuleUndeclaredVariable = "GL032"
+
+	// GL033: every rule in a job's rules: block has when: never, so the job
+	// can never be included in any pipeline run.
+	RuleDeadRules = "GL033"
+
+	// GL034: services: map form is missing 'name', or 'alias' is not a valid DNS label.
+	RuleInvalidService = "GL034"
+
+	// GL035: rules:changes or rules:exists contains an absolute path (starts with /);
+	// GitLab CI paths are relative to the repository root and absolute paths never match.
+	RuleAbsoluteGlobPath = "GL035"
+
+	// GL036: timeout: is not a valid GitLab CI duration string (e.g. '1h 30m', '90 minutes').
+	RuleInvalidTimeout = "GL036"
+
+	// GL037: id_tokens: entry is missing the required 'aud' key.
+	RuleInvalidIDToken = "GL037"
+
+	// GL038: secrets: entry is missing a provider key (vault, gcp_secret_manager, or azure_key_vault).
+	RuleInvalidSecret = "GL038"
+
+	// GL039: a job has the pages: keyword but artifacts.paths does not include the publish directory.
+	RulePagesPublish = "GL039"
+
+	// GL040: a stage name appears more than once in stages:; GitLab silently merges duplicates.
+	RuleDuplicateStage = "GL040"
+
+	// GL041: cache.key.files contains a glob pattern; it must be a list of exact file paths.
+	RuleInvalidCacheKeyFiles = "GL041"
 )

internal/model/parser.go

@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ func Parse(path string) (*Pipeline, error) {
 
 // ParseBytes parses YAML from an in-memory byte slice.
 func ParseBytes(data []byte) (*Pipeline, error) {
+	data = sanitizeYAMLEscapes(data)
+
 	// First pass: parse into a yaml.Node document to extract job keys with
 	// their exact source line numbers (key nodes carry the line, value nodes
 	// carry the body we decode into Job / map[string]any).
@@ -75,3 +77,63 @@ func ParseBytes(data []byte) (*Pipeline, error) {
 
 	return p, nil
 }
+
+// sanitizeYAMLEscapes rewrites double-quoted YAML strings, replacing the \/
+// escape sequence (unrecognised by gopkg.in/yaml.v3) with \\/ so that the
+// parser produces a literal backslash+slash — preserving regex patterns like
+// /^us\// that appear in GitLab CI if: expressions.
+func sanitizeYAMLEscapes(data []byte) []byte {
+	type state int
+	const (
+		stOutside state = iota
+		stSingleQ
+		stDoubleQ
+		stEscape
+	)
+
+	out := make([]byte, 0, len(data))
+	s := stOutside
+
+	for i := 0; i < len(data); i++ {
+		b := data[i]
+		switch s {
+		case stOutside:
+			out = append(out, b)
+			switch b {
+			case '"':
+				s = stDoubleQ
+			case '\'':
+				s = stSingleQ
+			}
+		case stSingleQ:
+			out = append(out, b)
+			if b == '\'' {
+				if i+1 < len(data) && data[i+1] == '\'' {
+					// '' inside a single-quoted string is an escaped single-quote
+					out = append(out, data[i+1])
+					i++
+				} else {
+					s = stOutside
+				}
+			}
+		case stDoubleQ:
+			out = append(out, b)
+			switch b {
+			case '\\':
+				s = stEscape
+			case '"':
+				s = stOutside
+			}
+		case stEscape:
+			if b == '/' {
+				// \/ is not recognised by yaml.v3; rewrite as \\/ which
+				// the parser resolves to a literal backslash + slash.
+				out = append(out, '\\', '/')
+			} else {
+				out = append(out, b)
+			}
+			s = stDoubleQ
+		}
+	}
+	return out
+}

internal/resolver/extends.go

@@ -80,6 +80,11 @@ func Resolve(p *model.Pipeline) ([]ExtendWarning, error) {
 			return extWarnings, fmt.Errorf("job %q: re-decoding merged definition: %w", name, err)
 		}
 		j.Name = name
+		// Preserve source location — File/Line are not part of the YAML map
+		// and are lost during the encode/decode round-trip.
+		orig := p.Jobs[name]
+		j.File = orig.File
+		j.Line = orig.Line
 		p.Jobs[name] = j
 	}
 

internal/resolver/includes.go

@@ -4,12 +4,27 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"regexp"
 	"strings"
 
 	"git.k3nny.fr/glint/internal/fetcher"
 	"git.k3nny.fr/glint/internal/model"
 )
 
+// maxIncludeDepth is the maximum nesting level for include: chains.
+// This matches GitLab's own documented limit and also guards against
+// include cycles that slip past the visited-key deduplication.
+const maxIncludeDepth = 100
+
+// inputPlaceholderRe matches GitLab CI component input references:
+//
+//	$[[ inputs.KEY ]]
+//	$[[ inputs.KEY | default('value') ]]
+//	$[[ inputs.KEY | default(true) ]]
+//	$[[ inputs.KEY | default(123) ]]
+var inputPlaceholderRe = regexp.MustCompile(
+	`\$\[\[\s*inputs\.(\w+)(?:\s*\|\s*default\(([^)]*)\))?\s*\]\]`)
+
 // IncludeWarning describes an include entry that could not be resolved.
 // These are surfaced to the user as [WARNING] lines before the lint findings.
 type IncludeWarning struct {
@@ -53,11 +68,18 @@ type ExtendWarning struct {
 // processing included files (forwarded from resolver.Resolve calls).
 func ResolveIncludes(p *model.Pipeline, cfg fetcher.GitLabConfig, rootDir string) ([]IncludeWarning, []ExtendWarning) {
 	visited := map[string]bool{}
-	return resolveIncludes(p, p.Include, cfg, rootDir, visited)
+	return resolveIncludes(p, p.Include, cfg, rootDir, visited, 0)
 }
 
 // resolveIncludes is the recursive core of ResolveIncludes.
-func resolveIncludes(p *model.Pipeline, includes []any, cfg fetcher.GitLabConfig, rootDir string, visited map[string]bool) ([]IncludeWarning, []ExtendWarning) {
+func resolveIncludes(p *model.Pipeline, includes []any, cfg fetcher.GitLabConfig, rootDir string, visited map[string]bool, depth int) ([]IncludeWarning, []ExtendWarning) {
+	if depth > maxIncludeDepth {
+		return []IncludeWarning{{
+			Label: "includes",
+			Err:   fmt.Errorf("include nesting depth exceeded (%d levels) — possible include cycle detected", maxIncludeDepth),
+		}}, nil
+	}
+
 	var warnings []IncludeWarning
 	var extWarnings []ExtendWarning
 
@@ -68,14 +90,15 @@ func resolveIncludes(p *model.Pipeline, includes []any, cfg fetcher.GitLabConfig
 		}
 
 		if project, _ := entry["project"].(string); project != "" {
-			w, ew := resolveProjectInclude(p, entry, project, cfg, rootDir, visited)
+			w, ew := resolveProjectInclude(p, entry, project, cfg, rootDir, visited, depth)
 			warnings = append(warnings, w...)
 			extWarnings = append(extWarnings, ew...)
 			continue
 		}
 
 		if compRef, _ := entry["component"].(string); compRef != "" {
-			w, ew, hadErr := resolveComponentInclude(p, compRef, cfg, rootDir, visited)
+			inputs := extractInputs(entry)
+			w, ew, hadErr := resolveComponentInclude(p, compRef, inputs, cfg, rootDir, visited, depth)
 			if hadErr {
 				warnings = append(warnings, w)
 			}
@@ -84,14 +107,14 @@ func resolveIncludes(p *model.Pipeline, includes []any, cfg fetcher.GitLabConfig
 		}
 
 		if local, _ := entry["local"].(string); local != "" {
-			w, ew := resolveLocalInclude(p, local, cfg, rootDir, visited)
+			w, ew := resolveLocalInclude(p, local, cfg, rootDir, visited, depth)
 			warnings = append(warnings, w...)
 			extWarnings = append(extWarnings, ew...)
 			continue
 		}
 
 		if remote, _ := entry["remote"].(string); remote != "" {
-			w, ew := resolveRemoteInclude(p, remote, cfg, rootDir, visited)
+			w, ew := resolveRemoteInclude(p, remote, cfg, rootDir, visited, depth)
 			warnings = append(warnings, w...)
 			extWarnings = append(extWarnings, ew...)
 			continue
@@ -105,7 +128,7 @@ func resolveIncludes(p *model.Pipeline, includes []any, cfg fetcher.GitLabConfig
 // resolveLocalInclude reads a local file from disk (paths are always relative
 // to the repository root, with or without a leading slash), recursively
 // resolves its own includes, and merges it into p.
-func resolveLocalInclude(p *model.Pipeline, rawPath string, cfg fetcher.GitLabConfig, rootDir string, visited map[string]bool) ([]IncludeWarning, []ExtendWarning) {
+func resolveLocalInclude(p *model.Pipeline, rawPath string, cfg fetcher.GitLabConfig, rootDir string, visited map[string]bool, depth int) ([]IncludeWarning, []ExtendWarning) {
 	relPath := strings.TrimPrefix(rawPath, "/")
 	absPath := filepath.Join(rootDir, relPath)
 	label := "local " + rawPath
@@ -131,7 +154,7 @@ func resolveLocalInclude(p *model.Pipeline, rawPath string, cfg fetcher.GitLabCo
 	var warnings []IncludeWarning
 	var extWarnings []ExtendWarning
 	if len(included.Include) > 0 {
-		w, ew := resolveIncludes(included, included.Include, cfg, rootDir, visited)
+		w, ew := resolveIncludes(included, included.Include, cfg, rootDir, visited, depth+1)
 		warnings = append(warnings, w...)
 		extWarnings = append(extWarnings, ew...)
 	}
@@ -142,7 +165,7 @@ func resolveLocalInclude(p *model.Pipeline, rawPath string, cfg fetcher.GitLabCo
 
 // resolveRemoteInclude fetches a plain HTTPS URL, parses it as CI YAML, and
 // merges it into p. Sub-includes of the fetched file are resolved recursively.
-func resolveRemoteInclude(p *model.Pipeline, rawURL string, cfg fetcher.GitLabConfig, rootDir string, visited map[string]bool) ([]IncludeWarning, []ExtendWarning) {
+func resolveRemoteInclude(p *model.Pipeline, rawURL string, cfg fetcher.GitLabConfig, rootDir string, visited map[string]bool, depth int) ([]IncludeWarning, []ExtendWarning) {
 	label := "remote " + rawURL
 
 	if visited[rawURL] {
@@ -150,7 +173,7 @@ func resolveRemoteInclude(p *model.Pipeline, rawURL string, cfg fetcher.GitLabCo
 	}
 	visited[rawURL] = true
 
-	data, err := fetcher.FetchURL(rawURL)
+	data, err := cfg.FetchURL(rawURL)
 	if err != nil {
 		return []IncludeWarning{{Label: label, Err: err}}, nil
 	}
@@ -164,7 +187,7 @@ func resolveRemoteInclude(p *model.Pipeline, rawURL string, cfg fetcher.GitLabCo
 	var warnings []IncludeWarning
 	var extWarnings []ExtendWarning
 	if len(included.Include) > 0 {
-		w, ew := resolveIncludes(included, included.Include, cfg, rootDir, visited)
+		w, ew := resolveIncludes(included, included.Include, cfg, rootDir, visited, depth+1)
 		warnings = append(warnings, w...)
 		extWarnings = append(extWarnings, ew...)
 	}
@@ -175,7 +198,7 @@ func resolveRemoteInclude(p *model.Pipeline, rawURL string, cfg fetcher.GitLabCo
 
 // resolveProjectInclude fetches all files listed under a single project: entry
 // and merges them into p.
-func resolveProjectInclude(p *model.Pipeline, entry map[string]any, project string, cfg fetcher.GitLabConfig, rootDir string, visited map[string]bool) ([]IncludeWarning, []ExtendWarning) {
+func resolveProjectInclude(p *model.Pipeline, entry map[string]any, project string, cfg fetcher.GitLabConfig, rootDir string, visited map[string]bool, depth int) ([]IncludeWarning, []ExtendWarning) {
 	ref, _ := entry["ref"].(string)
 	var warnings []IncludeWarning
 	var extWarnings []ExtendWarning
@@ -186,6 +209,12 @@ func resolveProjectInclude(p *model.Pipeline, entry map[string]any, project stri
 			label += "@" + ref
 		}
 
+		visitKey := fmt.Sprintf("project:%s:%s@%s", project, filePath, ref)
+		if visited[visitKey] {
+			continue
+		}
+		visited[visitKey] = true
+
 		if !cfg.HasToken() {
 			warnings = append(warnings, IncludeWarning{Label: label, Skipped: true})
 			continue
@@ -205,7 +234,7 @@ func resolveProjectInclude(p *model.Pipeline, entry map[string]any, project stri
 		included.SetJobOrigin(label)
 
 		if len(included.Include) > 0 {
-			w, ew := resolveIncludes(included, included.Include, cfg, rootDir, visited)
+			w, ew := resolveIncludes(included, included.Include, cfg, rootDir, visited, depth+1)
 			warnings = append(warnings, w...)
 			extWarnings = append(extWarnings, ew...)
 		}
@@ -215,9 +244,11 @@ func resolveProjectInclude(p *model.Pipeline, entry map[string]any, project stri
 	return warnings, extWarnings
 }
 
-// resolveComponentInclude fetches a CI/CD catalog component and merges it into p.
+// resolveComponentInclude fetches a CI/CD catalog component, substitutes any
+// $[[ inputs.KEY ]] placeholders with values from `inputs` (the include's
+// with: block), and merges the result into p.
 // Returns (warning, extWarnings, true) if something went wrong; (zero, nil, false) on success.
-func resolveComponentInclude(p *model.Pipeline, ref string, cfg fetcher.GitLabConfig, rootDir string, visited map[string]bool) (IncludeWarning, []ExtendWarning, bool) {
+func resolveComponentInclude(p *model.Pipeline, ref string, inputs map[string]any, cfg fetcher.GitLabConfig, rootDir string, visited map[string]bool, depth int) (IncludeWarning, []ExtendWarning, bool) {
 	label := "component " + ref
 
 	if strings.ContainsRune(ref, '$') {
@@ -227,6 +258,12 @@ func resolveComponentInclude(p *model.Pipeline, ref string, cfg fetcher.GitLabCo
 		}, nil, true
 	}
 
+	visitKey := "component:" + ref
+	if visited[visitKey] {
+		return IncludeWarning{}, nil, false
+	}
+	visited[visitKey] = true
+
 	host, project, component, version, err := parseComponentRef(ref)
 	if err != nil {
 		return IncludeWarning{Label: label, Err: err}, nil, true
@@ -238,6 +275,9 @@ func resolveComponentInclude(p *model.Pipeline, ref string, cfg fetcher.GitLabCo
 		return IncludeWarning{Label: label, Err: err}, nil, true
 	}
 
+	// Substitute $[[ inputs.KEY ]] placeholders with the values from with:.
+	data = substituteInputs(data, inputs)
+
 	included, err := model.ParseBytes(data)
 	if err != nil {
 		return IncludeWarning{Label: label, Err: fmt.Errorf("parsing component YAML: %w", err)}, nil, true
@@ -246,7 +286,7 @@ func resolveComponentInclude(p *model.Pipeline, ref string, cfg fetcher.GitLabCo
 
 	var extWarnings []ExtendWarning
 	if len(included.Include) > 0 {
-		_, ew := resolveIncludes(included, included.Include, cfg, rootDir, visited)
+		_, ew := resolveIncludes(included, included.Include, cfg, rootDir, visited, depth+1)
 		extWarnings = append(extWarnings, ew...)
 	}
 
@@ -254,6 +294,45 @@ func resolveComponentInclude(p *model.Pipeline, ref string, cfg fetcher.GitLabCo
 	return IncludeWarning{}, extWarnings, false
 }
 
+// substituteInputs replaces all $[[ inputs.KEY ]] and
+// $[[ inputs.KEY | default('…') ]] placeholders in data with the corresponding
+// values from inputs (the with: block of the component include entry).
+// Missing keys with no default become empty strings.
+// Missing keys with a default use the default value (single/double quotes stripped).
+func substituteInputs(data []byte, inputs map[string]any) []byte {
+	if len(data) == 0 {
+		return data
+	}
+	return inputPlaceholderRe.ReplaceAllFunc(data, func(match []byte) []byte {
+		groups := inputPlaceholderRe.FindSubmatch(match)
+		if len(groups) < 2 {
+			return match
+		}
+		if val, ok := inputs[string(groups[1])]; ok {
+			return []byte(fmt.Sprintf("%v", val))
+		}
+		// Use the default value when the key is absent from inputs.
+		if len(groups) >= 3 && len(groups[2]) > 0 {
+			def := strings.TrimSpace(string(groups[2]))
+			if (strings.HasPrefix(def, "'") && strings.HasSuffix(def, "'")) ||
+				(strings.HasPrefix(def, `"`) && strings.HasSuffix(def, `"`)) {
+				def = def[1 : len(def)-1]
+			}
+			return []byte(def)
+		}
+		return []byte("")
+	})
+}
+
+// extractInputs returns the with: map from a component include entry, or nil.
+func extractInputs(entry map[string]any) map[string]any {
+	with, ok := entry["with"].(map[string]any)
+	if !ok {
+		return nil
+	}
+	return with
+}
+
 // parseComponentRef parses a CI/CD component reference of the form:
 //
 //	<host>/<project-path>/<component-name>@<version>

internal/resolver/includes_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+package resolver
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestSubstituteInputs(t *testing.T) {
+	cases := []struct {
+		name   string
+		data   string
+		inputs map[string]any
+		want   string
+	}{
+		{
+			name:   "simple substitution",
+			data:   `stage: $[[ inputs.STAGE ]]`,
+			inputs: map[string]any{"STAGE": "deploy"},
+			want:   `stage: deploy`,
+		},
+		{
+			name:   "default string used when key absent",
+			data:   `image: $[[ inputs.IMAGE | default('ubuntu:22.04') ]]`,
+			inputs: map[string]any{},
+			want:   `image: ubuntu:22.04`,
+		},
+		{
+			name:   "input overrides default",
+			data:   `image: $[[ inputs.IMAGE | default('ubuntu:22.04') ]]`,
+			inputs: map[string]any{"IMAGE": "alpine:3.18"},
+			want:   `image: alpine:3.18`,
+		},
+		{
+			name:   "integer input",
+			data:   `variables:\n  RETRIES: $[[ inputs.RETRY_COUNT ]]`,
+			inputs: map[string]any{"RETRY_COUNT": 3},
+			want:   `variables:\n  RETRIES: 3`,
+		},
+		{
+			name:   "boolean default",
+			data:   `variables:\n  ENABLED: $[[ inputs.ENABLE | default(true) ]]`,
+			inputs: map[string]any{},
+			want:   `variables:\n  ENABLED: true`,
+		},
+		{
+			name:   "numeric default",
+			data:   `variables:\n  COUNT: $[[ inputs.COUNT | default(5) ]]`,
+			inputs: map[string]any{},
+			want:   `variables:\n  COUNT: 5`,
+		},
+		{
+			name:   "missing key no default becomes empty",
+			data:   `script: $[[ inputs.CMD ]]`,
+			inputs: map[string]any{},
+			want:   `script: `,
+		},
+		{
+			name:   "no placeholders unchanged",
+			data:   `stage: build`,
+			inputs: nil,
+			want:   `stage: build`,
+		},
+		{
+			name:   "multiple placeholders in one document",
+			data:   "stage: $[[ inputs.STAGE ]]\nimage: $[[ inputs.IMAGE | default('alpine') ]]",
+			inputs: map[string]any{"STAGE": "test"},
+			want:   "stage: test\nimage: alpine",
+		},
+		{
+			name:   "double-quoted default",
+			data:   `image: $[[ inputs.IMAGE | default("debian:12") ]]`,
+			inputs: map[string]any{},
+			want:   `image: debian:12`,
+		},
+		{
+			name:   "whitespace inside brackets",
+			data:   `stage: $[[ inputs.STAGE  ]]`,
+			inputs: map[string]any{"STAGE": "build"},
+			want:   `stage: build`,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range cases {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			got := string(substituteInputs([]byte(tc.data), tc.inputs))
+			if got != tc.want {
+				t.Errorf("substituteInputs:\n got  %q\n want %q", got, tc.want)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}

testdata/dead_rules.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+---
+# dead_rules.yml
+# Exercises GL033: rules: block where every rule has when: never.
+# All flagged jobs produce a WARNING (exit 0). Valid jobs must not be flagged.
+
+stages:
+  - build
+  - test
+  - deploy
+
+# ── Jobs that should trigger GL033 ─────────────────────────────────────────
+
+# Single bare catch-all never — job is always excluded.
+disabled-job:
+  stage: build
+  script: echo disabled
+  rules:
+    - when: never
+
+# Multiple rules, all when: never — no branch can activate this job.
+dead-multi:
+  stage: test
+  script: echo dead
+  rules:
+    - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "main"'
+      when: never
+    - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "develop"'
+      when: never
+    - when: never
+
+# ── Jobs that must NOT trigger GL033 ───────────────────────────────────────
+
+# First rule can activate.
+main-only:
+  stage: build
+  script: echo main
+  rules:
+    - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "main"'
+      when: on_success
+    - when: never
+
+# Rule with no when: — defaults to on_success, so job is reachable.
+implicit-on-success:
+  stage: test
+  script: echo implicit
+  rules:
+    - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "develop"'
+
+# Manual is not never — job is reachable (just gated).
+manual-gate:
+  stage: deploy
+  script: echo deploy
+  rules:
+    - when: manual
+
+# No rules at all — always active.
+always-active:
+  stage: build
+  script: echo always

testdata/new_rules_invalid.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+stages:
+  - build
+  - test
+  - test
+
+variables:
+  DEPLOY_ENV: staging
+
+# GL040: duplicate stage "test" above triggers a warning
+
+# GL034: services map form missing name
+service-no-name:
+  stage: build
+  script: [echo ok]
+  services:
+    - alias: my-svc
+
+# GL034: services map form with invalid alias (contains spaces)
+service-bad-alias:
+  stage: build
+  script: [echo ok]
+  services:
+    - name: redis:latest
+      alias: "my bad alias"
+
+# GL035: rules:changes with absolute path
+absolute-changes:
+  stage: test
+  script: [echo test]
+  rules:
+    - changes:
+        - /src/main.go
+
+# GL035: rules:exists with absolute path
+absolute-exists:
+  stage: test
+  script: [echo test]
+  rules:
+    - exists:
+        - /Dockerfile
+
+# GL036: invalid timeout format
+bad-timeout:
+  stage: build
+  script: [echo build]
+  timeout: forever
+
+# GL037: id_tokens entry missing aud
+bad-token:
+  stage: test
+  script: [echo test]
+  id_tokens:
+    MY_TOKEN:
+      expire: 3600
+
+# GL038: secrets entry missing provider
+bad-secret:
+  stage: test
+  script: [echo test]
+  secrets:
+    DB_PASSWORD:
+      expire: 3600
+
+# GL039: pages keyword but publish dir not in artifacts.paths
+bad-pages:
+  stage: build
+  script: [mkdocs build]
+  pages:
+    publish: dist
+  artifacts:
+    paths:
+      - public
+
+# GL041: cache.key.files contains a glob
+bad-cache-glob:
+  stage: build
+  script: [echo build]
+  cache:
+    key:
+      files:
+        - "*.sum"

testdata/new_rules_valid.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+stages:
+  - build
+  - test
+  - deploy
+
+variables:
+  DEPLOY_ENV: staging
+
+# GL034: services — string form and map form with name are both valid
+service-string:
+  stage: build
+  script: [echo ok]
+  services:
+    - redis:latest
+    - postgres:14
+
+service-map:
+  stage: build
+  script: [echo ok]
+  services:
+    - name: postgres:14
+      alias: db
+    - name: redis:latest
+      alias: cache-svc
+
+# GL035: rules:changes/exists — relative paths are valid
+rules-relative:
+  stage: test
+  script: [echo test]
+  rules:
+    - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "main"'
+      changes:
+        - src/**/*.go
+        - tests/*.go
+    - exists:
+        - Dockerfile
+        - docker-compose.yml
+      when: on_success
+
+# GL036: timeout — valid duration strings
+timeout-short:
+  stage: build
+  script: [echo build]
+  timeout: 30m
+
+timeout-long:
+  stage: build
+  script: [echo build]
+  timeout: 1h 30m
+
+timeout-words:
+  stage: test
+  script: [echo test]
+  timeout: 90 minutes
+
+timeout-combined:
+  stage: deploy
+  script: [echo deploy]
+  timeout: 2 hours 30 minutes
+
+# GL037: id_tokens — entry with valid aud
+token-job:
+  stage: build
+  script: [echo build]
+  id_tokens:
+    VAULT_TOKEN:
+      aud: https://vault.example.com
+    SIGSTORE_TOKEN:
+      aud: sigstore
+
+# GL038: secrets — valid provider keys
+secret-vault:
+  stage: deploy
+  script: [echo deploy]
+  secrets:
+    DB_PASSWORD:
+      vault: production/db/password@ops
+
+secret-gcp:
+  stage: deploy
+  script: [echo deploy]
+  secrets:
+    API_KEY:
+      gcp_secret_manager:
+        name: my-api-key
+        version: latest
+
+# GL039: pages keyword — publish dir present in artifacts.paths
+pages-keyword:
+  stage: deploy
+  script: [mkdocs build]
+  pages:
+    publish: site
+  artifacts:
+    paths:
+      - site
+
+pages-keyword-default:
+  stage: deploy
+  script: [make docs]
+  pages: true
+  artifacts:
+    paths:
+      - public
+
+# GL040: no duplicate stages (unique stages defined above)
+
+# GL041: cache.key.files — list of exact paths
+cache-key-job:
+  stage: build
+  script: [echo build]
+  cache:
+    key:
+      files:
+        - go.sum
+        - go.mod

testdata/workflow_escape.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+---
+# workflow_vars.yml
+# Exercises workflow:rules:variables: injection.
+# The matching workflow rule sets DEPLOY_TARGET; job rules use it.
+#
+# Expected behaviour per context:
+#   (no context)       → all jobs active (no context evaluation)
+#   --branch main      → deploy-prod active, deploy-staging skipped
+#   --branch develop   → deploy-prod skipped, deploy-staging active
+#   --branch feat/x    → deploy-prod skipped, deploy-staging skipped (manual)
+
+stages:
+  - build
+  - deploy
+
+variables:
+  DEPLOY_TARGET:
+    value: ""
+    description: "Deployment target — set by workflow rules"
+
+workflow:
+  rules:
+    - if: "
+        $WORKFLOW = 'gitflow' &&
+        $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == /(push|web)/ && 
+        $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH =~ /^us\//
+        "
+      variables:
+        DEPLOY_TARGET: production
+        BUILD: true
+        TEST: true        
+    - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "develop"'
+      variables:
+        DEPLOY_TARGET: staging
+    - when: always
+
+build:
+  stage: build
+  script: make build
+  rules:
+    - when: always
+
+deploy-prod:
+  stage: deploy
+  script: make deploy ENV=production
+  rules:
+    - if: '$DEPLOY_TARGET == "production"'
+      when: on_success
+    - when: never
+
+deploy-staging:
+  stage: deploy
+  script: make deploy ENV=staging
+  rules:
+    - if: '$DEPLOY_TARGET == "staging"'
+      when: on_success
+    - when: never

testdata/workflow_vars.yml

@@ -4,10 +4,10 @@
 # The matching workflow rule sets DEPLOY_TARGET; job rules use it.
 #
 # Expected behaviour per context:
-#   (no context)       → all jobs active (no context evaluation)
-#   --branch main      → deploy-prod active, deploy-staging skipped
-#   --branch develop   → deploy-prod skipped, deploy-staging active
-#   --branch feat/x    → deploy-prod skipped, deploy-staging skipped (manual)
+#   --branch main             → only build active (no workflow rule matches; WORKFLOW var not set)
+#   --branch develop          → deploy-staging active, deploy-prod skipped
+#   --branch feat/x           → only build active (when: always fallback, no deploy vars)
+#   --var WORKFLOW=gitflow --branch us/feature → deploy-prod + build active
 
 stages:
   - build
@@ -20,9 +20,15 @@ variables:
 
 workflow:
   rules:
-    - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "main"'
+    - if: "
+        $WORKFLOW = 'gitflow' &&
+        $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == /(push|web)/ && 
+        $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH =~ /^us\//
+        "
       variables:
         DEPLOY_TARGET: production
+        DEPLOY: true
+        BUILD: true
     - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "develop"'
       variables:
         DEPLOY_TARGET: staging
@@ -38,7 +44,7 @@ deploy-prod:
   stage: deploy
   script: make deploy ENV=production
   rules:
-    - if: '$DEPLOY_TARGET == "production"'
+    - if: '$DEPLOY_TARGET == "production" && $DEPLOY == "true"'
       when: on_success
     - when: never
 
@@ -46,6 +52,6 @@ deploy-staging:
   stage: deploy
   script: make deploy ENV=staging
   rules:
-    - if: '$DEPLOY_TARGET == "staging"'
+    - if: '$DEPLOY_TARGET == "staging" '
       when: on_success
     - when: never