TS · correctness

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no-sentinel-return-on-catch

Disallow swallowing a caught error by returning an empty sentinel unless the error is handled or the sentinel is part of the function contract.

noSentinelReturn Rule source Tests Catalog JSON

Why

An unreported fallback makes operational failure indistinguishable from a legitimate empty result.

Fix

Rethrow, report the error before returning, or model expected absence with an explicit predicate, safe-parse, or result contract.

Examples

Before — flagged Do not turn an unreported error into absence

src/load.ts

function load() {
  try {
    return read();
  } catch {
    return null;
  }
}

After — preferred Report an error before returning a fallback

src/load.ts

function load() {
  try {
    return read();
  } catch (error) {
    logger.warn("load failed", error);
    return null;
  }
}

Options

{
  "additionalProperties": false,
  "properties": {
    "logFunctions": { "items": { "type": "string" }, "type": "array" },
    "loggerNames": { "items": { "type": "string" }, "type": "array" }
  },
  "type": "object"
}