H7: Role Confusion #

The message sequence contains a selected role or ordering inconsistency.

Applies to: Recognized structured message arrays; not Python extraction mode. Manual repair; no automatic fix for this example.

What triggers it #

Checks multiple system messages, a misplaced system message, consecutive same-role user/assistant messages, orphan tool results, and missing roles. It does not validate every provider protocol.

How to repair it #

Repair the message array according to the target API. In this example, consolidate the two system instructions into the leading system message.

Reproduce the finding #

Use uv and Python 3.10+, plus curl. Run the examples in a scratch directory.

Download the finding example.

{
  "messages": [
    {
      "role": "system",
      "content": "Review invoice totals."
    },
    {
      "role": "system",
      "content": "Return discrepancies as JSON."
    },
    {
      "role": "user",
      "content": "Check this invoice."
    }
  ]
}

curl -fsS https://lintlang.ai/examples/rules/h7-bad.json -o h7-bad.json
uvx --from lintlang==0.8.0 lintlang scan h7-bad.json --format json

Expected with 0.8.0: the JSON report includes H7, severity HIGH. This example exercises multiple system messages. Confirm your provider’s message contract before changing production conversation ordering.

Improved example #

Download the improved example.

{
  "messages": [
    {
      "role": "system",
      "content": "Review invoice totals and return discrepancies as JSON."
    },
    {
      "role": "user",
      "content": "Check this invoice."
    }
  ]
}

curl -fsS https://lintlang.ai/examples/rules/h7-improved.json -o h7-improved.json
uvx --from lintlang==0.8.0 lintlang scan h7-improved.json --format json

Expected with 0.8.0: H7 is absent. Other diagnostics may still appear; this repair targets the rule above.

Both commands use advisory mode: a finding does not itself make the command fail. To fail CI on HIGH or CRITICAL findings, add --fail-on fail. --fail-on review also gates MEDIUM. See outputs and exit codes.

Detection details #

All scan rules · Quickstart · Separate preflight checks.