Complexity Rules (BX001–BX006)¶

Rules that detect overly complex features and scenarios.

Default severity: WARNING

All complexity rules are configurable — see Configuration for parameters.

BX001: too-many-steps¶

Detects scenarios that exceed the maximum number of steps. Complex scenarios are hard to understand and maintain.

Tags: scenario, steps, complexity

Configurable: max-steps (default: 10)

Since: 0.5.0

Example¶

Before → After

Before (12 steps, exceeds max-steps = 10):

  Scenario: Checkout
    Given a user
    And a product in the cart
    When I go to checkout
    And I enter shipping address
    And I select shipping method
    And I enter payment details
    And I review the order
    And I confirm the order
    Then the order is placed
    And I see a confirmation
    And I receive an email
    And the cart is empty

After: Split into two scenarios (e.g., "Fill checkout form" and "Confirm order").

Or increase the threshold:

[tool.behave-lint.rules]
BX001 = { max-steps = 15 }

BX002: too-many-scenarios¶

Detects features that exceed the maximum number of scenarios. Large features should be split into smaller, focused features.

Tags: feature, scenarios, complexity

Configurable: max-scenarios (default: 10)

Since: 0.5.0

Example¶

Before → After

Before: A single feature file with 15 scenarios covering login, registration, password reset, and profile management.

After: Split into separate feature files: features/login.feature, features/registration.feature, features/password-reset.feature, features/profile.feature.

BX003: too-many-example-rows¶

Detects example tables that exceed the maximum number of data rows. Large example tables are hard to maintain and slow down test execution.

Tags: examples, table, complexity

Configurable: max-example-rows (default: 20)

Since: 0.5.0

Example¶

Before → After

Before: An Examples table with 50 rows of test data.

After: Split into multiple named Examples blocks:

  Examples: Valid logins
    | username | password |
    | alice    | pass1    |
    ...

  Examples: Invalid logins
    | username | password |
    | alice    | wrong    |
    ...

BX004: long-step-text¶

Detects steps with text exceeding the maximum length. Long step text reduces readability.

Tags: steps, readability, complexity

Configurable: max-step-length (default: 120)

Since: 0.5.0

Example¶

Before → After

Before:

  Given a user with username "alice" and password "secret123" and email "alice@example.com" and role "admin" and department "engineering"

After:

  Given a registered admin user

Or use a data table:

  Given a user with the following details:
    | username | alice         |
    | password | secret123     |
    | email    | alice@x.com   |
    | role     | admin         |
    | dept     | engineering   |

BX005: too-many-tags¶

Detects features or scenarios that exceed the maximum number of tags. Too many tags reduce clarity.

Tags: tags, complexity

Configurable: max-tags (default: 5)

Since: 0.5.0

Example¶

Before → After

Before:

@smoke @regression @login @auth @slow @nightly @critical
Feature: Login

After:

@smoke @login @critical
Feature: Login

BX006: feature-file-too-long¶

Detects feature files that exceed the maximum number of lines. Long files are hard to navigate and should be split into smaller, focused feature files.

Configurable: max_file_lines (default: 300)

Tags: feature, file, complexity

Since: 1.2.0