# Writing processors

Processors are functions that hook into stylelint's pipeline, modifying code on its way into stylelint and modifying results on their way out.

*Processors can only be used with the CLI and the Node API, not with the PostCSS plugin.*

Processor modules are functions that accept an options object and return an object with the following the functions, which hook into the processing of each file:

-   **code**: A function that accepts two arguments, the file's code and the file's path, and returns a string for stylelint to lint.
-   **result**: A function that accepts two arguments, the file's stylelint result object and the file's path, and either mutates the result object (returning nothing) or returns a new one.

```js
// my-processor.js
module.exports = function(options) {
  return {
    code: function(input, filepath) {
      // ...
      return transformedCode;
    },
    result: function(stylelintResult, filepath) {
      // ...
      return transformedResult;
    }
  };
}
```

Processors can enable stylelint to lint the CSS within non-stylesheet files. For example, let's say you want to lint the CSS within `<style>` tags in HTML. If you just feed stylelint your HTML code, you'll run into problems, because PostCSS does not parse HTML. Instead, you can create a processor that does the following:

-   In the `code` processor function, extract CSS from the `<style>` tags in the HTML code. Return a CSS string containing all that extracted CSS, which is what stylelint will inspect.
-   Build a sourcemap while performing the extraction, so warning positions can be tailored to match the original source HTML.
-   In the `result` processor function, modify the line/column position of each warning using your sourcemap.

*Processor options must be JSON-friendly*, because users will need to include them in `.stylelintrc` files.

## Sharing processors

-   Use the `stylelint-processor` keyword within your `package.json`.
-   Once your processor is published, please send us a Pull Request to add your processor to [the list](../user-guide/processors.md).
