Edit check/Configuration

Edit Check offers people actionable feedback about Wikipedia policies while they are editing.

This page strives to equip experienced volunteers with the information they need to ensure Edit Check is configured in ways that will promote the nuances of each project's policies and conventions.

On-wiki configuration
Edit Check can be configured in some ways on-wiki by local interface administrators by editing the MediaWiki:Editcheck-config.json message. This will be  initially, signifying that it is unconfigured and the Edit Check defaults should apply completely.

The message must be valid JSON, or it will be ignored and the defaults will be applied. Any unspecified values will be filled in with the default values.

An example of a valid configuration message is: This would change the minimum number of characters required before the "Add reference" Edit Check triggers to 40, and have it insert its citations before the terminal punctuation rather than after.

Configurable values
, the configurable values are in flux. The best reference right now is the $defaults array in the config-loading code.


 * The smallest string of consecutive characters that will prompt a recommendation to add a citation. This should generally be small enough to trigger for most additions of significant new information, but big enough not to trigger for copyediting, in the local language.  As of 2023, the default is   characters.
 * The smallest string of consecutive characters that will prompt a recommendation to add a citation. This should generally be small enough to trigger for most additions of significant new information, but big enough not to trigger for copyediting, in the local language.  As of 2023, the default is   characters.


 * Specify whether the citation should appear before a sentence's terminal punctuation (style used at the French Wikipedia: "Sentence .") or after it (style used at the English Wikipedia: "Sentence. ").  The default is , resulting in the style used at most Wikipedias, including the English Wikipedia.
 * Specify whether the citation should appear before a sentence's terminal punctuation (style used at the French Wikipedia: "Sentence .") or after it (style used at the English Wikipedia: "Sentence. ").  The default is , resulting in the style used at most Wikipedias, including the English Wikipedia.

Site-level configuration
These values can be set in the site-level configuration in LocalSettings.php.

Getting help

 * Any interface administrator at any Wikipedia hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation can configure this.
 * If your Wikipedia does not have any interface administrators, you can request help at Steward requests/Miscellaneous.
 * If your wiki is hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation but is not a Wikipedia, you will need to request that Edit Check be deployed at your wiki. Please follow the process at Requesting wiki configuration changes.  Tag the Phabricator ticket with   and.

#TODO
The help page this task is asking for ought to offer volunteers what they need to:


 * 1) Understand the meaning/impact/scope of each configuration value/facet
 * 2) Know how to go about changing a particular configuration value/facet
 * 3) Know what to do if/when they encounter an issue while attempting to configure Edit Check