refactor!: rename to diagnostics-webpack-plugin and the option to checks

[alexander-akait]

Summary

lint-webpack-plugin is not publishable: it has been taken since 2018 by a plugin that runs a lint shell command, and linter-webpack-plugin since 2019. Neither is a squat, so neither is worth disputing.

diagnostics is the term the tools use for what this plugin collects — TypeScript's API returns Diagnostic objects, and so does the Language Server Protocol. It covers the linters running today and the type checkers and analysers meant to follow, without naming any of them, which is what the next adapter needs.

The option follows the name, since linters: [{ use: "typescript" }] would not have aged well:

new DiagnosticsPlugin({
  checks: [{ use: "eslint" }, { use: "stylelint" }],
});

src/linters/ becomes src/checks/, LintError becomes DiagnosticError, and the internal typedefs move from Linter* to Check*. Vocabulary is now split on purpose: a check is one configured entry, a tool is the program behind it, and the adapter contract keeps its lintFiles — renaming that touches Stylelint's worker plumbing and reads better alongside the TypeScript adapter than ahead of it.

Two things worth a reviewer's eye:

• The changelog does not mention lint-webpack-plugin. Nothing was ever published under it, so the pending changeset still records the move as coming from eslint-webpack-plugin — which is the only name a user has installed.
• lintDirtyModulesOnly keeps its name. It is the one option migrating eslint-webpack-plugin users already know by name, and renaming it adds a second thing to learn for no gain here.

What kind of change does this PR introduce?

refactor (breaking).

Did you add tests for your changes?

No new tests — the rename is mechanical and the existing suite is the check: 129 passing, unchanged. I also confirmed both published entry points still construct the plugin, and that stylelint-worker.cjs survives the directory move into both builds.

Does this PR introduce a breaking change?

Yes, twice: the package is diagnostics-webpack-plugin, and the linters option is checks. Both land in the same unreleased major as the merge itself, so no published version is affected.

If relevant, what needs to be documented once your changes are merged or what have you already documented?

The README is updated throughout — title, badges, install and import examples, option tables, both migration guides and the adapter section. The pending changeset already describes the new name and option.

Use of AI

Written with Claude Code, driven interactively. I chose the name from options it checked against npm; it did the rename, caught that the substitution had corrupted eslint-webpack-plugin into esdiagnostics-webpack-plugin in the migration guides and that Stylelint's own LinterOptions and LintResult types had been clobbered, and repaired both. I reviewed the result.

Note

The GitHub repository still needs renaming to webpack/diagnostics-webpack-plugin — package.json, .changeset/config.json and the release.yml repository guard already point there, and the guard is what stops the release job running under the old name.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

https://claude.ai/code/session_01GzZci4NQeiqwdrVfd7dGXy

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Generated by Claude Code