shellcheck SC1091: not following sourced file in PR: how to fix

TL;DR

Shellcheck skips following source statements by default, so it warns that it cannot check the sourced file. Point it at the file with a # shellcheck source=[path] directive above the source line, or run it with the -x flag. Then it checks the sourced code like any other file.

The error

In deploy.sh line 12:
source ./lib/common.sh
       ^--------------^ SC1091: Not following: ./lib/common.sh was not specified as input (see shellcheck -x).

Steps

1. Confirm the sourced file exists in the repo

Check that ./lib/common.sh is committed and the path is correct relative to the script. Expected output: the file exists. If it does not, the fix is to add it or fix the path, not to silence the warning.

2. Add a source directive above the source line

Write # shellcheck source=./lib/common.sh on the line directly above the source statement. Expected output: shellcheck resolves the file and the SC1091 warning disappears on the next run.

3. Or pass -x to the shellcheck invocation

If the review pipeline runs shellcheck through reviewdog, add -x to the shellcheck flags in the workflow. Expected output: shellcheck follows all sources it can resolve, no per-file directives needed.

4. Prefer a .shellcheckrc for repo-wide behavior

Add source-path=SCRIPTDIR so relative sources resolve from the script's own directory on every run. Expected output: consistent behavior locally, in CI, and in editors.

5. Re-run the review step

Expected output: no SC1091 findings and the gate passes.

When to use

• shellcheck reports SC1091 not-following on a source statement
• The sourced file is a committed repo file with a resolvable path
• The PR review gate fails only on this warning

When not to use

• SC1090 (cannot follow a non-constant source; the path is computed at runtime)
• The sourced file genuinely does not exist in the repo
• Other shellcheck warnings like quoting or glob issues

Tool compatibility

• shellcheck 0.8/0.9/0.10, via the CLI, the reviewdog action, or editor plugins
• The source= directive works in all recent versions
• reviewdog passes extra flags through to the shellcheck invocation

Variant phrasings

shellcheck SC1090 can't follow non-constant source

The path is built at runtime, so shellcheck cannot resolve it statically. Either restructure to a constant path or disable the check for that line with a directive comment.

shellcheck not following sourced file in docker review

Same fix, but check the file is inside the build context and the path is relative to the script, not the repo root.

disable SC1091 for one line

Add # shellcheck disable=SC1091 above the line. Use this only when the source is genuinely unresolvable, such as a file generated at deploy time.

Why it happens

Following sources means reading and parsing extra files, so shellcheck opts out by default and warns instead. In CI the warning becomes a gate failure because the pipeline treats any shellcheck output as a finding. The directive or the -x flag simply opts back in.

Edge cases

• Sources resolved at runtime from variables: no static fix exists; disable per line.
• Sourced files outside the repo (system profiles): shellcheck cannot read them in CI anyway; disable per line.
• Windows-style paths in a mixed repo: normalize to forward slashes so the directive resolves on Linux runners.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_A0c9gWraLWbqWZVvpxzAsQ

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_A0c9gWraLWbqWZVvpxzAsQ

Thread query: shellcheck SC1091: not following sourced file in PR: how to fix

TL;DR: Shellcheck skips following source statements by default, so it warns that it cannot check the sourced file. Point it at the file with a # shellcheck source=[path] directive above the source line, or run it with the -x flag. Then it checks the sourced code like any other file.