crap-analysis

CRAP Score Analysis

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• Evaluating code quality and test coverage before changes
• Identifying high-risk code that needs refactoring or testing
• Setting up coverage collection for a .NET project
• Prioritizing which code to test based on risk
• Establishing coverage thresholds for CI/CD pipelines

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What is CRAP?

CRAP Score = Complexity x (1 - Coverage)^2

The CRAP (Change Risk Anti-Patterns) score combines cyclomatic complexity with test coverage to identify risky code.

CRAP Score	Risk Level	Action Required
< 5	Low	Well-tested, maintainable code
5-30	Medium	Acceptable but watch complexity
> 30	High	Needs tests or refactoring

Why CRAP Matters

• High complexity + low coverage = danger: Code that's hard to understand AND untested is risky to modify
• Complexity alone isn't enough: A complex method with 100% coverage is safer than a simple method with 0%
• Focuses effort: Prioritize testing on complex code, not simple getters/setters

CRAP Score Examples

Method	Complexity	Coverage	Calculation	CRAP
GetUserId()	1	0%	1 x (1 - 0)^2	1
ParseToken()	54	52%	54 x (1 - 0.52)^2	12.4
ValidateForm()	20	0%	20 x (1 - 0)^2	20
ProcessOrder()	45	20%	45 x (1 - 0.20)^2	28.8
ImportData()	80	10%	80 x (1 - 0.10)^2	64.8

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Coverage Collection Setup

coverage.runsettings

Create a coverage.runsettings file in your repository root. The OpenCover format is required for CRAP score calculation because it includes cyclomatic complexity metrics.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<RunSettings>
  <DataCollectionRunSettings>
    <DataCollectors>
      <DataCollector friendlyName="XPlat code coverage">
        <Configuration>
          <!-- OpenCover format includes cyclomatic complexity for CRAP scores -->
          <Format>cobertura,opencover</Format>

          <!-- Exclude test and benchmark assemblies -->
          <Exclude>[*.Tests]*,[*.Benchmark]*,[*.Migrations]*</Exclude>

          <!-- Exclude generated code, obsolete members, and explicit exclusions -->
          <ExcludeByAttribute>Obsolete,GeneratedCodeAttribute,CompilerGeneratedAttribute,ExcludeFromCodeCoverageAttribute</ExcludeByAttribute>

          <!-- Exclude source-generated files, Blazor generated code, and migrations -->
          <ExcludeByFile>**/obj/**/*,**/*.g.cs,**/*.designer.cs,**/*.razor.g.cs,**/*.razor.css.g.cs,**/Migrations/**/*</ExcludeByFile>

          <!-- Exclude test projects -->
          <IncludeTestAssembly>false</IncludeTestAssembly>

          <!-- Optimization flags -->
          <SingleHit>false</SingleHit>
          <UseSourceLink>true</UseSourceLink>
          <SkipAutoProps>true</SkipAutoProps>
        </Configuration>
      </DataCollector>
    </DataCollectors>
  </DataCollectionRunSettings>
</RunSettings>