Rule Request: imports_at_top

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New Issue Checklist

• Updated SwiftLint to the latest version
• I searched for existing GitHub issues

New Rule Request

Suggested name: imports_at_top

Require file-scope import declarations to appear at the beginning of the source file (after an optional file header / comments), not after types or other declarations.

Swift treats imports as file-scoped regardless of where they are written, so this compiles:

import Testing

struct Example {}

@testable import MyModule

sorted_imports does not catch it. As of 0.62.0 it only sorts a contiguous import block; an import after other code is a separate one-line group, so lint and --fix leave it at the bottom. I could not find an existing issue that asks for this placement check (nearby work is sort order inside a block: #4810, #6665, #4935).

Why

This is the usual Swift convention. Google’s Swift style guide says import statements are the first non-comment tokens in a source file.

Apple’s swift-format already enforces it. OrderedImports:

Lint: If an import appears anywhere other than the beginning of the file it resides in, not lexicographically ordered, or (optionally) not in the appropriate import group, a lint error is raised.

Format: Imports will be reordered and (optionally) grouped at the top of the file.

A dedicated SwiftLint rule (or a sorted_imports option) would close the same gap for projects that use SwiftLint rather than swift-format. I am filing a matching request on nicklockwood/SwiftFormat.

Triggering

import Foundation

struct Foo {}

import UIKit // violation

import Testing

struct FooTests {}

@testable import MyModule // violation

Non-triggering

// File header comment is fine.

import Foundation
import UIKit

struct Foo {}

#if canImport(UIKit)
import UIKit
#endif
import Foundation

struct Foo {}

(Header #if import groups that sit with the leading imports should stay allowed.)

Configuration

Optional, if useful:

• whether to allow #if / #endif import groups only when they are part of the leading import section
• whether comments between the file header and the first import are allowed (yes by default)

Sorting within the header block can remain sorted_imports. This rule only needs to flag (and ideally correct) imports that are not in that leading section.

Opt-in

Opt-in. Placement is a style convention, not a correctness issue, and some codebases may put #if imports later on purpose. That matches the README guidance for rules that are not general consensus. Correction (hoist to the header, then let sorted_imports order them) would be useful.