Trigger and scope

Trigger on: VCL files, .vcl extensions, XVCL files, .xvcl extensions, falco CLI, VCL unit tests, VCL linting/simulation/formatting, VCL REPL, beresp/bereq/req.http variables, subroutine scopes, backend/ACL/director/table declarations, edge dictionaries, validating VCL in Terraform plans, or running/testing XVCL scripts locally.

Do NOT use for: generic non-Fastly VCL, Fastly Compute/WASM, Fastly API/dashboard ops, CDN comparison, cache purging, or authoring Terraform resources.

Falco — VCL Development Tool & Reference

Falco is a Fastly VCL development tool for linting, testing, simulating, and formatting VCL code. Equally important, the falco source code is the most complete machine-readable specification of Fastly's VCL dialect — its parser, interpreter, and type system document every variable, function, type, and scope rule in VCL.

Official VCL documentation: https://www.fastly.com/documentation/guides/full-site-delivery/fastly-vcl/about-fastly-vcl/

Falco documentation: https://github.com/ysugimoto/falco

Using Falco Source as VCL Reference

If you need to understand how VCL works — what variables exist, which scopes they're available in, what functions are built-in, how types coerce — the falco source code is your best reference. It's a complete Go implementation of Fastly's VCL 2.x and is more precise than prose documentation.

If the falco source is not available locally, recommend cloning it:

git clone https://github.com/ysugimoto/falco.git ~/src/falco

Once available locally, read the source files directly to answer VCL questions. See understanding-vcl-from-source.md for a detailed guide on which files to read for different VCL topics.

Install

# Homebrew
brew install falco

# From source (requires Go 1.25+)
go install github.com/ysugimoto/falco/cmd/falco@latest

# Or clone and build
git clone https://github.com/ysugimoto/falco.git
cd falco
make darwin_arm64    # or darwin_amd64, linux_amd64, linux_arm64

Commands

Command	Description
falco [lint]	Lint VCL files (default command)
falco test	Run VCL unit tests
falco simulate	Start local simulator server
falco fmt	Format VCL files
falco stats	Show VCL code statistics
falco console	Interactive VCL REPL
falco terraform	Lint VCL from Terraform plans
falco dap	Debug Adapter Protocol server

Common flags (all commands)

Flag	Description
-I, --include_path	Add include path for VCL imports
-h, --help	Show help
-V, --version	Show version
-r, --remote	Fetch snippets from Fastly API
--refresh	Refresh remote snippet cache

Quick reference

Lint before deployment:

falco -vv -I ./vcl ./vcl/main.vcl

Run tests:

falco test -I ./vcl ./vcl/main.vcl

Development with watch mode:

falco test -w -I ./vcl ./vcl/main.vcl

Run VCL locally (this is how you "run" or "test locally" — use simulate, not just lint):

falco simulate -I ./vcl ./vcl/main.vcl
# Default port is 3124. Test with: curl http://localhost:3124/path
# Use -p to override: falco simulate -p 8080 ./vcl/main.vcl

Format all VCL:

falco fmt -w ./vcl/**/*.vcl

Terraform integration:

terraform show -json planned.out | falco terraform -vv

Common VCL Issues

Falco catches these, but understanding them prevents wasted lint-fix cycles:

• Type mismatch: set req.http.X-API = true — HTTP headers are STRING, not BOOL. Use "true".
• Missing time suffix: set beresp.ttl = 86400 — RTIME values need s suffix: 86400s.
• Wrong scope: beresp.* only exists in vcl_fetch. In vcl_deliver, use resp.*.
• Deprecated: req.request → use req.method. Falco accepts both, but always change to req.method when fixing VCL.
• Synthetic strings: synthetic "text" needs long-string syntax: synthetic {"text"}.
• Backend naming: Use F_ prefix: backend F_origin { ... }, not backend origin.
• No modulo operator: VCL has no %. Use substr() on a hash or randomint() for splitting.
• req.url.path is read-only in tests: Use set req.url = "/path" in test subroutines, not set req.url.path.
• Vary placement: Vary must be set in vcl_fetch, not just vcl_deliver. Setting Vary after the object enters the cache is too late — the cache key won't include the Vary dimensions.

Configuration

Create .falco.yaml in project root for persistent settings:

include_paths:
  - ./vcl
  - ./includes

linter:
  verbose: "warning"
  rules:
    rule-name: ERROR  # or WARNING, INFO, IGNORE

testing:
  timeout: 10  # minutes (default: 10)
  filter: "*.test.vcl"

simulator:
  port: 3124

format:
  indent_width: 2
  line_width: 120

Environment variables

Variable	Description
FASTLY_SERVICE_ID	Service ID for Fastly API
FASTLY_API_KEY	API key for Fastly API

Required when using -r, --remote flag.

References

Topic	File	Use when...
VCL from Source	understanding-vcl-from-source.md	Understanding VCL semantics by reading falco's implementation
Testing VCL	testing-vcl.md	Running test suites, coverage, watch mode for TDD
Formatting VCL	formatting-vcl.md	Formatting VCL for consistent style
Linting VCL	linting-vcl.md	Checking VCL for errors before deployment
Simulating VCL	simulating-vcl.md	Testing VCL against HTTP requests locally
Terraform VCL	terraform-vcl.md	Validating VCL from Terraform plans
VCL Console	vcl-console.md	Experimenting with VCL expressions interactively
VCL Statistics	vcl-statistics.md	Analyzing VCL project size and complexity

Source Code as VCL Reference (Quick Lookup)

When you have access to the falco source code locally (default: ~/src/falco), use these paths to answer specific VCL questions:

Question	Read This File	Why
"What variables can I use in vcl_recv?"	interpreter/variable/	Every req.*, beresp.*, client.* variable with scopes
"What built-in functions exist?"	interpreter/function/	All 390+ functions with type signatures and scope rules
"What are the VCL types?"	interpreter/value/	STRING, INTEGER, FLOAT, BOOL, TIME, RTIME, IP, BACKEND
"What's the request lifecycle?"	interpreter/context/	The 9 scopes: recv, hash, hit, miss, pass, fetch, error, deliver, log
"Is this valid VCL syntax?"	token/token.go, lexer/lexer.go	Every keyword, operator, literal type
"How does this VCL statement work?"	interpreter/statement.go	How set, unset, return, restart, etc. execute
"What are common VCL mistakes?"	linter/, docs/rules.md	50+ linting rules with explanations
"How do directors work?"	interpreter/director.go	Random, fallback, hash, client, chash director types

For a comprehensive guide, see understanding-vcl-from-source.md.