> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.sonarsource.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.sonarsource.com/sonarqube-server/quality-standards-administration/managing-quality-profiles/understanding-quality-profiles.md). # Understanding quality profiles Quality profiles are a key part of your SonarQube Server 2026.5 configuration because they are composed of a list of rules to check your code against. ## Quality profile set assigned to a language Several quality profiles can be assigned to a language: * Three built-in Sonar way profiles are provided at installation: **Sonar way core**, **Sonar way extended**, and **Sonar way comprehensive**. You cannot edit these profiles. See [Built-in quality profiles](/sonarqube-server/quality-standards-administration/managing-quality-profiles/built-in-quality-profiles.md) for details on each. * You can create custom quality profiles to meet your coding analysis needs.\ Sonar way core is designed to be broadly suitable for most projects, but it is intended only as a starting point. In the quality profile set of a language, a profile is defined as the default profile. The default profile is used for the analysis of a project if no profile is explicitly defined for that project.
Quality profiles page filtered by Java, listing Sonar way core as the default built-in profile, plus three other built-in profiles.
A user with the Administer Quality Profiles permission can create and edit any custom profile and change the default profile of a set. These users can also give other users permission to edit a given custom profile. ## Quality profile definition A quality profile: * Relates to a given programming language. * Is based on the set of coding rules supported for this language. * Defines which rules of this set are active in the profile, it means which rules will be taken into account during the code analysis. A custom quality profile may customize, for a given rule, the following parameters: * Severity level(s). * When applicable: configurable rule parameters.\ For example, rules that verify conditions against a threshold might allow customization of the threshold value. The customization applies only within the quality profile. In particular, it will not change the rule’s recommended severity levels on the **Rules** platform. In addition, from the [Enterprise edition](https://www.sonarsource.com/plans-and-pricing/enterprise/), rules can be marked as Prioritized in a quality profile. Prioritized rules are used to fail the quality gate when the corresponding prioritized issues are raised in the overall code. ## Quality profile inheritance The inheritance feature allows you to define a parent/child relationship between two quality profiles within the profile set of a language. This way, changes in the parent profile are dynamically reported to the child profile. Note that a child profile can only be a custom quality profile.
Quality profiles page filtered by Java, showing a custom Sonar way core child profile nested under the built-in Sonar way core default profile.
By inheriting from a built-in quality profile, you ensure that you automatically benefit from: * Newly implemented rules. * Changes in a rule’s configuration. * The deactivation of deprecated rules. You can also create a quality profile hierarchy: a change in a parent profile is reflected in all its child profiles on all hierarchy levels. The following principles govern the quality profile inheritance: * The inheritance relationship can be established or removed according to the following: * A parent profile can be assigned to a child profile during the child profile creation or at any time during the lifecycle of a custom profile. * The inheritance relationship can be removed at any time. * A child profile can change to another parent at any time. * A parent profile may be a built-in or a custom profile (A child profile is always a custom profile.). * When an inheritance relationship is established: * The child quality profile inherits its parent’s active rules. * Active rules existing already in the child profile are not changed. * A change in a parent profile is automatically reflected in all its child profiles (note that if a child profile changes to another parent, this is considered a change in the parent profile). It means that: * A rule activation or deactivation in the parent profile is reflected in the child profiles whatever the status (active or inactive) of the rule in the child profile. * A rule parameter change in the parent profile is reflected in the child profiles if the rule is not overridden in the child profile. * A child quality profile can be changed as follows: * An inactive rule can be activated. * If enabled at the global level, an active rule can be deactivated. * A rule’s severity level(s) or configurable parameters can be modified compared to the parent profile. In that case, the rule is considered *overridden*. {% hint style="info" %} The principles described above are the same whether the parent profile is a built-in or a custom profile. {% endhint %} {% hint style="info" %} If Sonar updates the rules set of a language (for instance, by adding or changing a rule) and/or the respective built-in quality profile, this update will be available in your SonarQube once you have upgraded it. {% endhint %} ## Quality profile association with projects The default quality profile of a language’s profile set is used for a project if the project is not explicitly associated with another profile for this language. By default, **Sonar way core** is the default profile for every language. With the Administer Quality Profiles permission, you can change the default profile of a given language. As a project administrator, you can assign quality profiles to your project. With the Administer Quality Profiles permission, you can assign a quality profile to a list of projects. ## Quality profiles for compliance standards As Sonar expands its offering, specialized quality profiles for enterprise-level customers are being developed to address the needs of specific industries. ### The Sonar MISRA compliance quality profiles The **Sonar MISRA compliance** quality profiles are available in [Enterprise edition](https://www.sonarsource.com/plans-and-pricing/enterprise/) and above. They comprise the following quality profiles: * Sonar MISRA C++:2023 Compliance * Sonar MISRA C:2012 Compliance * Sonar MISRA C:2012 AMD1 + TC1 Compliance * Sonar MISRA C:2012 AMD2 Compliance * Sonar MISRA C:2012 AMD3 Compliance * Sonar MISRA C:2023 Compliance These quality profiles check your code against a set of software development guidelines for the C or C++ programming languages used in safety and mission-critical systems. MISRA guidelines are published by the [MISRA](https://misra.org.uk/) (Motor Industry Software Reliability Association) consortium. The standards aim to facilitate code safety, security, portability, and reliability. Read [The intelligent approach to achieve MISRA C++:2023 compliance](https://www.sonarsource.com/blog/achieve-misra-c-2023-compliant-source-code/) blog post on the Sonar website for more information. The **Sonar MISRA compliance** quality profiles are their own built-in profiles, separate from Sonar way core, extended, and comprehensive. None of the three Sonar way profiles cover MISRA. Each Sonar MISRA compliance profile combines Sonar rules mapped one-to-one to the matching MISRA guidelines, to provide both Sonar and MISRA expertise in one quality profile. You can use these quality profiles as a starting point for your own custom quality profile by adding or removing rules. If you want to create a quality profile only with MISRA rules, you can start one from scratch and add all rules carrying a `misra-` tag to it. See [Editing a quality profile](/sonarqube-server/quality-standards-administration/managing-quality-profiles/editing-a-custom-quality-profile.md) for more information. MISRA and MISRA C are the registered trade marks of [The MISRA Consortium Limited](https://misra.org.uk/). ## Related pages * [Built-in quality profiles](/sonarqube-server/quality-standards-administration/managing-quality-profiles/built-in-quality-profiles.md) * [Viewing quality profiles](/sonarqube-server/quality-standards-administration/managing-quality-profiles/viewing-quality-profiles.md) * [Creating a quality profile](/sonarqube-server/quality-standards-administration/managing-quality-profiles/creating-a-quality-profile.md) * [Editing a quality profile](/sonarqube-server/quality-standards-administration/managing-quality-profiles/editing-a-custom-quality-profile.md) * [Associating with projects](/sonarqube-server/quality-standards-administration/managing-quality-profiles/associating-a-quality-profile-with-projects.md) * [Changing default quality profile](/sonarqube-server/quality-standards-administration/managing-quality-profiles/changing-default-quality-profile.md) * [Maintaining quality profiles](/sonarqube-server/quality-standards-administration/managing-quality-profiles/maintaining-your-custom-quality-profiles.md) * [Granting permissions to users](/sonarqube-server/quality-standards-administration/managing-quality-profiles/authorizing-other-users-to-manage-quality-profile.md) * [Changing your project's quality profiles](/sonarqube-server/project-administration/adjusting-analysis/changing-quality-gate.md) * [Quality profiles for agentic AI](/sonarqube-server/quality-standards-administration/ai-code-assurance/quality-profiles-for-agentic-ai.md) ## Related online learning * :desktop: [Introduction to rules, quality profiles, and quality gates in SonarQube](https://www.sonarsource.com/learn/course/core-concepts/4ce5a772-5253-41dd-b521-8f7c72a7c6dd/introduction-to-rules-quality-profiles-and-quality-gates-in-sonarqube) * :video: [Administering quality profiles in SonarQube](https://www.sonarsource.com/learn/course/core-concepts/99c287ee-6671-471d-b6ff-4ec88be61383/administering-quality-profiles-in-sonarqube) --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. 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