diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 9c9a7c575..418ba3ee0 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 GOTOOLS = \
 					github.com/mitchellh/gox \
-					github.com/Masterminds/glide
+					github.com/Masterminds/glide \
+					github.com/alecthomas/gometalinter
 
 all: protoc install test
 
@@ -50,4 +51,38 @@ get_vendor_deps:
 	@ go get github.com/Masterminds/glide
 	@ glide install
 
+metalinter: tools
+	@gometalinter --install
+	gometalinter --vendor --deadline=600s --enable-all --disable=lll ./...
+
+metalinter_test: tools
+	@gometalinter --install
+	gometalinter --vendor --deadline=600s --disable-all  \
+		--enable=aligncheck \
+		--enable=deadcode \
+		--enable=gas \
+		--enable=goconst \
+		--enable=goimports \
+		--enable=gosimple \
+		--enable=gotype \
+	 	--enable=ineffassign \
+		--enable=megacheck \
+	 	--enable=misspell \
+	   	--enable=staticcheck \
+		--enable=safesql \
+	   	--enable=structcheck \
+	   	--enable=unconvert \
+		--enable=unused \
+	   	--enable=varcheck \
+		--enable=vetshadow \
+		./...
+
+		#--enable=dupl \
+		#--enable=errcheck \
+		#--enable=gocyclo \
+		#--enable=golint \ <== comments on anything exported
+	   	#--enable=interfacer \
+	   	#--enable=unparam \
+		#--enable=vet \
+
 .PHONY: all build test fmt lint get_deps tools
diff --git a/circle.yml b/circle.yml
index 6355bc041..daa4218e0 100644
--- a/circle.yml
+++ b/circle.yml
@@ -18,4 +18,5 @@ checkout:
 test:
   override:
     - "go version"
+    - "cd $REPO && make get_vendor_deps && make metalinter_test"
     - "cd $REPO && make test_integrations"
diff --git a/client/grpc_client.go b/client/grpc_client.go
index a990455f3..31ca3db28 100644
--- a/client/grpc_client.go
+++ b/client/grpc_client.go
@@ -41,7 +41,9 @@ func dialerFunc(addr string, timeout time.Duration) (net.Conn, error) {
 }
 
 func (cli *grpcClient) OnStart() error {
-	cli.BaseService.OnStart()
+	if err := cli.BaseService.OnStart(); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
 RETRY_LOOP:
 
 	for {
@@ -113,7 +115,7 @@ func (cli *grpcClient) SetResponseCallback(resCb Callback) {
 //----------------------------------------
 // GRPC calls are synchronous, but some callbacks expect to be called asynchronously
 // (eg. the mempool expects to be able to lock to remove bad txs from cache).
-// To accomodate, we finish each call in its own go-routine,
+// To accommodate, we finish each call in its own go-routine,
 // which is expensive, but easy - if you want something better, use the socket protocol!
 // maybe one day, if people really want it, we use grpc streams,
 // but hopefully not :D
diff --git a/client/socket_client.go b/client/socket_client.go
index 1da93494a..4c7265cd0 100644
--- a/client/socket_client.go
+++ b/client/socket_client.go
@@ -19,9 +19,9 @@ const (
 	LOG = ""
 )
 
-const reqQueueSize = 256        // TODO make configurable
-const maxResponseSize = 1048576 // 1MB TODO make configurable
-const flushThrottleMS = 20      // Don't wait longer than...
+const reqQueueSize = 256 // TODO make configurable
+// const maxResponseSize = 1048576 // 1MB TODO make configurable
+const flushThrottleMS = 20 // Don't wait longer than...
 
 // This is goroutine-safe, but users should beware that
 // the application in general is not meant to be interfaced
@@ -57,7 +57,9 @@ func NewSocketClient(addr string, mustConnect bool) *socketClient {
 }
 
 func (cli *socketClient) OnStart() error {
-	cli.BaseService.OnStart()
+	if err := cli.BaseService.OnStart(); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
 
 	var err error
 	var conn net.Conn
@@ -355,19 +357,13 @@ func (cli *socketClient) CommitSync() (res types.Result) {
 func (cli *socketClient) InitChainSync(params types.RequestInitChain) (err error) {
 	cli.queueRequest(types.ToRequestInitChain(params))
 	cli.FlushSync()
-	if err := cli.Error(); err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	return nil
+	return cli.Error()
 }
 
 func (cli *socketClient) BeginBlockSync(params types.RequestBeginBlock) (err error) {
 	cli.queueRequest(types.ToRequestBeginBlock(params))
 	cli.FlushSync()
-	if err := cli.Error(); err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	return nil
+	return cli.Error()
 }
 
 func (cli *socketClient) EndBlockSync(height uint64) (resEndBlock types.ResponseEndBlock, err error) {
diff --git a/cmd/abci-cli/abci-cli.go b/cmd/abci-cli/abci-cli.go
index 0f1dd82d0..b96c0346e 100644
--- a/cmd/abci-cli/abci-cli.go
+++ b/cmd/abci-cli/abci-cli.go
@@ -183,12 +183,12 @@ func badCmd(c *cli.Context, cmd string) {
 //Generates new Args array based off of previous call args to maintain flag persistence
 func persistentArgs(line []byte) []string {
 
-	//generate the arguments to run from orginal os.Args
+	// generate the arguments to run from original os.Args
 	// to maintain flag arguments
 	args := os.Args
 	args = args[:len(args)-1] // remove the previous command argument
 
-	if len(line) > 0 { //prevents introduction of extra space leading to argument parse errors
+	if len(line) > 0 { // prevents introduction of extra space leading to argument parse errors
 		args = append(args, strings.Split(string(line), " ")...)
 	}
 	return args
diff --git a/example/block_aware/block_aware_app.go b/example/block_aware/block_aware_app.go
index c88f22896..8a031da2f 100644
--- a/example/block_aware/block_aware_app.go
+++ b/example/block_aware/block_aware_app.go
@@ -57,7 +57,6 @@ func (app *ChainAwareApplication) Query(reqQuery types.RequestQuery) (resQuery t
 
 func (app *ChainAwareApplication) BeginBlock(reqBeginBlock types.RequestBeginBlock) {
 	app.beginCount++
-	return
 }
 
 func (app *ChainAwareApplication) EndBlock(height uint64) (resEndBlock types.ResponseEndBlock) {
diff --git a/example/dummy/dummy_test.go b/example/dummy/dummy_test.go
index 495e7858e..a616025e1 100644
--- a/example/dummy/dummy_test.go
+++ b/example/dummy/dummy_test.go
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ func TestValSetChanges(t *testing.T) {
 
 	makeApplyBlock(t, dummy, 3, diff, tx1)
 
-	vals1 = append([]*types.Validator{v1}, vals1[1:len(vals1)]...)
+	vals1 = append([]*types.Validator{v1}, vals1[1:]...)
 	vals2 = dummy.Validators()
 	valsEqual(t, vals1, vals2)
 
diff --git a/example/dummy/persistent_dummy.go b/example/dummy/persistent_dummy.go
index 303876e80..371cf4ce4 100644
--- a/example/dummy/persistent_dummy.go
+++ b/example/dummy/persistent_dummy.go
@@ -187,10 +187,7 @@ func MakeValSetChangeTx(pubkey []byte, power uint64) []byte {
 }
 
 func isValidatorTx(tx []byte) bool {
-	if strings.HasPrefix(string(tx), ValidatorSetChangePrefix) {
-		return true
-	}
-	return false
+	return strings.HasPrefix(string(tx), ValidatorSetChangePrefix)
 }
 
 // format is "val:pubkey1/power1,addr2/power2,addr3/power3"tx
@@ -232,7 +229,7 @@ func (app *PersistentDummyApplication) updateValidator(v *types.Validator) types
 		app.app.state.Set(key, value.Bytes())
 	}
 
-	// we only update the changes array if we succesfully updated the tree
+	// we only update the changes array if we successfully updated the tree
 	app.changes = append(app.changes, v)
 
 	return types.OK
diff --git a/server/grpc_server.go b/server/grpc_server.go
index 90346d690..ac3d728ac 100644
--- a/server/grpc_server.go
+++ b/server/grpc_server.go
@@ -37,7 +37,9 @@ func NewGRPCServer(protoAddr string, app types.ABCIApplicationServer) cmn.Servic
 
 // OnStart starts the gRPC service
 func (s *GRPCServer) OnStart() error {
-	s.BaseService.OnStart()
+	if err := s.BaseService.OnStart(); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
 	ln, err := net.Listen(s.proto, s.addr)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
diff --git a/server/socket_server.go b/server/socket_server.go
index 88011a056..4b64a5f0d 100644
--- a/server/socket_server.go
+++ b/server/socket_server.go
@@ -44,7 +44,9 @@ func NewSocketServer(protoAddr string, app types.Application) cmn.Service {
 }
 
 func (s *SocketServer) OnStart() error {
-	s.BaseService.OnStart()
+	if err := s.BaseService.OnStart(); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
 	ln, err := net.Listen(s.proto, s.addr)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
diff --git a/tests/test_app/app.go b/tests/test_app/app.go
index 281c9dcb1..7fc3ace0a 100644
--- a/tests/test_app/app.go
+++ b/tests/test_app/app.go
@@ -57,9 +57,9 @@ func setOption(client abcicli.Client, key, value string) {
 
 func commit(client abcicli.Client, hashExp []byte) {
 	res := client.CommitSync()
-	_, data, log := res.Code, res.Data, res.Log
+	_, data, _ := res.Code, res.Data, res.Log
 	if res.IsErr() {
-		panic(fmt.Sprintf("committing %v\nlog: %v", log))
+		panic(fmt.Sprintf("committing err %v\n", res))
 	}
 	if !bytes.Equal(res.Data, hashExp) {
 		panic(fmt.Sprintf("Commit hash was unexpected. Got %X expected %X",
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ func deliverTx(client abcicli.Client, txBytes []byte, codeExp types.CodeType, da
 	}
 }
 
-func checkTx(client abcicli.Client, txBytes []byte, codeExp types.CodeType, dataExp []byte) {
+/*func checkTx(client abcicli.Client, txBytes []byte, codeExp types.CodeType, dataExp []byte) {
 	res := client.CheckTxSync(txBytes)
 	code, data, log := res.Code, res.Data, res.Log
 	if res.IsErr() {
@@ -94,4 +94,4 @@ func checkTx(client abcicli.Client, txBytes []byte, codeExp types.CodeType, data
 		panic(fmt.Sprintf("CheckTx response data was unexpected. Got %X expected %X",
 			data, dataExp))
 	}
-}
+}*/
diff --git a/types/application.go b/types/application.go
index 8f17bf502..b596685c8 100644
--- a/types/application.go
+++ b/types/application.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-package types
+package types // nolint: goimports
 
 import (
 	context "golang.org/x/net/context"
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ type Application interface {
 	// Consensus Connection
 	InitChain(RequestInitChain)              // Initialize blockchain with validators and other info from TendermintCore
 	BeginBlock(RequestBeginBlock)            // Signals the beginning of a block
-	DeliverTx(tx []byte) Result            // Deliver a tx for full processing
+	DeliverTx(tx []byte) Result              // Deliver a tx for full processing
 	EndBlock(height uint64) ResponseEndBlock // Signals the end of a block, returns changes to the validator set
 	Commit() Result                          // Commit the state and return the application Merkle root hash
 }