diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
index 6a7a3bf4b..52c006462 100644
--- a/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -4,6 +4,30 @@
 
 Miller is a command-line data processing tool for working with CSV, TSV, JSON, and other data formats. It's written in Go (v1.18+) and provides SQL-like operations on data.
 
+## Initial Setup
+
+### Setting Up staticcheck
+
+The `make staticcheck` target requires the staticcheck tool. To set it up:
+
+```bash
+go install honnef.co/go/tools/cmd/staticcheck@latest
+```
+
+This installs staticcheck to `~/go/bin/` (the default Go binaries directory). For `make staticcheck` to work, you need `~/go/bin` in your `PATH`.
+
+**Add to your shell profile** (`.bashrc`, `.zshrc`, or equivalent):
+```bash
+export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/go/bin"
+```
+
+**Verify the installation:**
+```bash
+staticcheck -version
+```
+
+If this works, you can use `make staticcheck` without any further setup.
+
 ## Build & Test
 
 ### Building
@@ -23,7 +47,7 @@ make bench          # Run benchmarks
 ### Code Quality
 ```bash
 make fmt            # Format code with go fmt
-make staticcheck    # Run static analysis (requires: go install honnef.co/go/tools/cmd/staticcheck@latest)
+make staticcheck    # Run static analysis (see Initial Setup section above)
 ```
 
 ### Full Developer Workflow
diff --git a/pkg/go-csv/csv_reader.go b/pkg/go-csv/csv_reader.go
index b09a2b558..9d9ef530d 100644
--- a/pkg/go-csv/csv_reader.go
+++ b/pkg/go-csv/csv_reader.go
@@ -307,32 +307,31 @@ func (r *Reader) readRecord(dst []string) ([]string, error) {
 	// Read line (automatically skipping past empty lines and any comments).
 	var line []byte
 	var errRead error
-	for errRead == nil {
-		line, errRead = r.readLine()
 
-		// MILLER-SPECIFIC UPDATE: DO NOT DO THIS
-		// if r.Comment != 0 && nextRune(line) == r.Comment {
-		//   line = nil
-		//   continue // Skip comment lines
-		// }
+	line, errRead = r.readLine()
 
-		// MILLER-SPECIFIC UPDATE: DO NOT DO THIS
-		// if errRead == nil && len(line) == lengthNL(line) {
-		//   line = nil
-		//   continue // Skip empty lines
-		// }
+	// MILLER-SPECIFIC UPDATE: DO NOT DO THIS
+	// if r.Comment != 0 && nextRune(line) == r.Comment {
+	//   line = nil
+	//   continue // Skip comment lines
+	// }
 
-		// MILLER-SPECIFIC UPDATE: If the line starts with the comment character,
-		// don't attempt to CSV-parse it -- just hand it back as a single field.
-		// This allows two things:
-		// * User comments get passed through as intended, without being reformatted;
-		// * Users can do things like `# a"b` in their comments without getting an
-		//   imbalanced-double-quote error.
-		if r.Comment != 0 && nextRune(line) == r.Comment {
-			return []string{string(line)}, nil
-		}
-		break
+	// MILLER-SPECIFIC UPDATE: DO NOT DO THIS
+	// if errRead == nil && len(line) == lengthNL(line) {
+	//   line = nil
+	//   continue // Skip empty lines
+	// }
+
+	// MILLER-SPECIFIC UPDATE: If the line starts with the comment character,
+	// don't attempt to CSV-parse it -- just hand it back as a single field.
+	// This allows two things:
+	// * User comments get passed through as intended, without being reformatted;
+	// * Users can do things like `# a"b` in their comments without getting an
+	//   imbalanced-double-quote error.
+	if r.Comment != 0 && nextRune(line) == r.Comment {
+		return []string{string(line)}, nil
 	}
+
 	if errRead == io.EOF {
 		return nil, errRead
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/input/fixed_width_splitter.go b/pkg/input/fixed_width_splitter.go
index c7e822fb0..e3067a51d 100644
--- a/pkg/input/fixed_width_splitter.go
+++ b/pkg/input/fixed_width_splitter.go
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ func NewFixedWidthSplitter(spec, referenceRow string) (*fixedWidthSplitter, erro
 	} else if spec == "right-align-multi-word" {
 		indexes = parseRightAlign(referenceRow, true)
 	} else {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Unknown spec: %v", spec)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unknown spec: %v", spec)
 	}
 	return &fixedWidthSplitter{indexes: indexes}, nil
 
diff --git a/pkg/input/record_reader_pprint.go b/pkg/input/record_reader_pprint.go
index 2f10a9196..51d967347 100644
--- a/pkg/input/record_reader_pprint.go
+++ b/pkg/input/record_reader_pprint.go
@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ func (reader *RecordReaderPprintFixedSplit) getRecords(
 		} else {
 			if !reader.readerOptions.AllowRaggedCSVInput && len(reader.headerStrings) != len(fields) {
 				err := fmt.Errorf(
-					"Fixed-width header/data length mismatch %d != %d at filename %s line %d",
+					"fixed-width header/data length mismatch %d != %d at filename %s line %d",
 					len(reader.headerStrings), len(fields), filename, reader.inputLineNumber,
 				)
 				errorChannel <- err
diff --git a/pkg/mlrval/mlrmap_flatten_unflatten.go b/pkg/mlrval/mlrmap_flatten_unflatten.go
index b8cf3e568..e62744e06 100644
--- a/pkg/mlrval/mlrmap_flatten_unflatten.go
+++ b/pkg/mlrval/mlrmap_flatten_unflatten.go
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ func (mlrmap *Mlrmap) CopyUnflattened(
 
 		// Check for "" in any of the split pieces; treat the field as terminal if so.
 		legitDots := true
-		for i, _ := range arrayval {
+		for i := range arrayval {
 			piece := arrayval[i].String()
 			if piece == "" {
 				legitDots = false
diff --git a/pkg/mlrval/mlrval_collections.go b/pkg/mlrval/mlrval_collections.go
index 48cefd7fd..6364b8a8b 100644
--- a/pkg/mlrval/mlrval_collections.go
+++ b/pkg/mlrval/mlrval_collections.go
@@ -338,7 +338,7 @@ func putIndexedOnArray(
 			return errors.New("zero indices are not supported. Indices are 1-up")
 		}
 		if mindex.intf.(int64) < 0 {
-			return errors.New("Cannot use negative indices to auto-lengthen arrays")
+			return errors.New("cannot use negative indices to auto-lengthen arrays")
 		}
 		// Array is [a,b,c] with mindices 1,2,3. Length is 3. Zindices are 0,1,2.
 		// Given mindex is 4.
@@ -371,7 +371,7 @@ func putIndexedOnArray(
 	} else if mindex.intf.(int64) == 0 {
 		return errors.New("zero indices are not supported. Indices are 1-up")
 	} else if mindex.intf.(int64) < 0 {
-		return errors.New("Cannot use negative indices to auto-lengthen arrays")
+		return errors.New("cannot use negative indices to auto-lengthen arrays")
 	} else {
 		// Already allocated but needs to be longer
 		LengthenMlrvalArray(baseArray, int(mindex.intf.(int64)))
diff --git a/pkg/mlrval/mlrval_json.go b/pkg/mlrval/mlrval_json.go
index 9fbf4fb56..4894e83ec 100644
--- a/pkg/mlrval/mlrval_json.go
+++ b/pkg/mlrval/mlrval_json.go
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ const (
 	JSON_MULTILINE   = 2
 )
 
-var prematureEofError error = errors.New("JSON parser: unexpected premature EOF")
+var errPrematureEOF = errors.New("JSON parser: unexpected premature EOF")
 
 // The JSON decoder (https://golang.org/pkg/encoding/json/#Decoder) is quite
 // nice. What we can have is:
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ func MlrvalDecodeFromJSON(decoder *json.Decoder) (
 			for decoder.More() {
 				element, eof, err := MlrvalDecodeFromJSON(decoder)
 				if eof {
-					return nil, false, prematureEofError
+					return nil, false, errPrematureEOF
 				}
 				if err != nil {
 					return nil, false, err
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ func MlrvalDecodeFromJSON(decoder *json.Decoder) (
 			for decoder.More() {
 				key, eof, err := MlrvalDecodeFromJSON(decoder)
 				if eof {
-					return nil, false, prematureEofError
+					return nil, false, errPrematureEOF
 				}
 				if err != nil {
 					return nil, false, err
@@ -219,7 +219,7 @@ func MlrvalDecodeFromJSON(decoder *json.Decoder) (
 
 				value, eof, err := MlrvalDecodeFromJSON(decoder)
 				if eof {
-					return nil, false, prematureEofError
+					return nil, false, errPrematureEOF
 				}
 				if err != nil {
 					return nil, false, err
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@ func (mv *Mlrval) marshalJSONAux(
 	case MT_DIM: // MT_DIM is one past the last valid type
 		return "", fmt.Errorf("internal coding error detected")
 	}
-	return "", fmt.Errorf("Internal coding error detected")
+	return "", fmt.Errorf("internal coding error detected")
 }
 
 // TYPE-SPECIFIC MARSHALERS
diff --git a/pkg/output/file_output_handlers.go b/pkg/output/file_output_handlers.go
index edc952a35..afa2515b5 100644
--- a/pkg/output/file_output_handlers.go
+++ b/pkg/output/file_output_handlers.go
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ type MultiOutputHandlerManager struct {
 	lruNodes         map[string]*lruNode // filename -> node (file mode only)
 	lruHead          *lruNode            // MRU
 	lruTail          *lruNode            // LRU
-	evictedFilenames map[string]bool    // filenames we closed; re-open with append
+	evictedFilenames map[string]bool     // filenames we closed; re-open with append
 }
 
 func NewFileOutputHandlerManager(
diff --git a/pkg/output/record_writer_dcf.go b/pkg/output/record_writer_dcf.go
index 174245a3e..b03d5fe53 100644
--- a/pkg/output/record_writer_dcf.go
+++ b/pkg/output/record_writer_dcf.go
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ func dcfValueString(mv *mlrval.Mlrval) string {
 	}
 	if mv.IsArray() {
 		arr := mv.GetArray()
-		if arr == nil || len(arr) == 0 {
+		if len(arr) == 0 {
 			return ""
 		}
 		parts := make([]string, 0, len(arr))
diff --git a/pkg/parsing/token/token.go b/pkg/parsing/token/token.go
index 50282b2c3..69fe0404c 100644
--- a/pkg/parsing/token/token.go
+++ b/pkg/parsing/token/token.go
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ func (t *Token) Int64Value() (int64, error) {
 func (t *Token) UTF8Rune() (rune, error) {
 	r, _ := utf8.DecodeRune(t.Lit)
 	if r == utf8.RuneError {
-		err := fmt.Errorf("Invalid rune")
+		err := fmt.Errorf("invalid rune")
 		return r, err
 	}
 	return r, nil
diff --git a/pkg/transformers/check.go b/pkg/transformers/check.go
index 5af3c2f5d..46e291b15 100644
--- a/pkg/transformers/check.go
+++ b/pkg/transformers/check.go
@@ -58,8 +58,9 @@ func transformerCheckParseCLI(
 			transformerCheckUsage(os.Stdout)
 			return nil, cli.ErrHelpRequested
 
+		} else {
+			return nil, cli.VerbErrorf(verbNameCheck, "option \"%s\" not recognized", opt)
 		}
-		return nil, cli.VerbErrorf(verbNameCheck, "option \"%s\" not recognized", opt)
 	}
 
 	*pargi = argi
diff --git a/pkg/transformers/group_by.go b/pkg/transformers/group_by.go
index 005aab422..e4d704c03 100644
--- a/pkg/transformers/group_by.go
+++ b/pkg/transformers/group_by.go
@@ -54,8 +54,9 @@ func transformerGroupByParseCLI(
 			transformerGroupByUsage(os.Stdout)
 			return nil, cli.ErrHelpRequested
 
+		} else {
+			return nil, cli.VerbErrorf(verbNameGroupBy, "option \"%s\" not recognized", opt)
 		}
-		return nil, cli.VerbErrorf(verbNameGroupBy, "option \"%s\" not recognized", opt)
 	}
 
 	// Get the group-by field names from the command line
diff --git a/pkg/transformers/group_like.go b/pkg/transformers/group_like.go
index bc65204cb..a47d224e9 100644
--- a/pkg/transformers/group_like.go
+++ b/pkg/transformers/group_like.go
@@ -54,8 +54,9 @@ func transformerGroupLikeParseCLI(
 			transformerGroupLikeUsage(os.Stdout)
 			return nil, cli.ErrHelpRequested
 
+		} else {
+			return nil, cli.VerbErrorf(verbNameGroupLike, "option \"%s\" not recognized", opt)
 		}
-		return nil, cli.VerbErrorf(verbNameGroupLike, "option \"%s\" not recognized", opt)
 	}
 
 	*pargi = argi
diff --git a/pkg/transformers/label.go b/pkg/transformers/label.go
index 9a1f35f8a..3113cd449 100644
--- a/pkg/transformers/label.go
+++ b/pkg/transformers/label.go
@@ -58,8 +58,9 @@ func transformerLabelParseCLI(
 			transformerLabelUsage(os.Stdout)
 			return nil, cli.ErrHelpRequested
 
+		} else {
+			return nil, cli.VerbErrorf(verbNameLabel, "option \"%s\" not recognized", opt)
 		}
-		return nil, cli.VerbErrorf(verbNameLabel, "option \"%s\" not recognized", opt)
 	}
 
 	// Get the label field names from the command line
diff --git a/pkg/transformers/latin1_to_utf8.go b/pkg/transformers/latin1_to_utf8.go
index a93acb21d..30befec45 100644
--- a/pkg/transformers/latin1_to_utf8.go
+++ b/pkg/transformers/latin1_to_utf8.go
@@ -56,8 +56,9 @@ func transformerLatin1ToUTF8ParseCLI(
 			transformerLatin1ToUTF8Usage(os.Stdout)
 			return nil, cli.ErrHelpRequested
 
+		} else {
+			return nil, cli.VerbErrorf(verbNameLatin1ToUTF8, "option \"%s\" not recognized", opt)
 		}
-		return nil, cli.VerbErrorf(verbNameLatin1ToUTF8, "option \"%s\" not recognized", opt)
 	}
 
 	*pargi = argi
diff --git a/pkg/transformers/nothing.go b/pkg/transformers/nothing.go
index 6fb0cfd69..460f25f2f 100644
--- a/pkg/transformers/nothing.go
+++ b/pkg/transformers/nothing.go
@@ -53,9 +53,10 @@ func transformerNothingParseCLI(
 		if opt == "-h" || opt == "--help" {
 			transformerNothingUsage(os.Stdout)
 			return nil, cli.ErrHelpRequested
+		} else {
+			transformerNothingUsage(os.Stderr)
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("%s %s: option \"%s\" not recognized", "mlr", verbNameNothing, opt)
 		}
-		transformerNothingUsage(os.Stderr)
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("%s %s: option \"%s\" not recognized", "mlr", verbNameNothing, opt)
 	}
 
 	*pargi = argi
diff --git a/pkg/transformers/regularize.go b/pkg/transformers/regularize.go
index c862967fa..61ca19ee0 100644
--- a/pkg/transformers/regularize.go
+++ b/pkg/transformers/regularize.go
@@ -55,8 +55,9 @@ func transformerRegularizeParseCLI(
 			transformerRegularizeUsage(os.Stdout)
 			return nil, cli.ErrHelpRequested
 
+		} else {
+			return nil, cli.VerbErrorf(verbNameRegularize, "option \"%s\" not recognized", opt)
 		}
-		return nil, cli.VerbErrorf(verbNameRegularize, "option \"%s\" not recognized", opt)
 	}
 
 	*pargi = argi
diff --git a/pkg/transformers/remove_empty_columns.go b/pkg/transformers/remove_empty_columns.go
index e939ecfca..c148358df 100644
--- a/pkg/transformers/remove_empty_columns.go
+++ b/pkg/transformers/remove_empty_columns.go
@@ -54,8 +54,9 @@ func transformerRemoveEmptyColumnsParseCLI(
 			transformerRemoveEmptyColumnsUsage(os.Stdout)
 			return nil, cli.ErrHelpRequested
 
+		} else {
+			return nil, cli.VerbErrorf(verbNameRemoveEmptyColumns, "option \"%s\" not recognized", opt)
 		}
-		return nil, cli.VerbErrorf(verbNameRemoveEmptyColumns, "option \"%s\" not recognized", opt)
 	}
 
 	*pargi = argi
diff --git a/pkg/transformers/sec2gmtdate.go b/pkg/transformers/sec2gmtdate.go
index 296b90a65..77c50bf23 100644
--- a/pkg/transformers/sec2gmtdate.go
+++ b/pkg/transformers/sec2gmtdate.go
@@ -57,8 +57,9 @@ func transformerSec2GMTDateParseCLI(
 			transformerSec2GMTDateUsage(os.Stdout)
 			return nil, cli.ErrHelpRequested
 
+		} else {
+			return nil, cli.VerbErrorf(verbNameSec2GMTDate, "option \"%s\" not recognized", opt)
 		}
-		return nil, cli.VerbErrorf(verbNameSec2GMTDate, "option \"%s\" not recognized", opt)
 	}
 
 	if argi >= argc {
diff --git a/pkg/transformers/shuffle.go b/pkg/transformers/shuffle.go
index 6a35e36e7..688230fb4 100644
--- a/pkg/transformers/shuffle.go
+++ b/pkg/transformers/shuffle.go
@@ -57,8 +57,9 @@ func transformerShuffleParseCLI(
 			transformerShuffleUsage(os.Stdout)
 			return nil, cli.ErrHelpRequested
 
+		} else {
+			return nil, cli.VerbErrorf(verbNameShuffle, "option \"%s\" not recognized", opt)
 		}
-		return nil, cli.VerbErrorf(verbNameShuffle, "option \"%s\" not recognized", opt)
 	}
 
 	*pargi = argi
diff --git a/pkg/transformers/skip_trivial_records.go b/pkg/transformers/skip_trivial_records.go
index de4a456d4..e8ddd1fe5 100644
--- a/pkg/transformers/skip_trivial_records.go
+++ b/pkg/transformers/skip_trivial_records.go
@@ -54,8 +54,9 @@ func transformerSkipTrivialRecordsParseCLI(
 			transformerSkipTrivialRecordsUsage(os.Stdout)
 			return nil, cli.ErrHelpRequested
 
+		} else {
+			return nil, cli.VerbErrorf(verbNameSkipTrivialRecords, "option \"%s\" not recognized", opt)
 		}
-		return nil, cli.VerbErrorf(verbNameSkipTrivialRecords, "option \"%s\" not recognized", opt)
 	}
 
 	*pargi = argi
diff --git a/pkg/transformers/tac.go b/pkg/transformers/tac.go
index d7017aac3..237d8a23a 100644
--- a/pkg/transformers/tac.go
+++ b/pkg/transformers/tac.go
@@ -53,8 +53,9 @@ func transformerTacParseCLI(
 			transformerTacUsage(os.Stdout)
 			return nil, cli.ErrHelpRequested
 
+		} else {
+			return nil, cli.VerbErrorf(verbNameTac, "option \"%s\" not recognized", opt)
 		}
-		return nil, cli.VerbErrorf(verbNameTac, "option \"%s\" not recognized", opt)
 	}
 
 	*pargi = argi
diff --git a/pkg/transformers/utf8_to_latin1.go b/pkg/transformers/utf8_to_latin1.go
index f5d5735c4..fbeebe383 100644
--- a/pkg/transformers/utf8_to_latin1.go
+++ b/pkg/transformers/utf8_to_latin1.go
@@ -56,8 +56,9 @@ func transformerUTF8ToLatin1ParseCLI(
 			transformerUTF8ToLatin1Usage(os.Stdout)
 			return nil, cli.ErrHelpRequested
 
+		} else {
+			return nil, cli.VerbErrorf(verbNameUTF8ToLatin1, "option \"%s\" not recognized", opt)
 		}
-		return nil, cli.VerbErrorf(verbNameUTF8ToLatin1, "option \"%s\" not recognized", opt)
 	}
 
 	*pargi = argi