diff --git a/bin/semantic-release.js b/bin/semantic-release.js
index 8019452c..58d62174 100755
--- a/bin/semantic-release.js
+++ b/bin/semantic-release.js
@@ -30,9 +30,9 @@ execa
       process.exit(1);
     }
   })
-  .catch(err => {
+  .catch(error => {
     console.error(`[semantic-release]: Git version ${MIN_GIT_VERSION} is required. No git binary found.`);
-    console.error(err);
+    console.error(error);
     process.exit(1);
   });
 
diff --git a/cli.js b/cli.js
index 8bd89f03..7ab6e0c4 100755
--- a/cli.js
+++ b/cli.js
@@ -57,9 +57,9 @@ Usage:
     }
     await require('.')(opts);
     return 0;
-  } catch (err) {
-    if (err.name !== 'YError') {
-      stderr.write(hideSensitive(env)(util.inspect(err, {colors: true})));
+  } catch (error) {
+    if (error.name !== 'YError') {
+      stderr.write(hideSensitive(env)(util.inspect(error, {colors: true})));
     }
     return 1;
   }
diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index e148c98d..120aecd9 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -60,14 +60,14 @@ async function run(context, plugins) {
 
   try {
     await verifyAuth(options.repositoryUrl, options.branch, {cwd, env});
-  } catch (err) {
+  } catch (error) {
     if (!(await isBranchUpToDate(options.branch, {cwd, env}))) {
       logger.log(
         `The local branch ${options.branch} is behind the remote one, therefore a new version won't be published.`
       );
       return false;
     }
-    logger.error(`The command "${err.cmd}" failed with the error message ${err.stderr}.`);
+    logger.error(`The command "${error.cmd}" failed with the error message ${error.stderr}.`);
     throw getError('EGITNOPERMISSION', {options});
   }
 
@@ -131,13 +131,13 @@ function logErrors({logger, stderr}, err) {
   }
 }
 
-async function callFail(context, plugins, error) {
-  const errors = extractErrors(error).filter(error => error.semanticRelease);
+async function callFail(context, plugins, err) {
+  const errors = extractErrors(err).filter(err => err.semanticRelease);
   if (errors.length > 0) {
     try {
       await plugins.fail({...context, errors});
-    } catch (err) {
-      logErrors(context, err);
+    } catch (error) {
+      logErrors(context, error);
     }
   }
 }
@@ -157,15 +157,15 @@ module.exports = async (opts = {}, {cwd = process.cwd(), env = process.env, stdo
       const result = await run(context, plugins);
       unhook();
       return result;
-    } catch (err) {
+    } catch (error) {
       if (!options.dryRun) {
-        await callFail(context, plugins, err);
+        await callFail(context, plugins, error);
       }
-      throw err;
+      throw error;
     }
-  } catch (err) {
-    logErrors(context, err);
+  } catch (error) {
+    logErrors(context, error);
     unhook();
-    throw err;
+    throw error;
   }
 };
diff --git a/lib/get-git-auth-url.js b/lib/get-git-auth-url.js
index 863879ba..e19e366a 100644
--- a/lib/get-git-auth-url.js
+++ b/lib/get-git-auth-url.js
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ module.exports = async ({cwd, env, options: {repositoryUrl, branch}}) => {
   // Test if push is allowed without transforming the URL (e.g. is ssh keys are set up)
   try {
     await verifyAuth(repositoryUrl, branch, {cwd, env});
-  } catch (err) {
+  } catch (error) {
     const envVar = Object.keys(GIT_TOKENS).find(envVar => !isUndefined(env[envVar]));
     const gitCredentials = `${GIT_TOKENS[envVar] || ''}${env[envVar] || ''}`;
     const {protocols, ...parsed} = gitUrlParse(repositoryUrl);
diff --git a/lib/git.js b/lib/git.js
index 98bd0305..b03d8f49 100644
--- a/lib/git.js
+++ b/lib/git.js
@@ -12,8 +12,8 @@ const debug = require('debug')('semantic-release:git');
 async function gitTagHead(tagName, execaOpts) {
   try {
     return await execa.stdout('git', ['rev-list', '-1', tagName], execaOpts);
-  } catch (err) {
-    debug(err);
+  } catch (error) {
+    debug(error);
   }
 }
 
@@ -44,13 +44,13 @@ async function isRefInHistory(ref, execaOpts) {
   try {
     await execa('git', ['merge-base', '--is-ancestor', ref, 'HEAD'], execaOpts);
     return true;
-  } catch (err) {
-    if (err.code === 1) {
+  } catch (error) {
+    if (error.code === 1) {
       return false;
     }
 
-    debug(err);
-    throw err;
+    debug(error);
+    throw error;
   }
 }
 
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ async function isRefInHistory(ref, execaOpts) {
 async function fetch(repositoryUrl, execaOpts) {
   try {
     await execa('git', ['fetch', '--unshallow', '--tags', repositoryUrl], execaOpts);
-  } catch (err) {
+  } catch (error) {
     await execa('git', ['fetch', '--tags', repositoryUrl], execaOpts);
   }
 }
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ async function fetch(repositoryUrl, execaOpts) {
  *
  * @return {string} the sha of the HEAD commit.
  */
-async function gitHead(execaOpts) {
+function gitHead(execaOpts) {
   return execa.stdout('git', ['rev-parse', 'HEAD'], execaOpts);
 }
 
@@ -89,8 +89,8 @@ async function gitHead(execaOpts) {
 async function repoUrl(execaOpts) {
   try {
     return await execa.stdout('git', ['config', '--get', 'remote.origin.url'], execaOpts);
-  } catch (err) {
-    debug(err);
+  } catch (error) {
+    debug(error);
   }
 }
 
@@ -104,8 +104,8 @@ async function repoUrl(execaOpts) {
 async function isGitRepo(execaOpts) {
   try {
     return (await execa('git', ['rev-parse', '--git-dir'], execaOpts)).code === 0;
-  } catch (err) {
-    debug(err);
+  } catch (error) {
+    debug(error);
   }
 }
 
@@ -121,9 +121,9 @@ async function isGitRepo(execaOpts) {
 async function verifyAuth(repositoryUrl, branch, execaOpts) {
   try {
     await execa('git', ['push', '--dry-run', repositoryUrl, `HEAD:${branch}`], execaOpts);
-  } catch (err) {
-    debug(err);
-    throw err;
+  } catch (error) {
+    debug(error);
+    throw error;
   }
 }
 
@@ -163,8 +163,8 @@ async function push(repositoryUrl, branch, execaOpts) {
 async function verifyTagName(tagName, execaOpts) {
   try {
     return (await execa('git', ['check-ref-format', `refs/tags/${tagName}`], execaOpts)).code === 0;
-  } catch (err) {
-    debug(err);
+  } catch (error) {
+    debug(error);
   }
 }
 
@@ -182,8 +182,8 @@ async function isBranchUpToDate(branch, execaOpts) {
       (await execa.stdout('git', ['ls-remote', '--heads', 'origin', branch], execaOpts)).match(/^(\w+)?/)[1],
       execaOpts
     );
-  } catch (err) {
-    debug(err);
+  } catch (error) {
+    debug(error);
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/plugins/normalize.js b/lib/plugins/normalize.js
index 45b7be2a..d71bd840 100644
--- a/lib/plugins/normalize.js
+++ b/lib/plugins/normalize.js
@@ -42,10 +42,10 @@ module.exports = ({cwd, stdout, stderr, options, logger}, type, pluginOpt, plugi
       }
       logger.success(`Completed step "${type}" of plugin "${pluginName}"`);
       return result;
-    } catch (err) {
+    } catch (error) {
       logger.error(`Failed step "${type}" of plugin "${pluginName}"`);
-      extractErrors(err).forEach(err => Object.assign(err, {pluginName}));
-      throw err;
+      extractErrors(error).forEach(err => Object.assign(err, {pluginName}));
+      throw error;
     }
   };
 
diff --git a/lib/plugins/pipeline.js b/lib/plugins/pipeline.js
index 6364c058..4ed7f0cf 100644
--- a/lib/plugins/pipeline.js
+++ b/lib/plugins/pipeline.js
@@ -36,12 +36,12 @@ module.exports = (steps, {settleAll = false, getNextInput = identity, transform
         // Call the step with the input computed at the end of the previous iteration and save intermediary result
         result = await transform(await step(lastInput), step, lastInput);
         results.push(result);
-      } catch (err) {
+      } catch (error) {
         if (settleAll) {
-          errors.push(...extractErrors(err));
-          result = err;
+          errors.push(...extractErrors(error));
+          result = error;
         } else {
-          throw err;
+          throw error;
         }
       }
       // Prepare input for the next step, passing the input of the last iteration (or initial parameter for the first iteration) and the result of the current one
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index b57aa2d9..35de4184 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@
     "sinon": "^6.0.0",
     "stream-buffers": "^3.0.2",
     "tempy": "^0.2.1",
-    "xo": "^0.22.0"
+    "xo": "^0.23.0"
   },
   "engines": {
     "node": ">=8.3"
diff --git a/test/helpers/git-utils.js b/test/helpers/git-utils.js
index c0dac407..fedbb6a0 100644
--- a/test/helpers/git-utils.js
+++ b/test/helpers/git-utils.js
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ export async function initBareRepo(repositoryUrl, branch = 'master') {
  * @returns {Array<Commit>} The created commits, in reverse order (to match `git log` order).
  */
 export async function gitCommits(messages, execaOpts) {
-  await pReduce(messages, async (_, message) =>
+  await pReduce(messages, (_, message) =>
     execa.stdout('git', ['commit', '-m', message, '--allow-empty', '--no-gpg-sign'], execaOpts)
   );
   return (await gitGetCommits(undefined, execaOpts)).slice(0, messages.length);
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ export async function gitCheckout(branch, create = true, execaOpts) {
  *
  * @return {String} The sha of the head commit in the current git repository.
  */
-export async function gitHead(execaOpts) {
+export function gitHead(execaOpts) {
   return execa.stdout('git', ['rev-parse', 'HEAD'], execaOpts);
 }
 
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ export async function gitAddConfig(name, value, execaOpts) {
  *
  * @return {String} The sha of the commit associated with `tagName` on the local repository.
  */
-export async function gitTagHead(tagName, execaOpts) {
+export function gitTagHead(tagName, execaOpts) {
   return execa.stdout('git', ['rev-list', '-1', tagName], execaOpts);
 }
 
@@ -209,7 +209,7 @@ export async function gitRemoteTagHead(repositoryUrl, tagName, execaOpts) {
  *
  * @return {String} The tag associatedwith the sha in parameter or `null`.
  */
-export async function gitCommitTag(gitHead, execaOpts) {
+export function gitCommitTag(gitHead, execaOpts) {
   return execa.stdout('git', ['describe', '--tags', '--exact-match', gitHead], execaOpts);
 }
 
diff --git a/test/helpers/mockserver.js b/test/helpers/mockserver.js
index d9c28e96..f7a6aaca 100644
--- a/test/helpers/mockserver.js
+++ b/test/helpers/mockserver.js
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ async function start() {
       minTimeout: 1000,
       factor: 2,
     });
-  } catch (err) {
+  } catch (error) {
     throw new Error(`Couldn't start mock-server after 2 min`);
   }
 }
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ async function mock(
  * @param {Object} expectation The expectation created with `mock` function.
  * @return {Promise} A Promise that resolves if the expectation is met or reject otherwise.
  */
-async function verify(expectation) {
+function verify(expectation) {
   return client.verify(expectation);
 }
 
diff --git a/test/helpers/npm-registry.js b/test/helpers/npm-registry.js
index 64c5f750..e01fcc3e 100644
--- a/test/helpers/npm-registry.js
+++ b/test/helpers/npm-registry.js
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ async function start() {
       minTimeout: 1000,
       factor: 2,
     });
-  } catch (err) {
+  } catch (error) {
     throw new Error(`Couldn't start npm-registry-docker after 2 min`);
   }