docs/content/github/finding-security-vulnerabilities-and-errors-in-your-code/configuring-codeql-code-scanning-in-your-ci-system.md

title, shortTitle, intro, product, miniTocMaxHeadingLevel, redirect_from, versions

title	shortTitle	intro	product	miniTocMaxHeadingLevel	redirect_from	versions
Configuring CodeQL code scanning in your CI system	Configuring in your CI	You can configure how the {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql_runner %} scans the code in your project and uploads the results to {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %}.	{% data reusables.gated-features.code-scanning %}	4	/github/finding-security-vulnerabilities-and-errors-in-your-code/configuring-code-scanning-in-your-ci-system	free-pro-team enterprise-server github-ae * >=2.22 *

{% data reusables.code-scanning.beta-codeql-runner %} {% data reusables.code-scanning.beta %} {% data reusables.code-scanning.enterprise-enable-code-scanning %}

About configuring {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql %} {% data variables.product.prodname_code_scanning %} in your CI system

To integrate {% data variables.product.prodname_code_scanning %} into your CI system, you can use the {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql_runner %}. For more information, see "Running {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql %} {% data variables.product.prodname_code_scanning %} in your CI system."

In general, you invoke the {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql_runner %} as follows.

$ /path/to-runner/codeql-runner-OS <COMMAND> <FLAGS>

/path/to-runner/ depends on where you've downloaded the {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql_runner %} on your CI system. codeql-runner-OS depends on the operating system you use. There are three versions of the {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql_runner %}, codeql-runner-linux, codeql-runner-macos, and codeql-runner-win, for Linux, macOS, and Windows systems respectively.

To customize the way the {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql_runner %} scans your code, you can use flags, such as --languages and --queries, or you can specify custom settings in a separate configuration file.

Scanning pull requests

Scanning code whenever a pull request is created prevents developers from introducing new vulnerabilities and errors into the code.

To scan a pull request, run the analyze command and use the --ref flag to specify the pull request. The reference is refs/pull/<pr-number>/head or refs/pull/<pr-number>/merge, depending on whether you have checked out the HEAD commit of the pull request branch or a merge commit with the base branch.

$ /path/to-runner/codeql-runner-linux analyze --ref refs/pull/42/head

Overriding automatic language detection

The {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql_runner %} automatically detects and scans code written in the supported languages.

{% data reusables.code-scanning.supported-languages %}

{% data reusables.code-scanning.specify-language-to-analyze %}

To override automatic language detection, run the init command with the --languages flag, followed by a comma-separated list of language keywords. The keywords for the supported languages are cpp, csharp, go, java, javascript, and python.

$ /path/to-runner/codeql-runner-linux init --languages cpp,java

Running additional queries

{% data reusables.code-scanning.run-additional-queries %}

{% data reusables.code-scanning.codeql-query-suites %}

To add one or more queries, pass a comma-separated list of paths to the --queries flag of the init command. You can also specify additional queries in a configuration file.

If you also are using a configuration file for custom settings, and you are also specifying additional queries with the --queries flag, the {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql_runner %} uses the additional queries specified with the --queries flag instead of any in the configuration file. If you want to run the combined set of additional queries specified with the flag and in the configuration file, prefix the value passed to --queries with the + symbol. For more information, see "Using a custom configuration file."

In the following example, the + symbol ensures that the {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql_runner %} uses the additional queries together with any queries specified in the referenced configuration file.

$ /path/to-runner/codeql-runner-linux init --config-file .github/codeql/codeql-config.yml 
    --queries +security-and-quality,octo-org/python-qlpack/show_ifs.ql@main

Using a custom configuration file

Instead of passing additional information to the {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql_runner %} commands, you can specify custom settings in a separate configuration file.

The configuration file is a YAML file. It uses syntax similar to the workflow syntax for {% data variables.product.prodname_actions %}, as illustrated in the examples below. For more information, see "Workflow syntax for {% data variables.product.prodname_actions %}."

Use the --config-file flag of the init command to specify the configuration file. The value of --config-file is the path to the configuration file that you want to use. This example loads the configuration file .github/codeql/codeql-config.yml.

$ /path/to-runner/codeql-runner-linux init --config-file .github/codeql/codeql-config.yml

{% data reusables.code-scanning.custom-configuration-file %}

Example configuration files

{% data reusables.code-scanning.example-configuration-files %}

Configuring {% data variables.product.prodname_code_scanning %} for compiled languages

For the compiled languages C/C++, C#, and Java, {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql %} builds the code before analyzing it. {% data reusables.code-scanning.analyze-go %}

For many common build systems, the {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql_runner %} can build the code automatically. To attempt to build the code automatically, run autobuild between the init and analyze steps. Note that if your repository requires a specific version of a build tool, you may need to install the build tool manually first.

The autobuild process only ever attempts to build one compiled language for a repository. The language automatically selected for analysis is the language with the most files. If you want to choose a language explicitly, use the --language flag of the autobuild command.

$ /path/to-runner/codeql-runner-linux autobuild --language csharp

If the autobuild command can't build your code, you can run the build steps yourself, between the init and analyze steps. For more information, see "Running {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql %} {% data variables.product.prodname_code_scanning %} in your CI system."

Uploading {% data variables.product.prodname_code_scanning %} data to {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %}

By default, the {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql_runner %} uploads results from {% data variables.product.prodname_code_scanning %} when you run the analyze command. You can also upload SARIF files separately, by using the upload command.

Once you've uploaded the data, {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} displays the alerts in your repository. For more information, see "Managing {% data variables.product.prodname_code_scanning %} alerts for your repository."

{% data variables.product.prodname_codeql_runner %} command reference

The {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql_runner %} supports the following commands and flags.

init

Initializes the {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql_runner %} and creates a {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql %} database for each language to be analyzed.

Flag	Required	Input value
--repository	✓	Name of the repository to initialize.
--github-url	✓	URL of the {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} instance where your repository is hosted.
--github-auth	✓	A {% data variables.product.prodname_github_apps %} token or personal access token.
--languages		Comma-separated list of languages to analyze. By default, the {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql_runner %} detects and analyzes all supported languages in the repository.
--queries		Comma-separated list of additional queries to run, in addition to the default suite of security queries.
--config-file		Path to custom configuration file.
--codeql-path		Path to a copy of the {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql %} CLI executable to use. By default, the {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql_runner %} downloads a copy.
--temp-dir		Directory where temporary files are stored. The default is ./codeql-runner.
--tools-dir		Directory where {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql %} tools and other files are stored between runs. The default is a subdirectory of the home directory.
--checkout-path		The path to the checkout of your repository. The default is the current working directory.
--debug		None. Prints more verbose output.
-h, --help		None. Displays help for the command.

autobuild

Attempts to build the code for the compiled languages C/C++, C#, and Java. For those languages, {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql %} builds the code before analyzing it. Run autobuild between the init and analyze steps.

Flag	Required	Input value
--language		The language to build. By default, the {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql_runner %} builds the compiled language with the most files.
--temp-dir		Directory where temporary files are stored. The default is ./codeql-runner.
--debug		None. Prints more verbose output.
-h, --help		None. Displays help for the command.

analyze

Analyzes the code in the {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql %} databases and uploads results to {% data variables.product.product_name %}.

Flag	Required	Input value
--repository	✓	Name of the repository to analyze.
--commit	✓	SHA of the commit to analyze. In Git and in Azure DevOps, this corresponds to the value of git rev-parse HEAD. In Jenkins, this corresponds to $GIT_COMMIT.
--ref	✓	Name of the reference to analyze, for example refs/heads/main or refs/pull/42/merge. In Git or in Jenkins, this corresponds to the value of git symbolic-ref HEAD. In Azure DevOps, this corresponds to $(Build.SourceBranch).
--github-url	✓	URL of the {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} instance where your repository is hosted.
--github-auth	✓	A {% data variables.product.prodname_github_apps %} token or personal access token.
--checkout-path		The path to the checkout of your repository. The default is the current working directory.
--no-upload		None. Stops the {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql_runner %} from uploading the results to {% data variables.product.product_name %}.
--output-dir		Directory where the output SARIF files are stored. The default is in the directory of temporary files.
--ram		Amount of memory to use when running queries. The default is to use all available memory.
--no-add-snippets		None. Excludes code snippets from the SARIF output.
--threads		Number of threads to use when running queries. The default is to use all available cores.
--temp-dir		Directory where temporary files are stored. The default is ./codeql-runner.
--debug		None. Prints more verbose output.
-h, --help		None. Displays help for the command.

upload

Uploads SARIF files to {% data variables.product.product_name %}.

{% note %}

Note: If you analyze code with the CodeQL runner, the analyze command uploads SARIF results by default. You can use the upload command to upload SARIF results that were generated by other tools.

{% endnote %}

Flag	Required	Input value
--sarif-file	✓	SARIF file to upload, or a directory containing multiple SARIF files.
--repository	✓	Name of the repository that was analyzed.
--commit	✓	SHA of the commit that was analyzed. In Git and in Azure DevOps, this corresponds to the value of git rev-parse HEAD. In Jenkins, this corresponds to $GIT_COMMIT.
--ref	✓	Name of the reference that was analyzed, for example refs/heads/main or refs/pull/42/merge. In Git or in Jenkins, this corresponds to the value of git symbolic-ref HEAD. In Azure DevOps, this corresponds to $(Build.SourceBranch).
--github-url	✓	URL of the {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} instance where your repository is hosted.
--github-auth	✓	A {% data variables.product.prodname_github_apps %} token or personal access token.
--checkout-path		The path to the checkout of your repository. The default is the current working directory.
--debug		None. Prints more verbose output.
-h, --help		None. Displays help for the command.