Setting up the CodeQL CLI

Setting up the CodeQL CLI

To run CodeQL commands, you need to set up the CodeQL CLI so that it can access the tools, queries, and libraries required to create and analyze databases.

The CodeQL CLI supports a range of use cases and directory structures. This article walks through a simple setup that works for most users and environments.

If you plan to use the CodeQL CLI for security research or to test or contribute queries, you may need a more advanced setup. For more information, see Sobre a CLI do CodeQL.

Before you begin

If you are using macOS on Apple Silicon (for example, Apple M1), ensure that the Xcode command-line developer tools and Rosetta 2 are installed.

1. Download the CodeQL CLI tar archive

O pacote de download do CodeQL CLI é um arquivo tar que contém ferramentas, scripts e vários arquivos específicos do CodeQL. Se você não tiver uma licença do GitHub Enterprise, baixando esse arquivo, você estará concordando com os termos e condições do GitHub CodeQL.

Baixe o pacote do CodeQL em https://github.com/github/codeql-action/releases. O pacote contém:

• produto de CodeQL CLI
• Uma versão compatível das consultas e bibliotecas do https://github.com/github/codeql
• Versões pré-compiladas de todas as consultas incluídas no pacote

Use sempre o pacote CodeQL. Fazer isso garante a compatibilidade e proporciona um desempenho muito melhor que um download separado da CodeQL CLI e o check-out das consultas da CodeQL. Se estiver executando apenas a CLI em uma plataforma específica, baixe o arquivo codeql-bundle-PLATFORM.tar.zst apropriado. Como alternativa, você pode baixar codeql-bundle.tar.zst, que contém a CLI para todas as plataformas compatíveis.

Existem também variantes tar.gz do pacote, que são idênticas às variantes tar.zst, exceto por serem compactadas usando o algoritmo gzip menos eficiente. A única razão para baixar as variantes tar.gz é se você estiver usando ferramentas de descompactação mais antigas que não suportam o algoritmo de compactação Zstandard.

2. Extract the CodeQL CLI tar archive

Extract the CodeQL CLI tar archive to a directory of your choosing.

Optional: Make the CodeQL CLI available in your CI system

If you plan to run CodeQL code scanning analysis in a CI system, ensure that the full contents of the CodeQL CLI bundle are available to every CI server that will run analysis.

For example, you can:

• Copy the bundle from a central internal location and extract it on each server, or
• Use the REST API to download the bundle directly from GitHub, ensuring that you receive the latest improvements to queries. For more information, see Pontos de extremidade da API REST para lançamentos e ativos de lançamento.

3. Launch codeql

Após a extração, você poderá executar processos do CodeQL executando o executável codeql de algumas maneiras:

• Ao executar <extraction-root>/codeql/codeql, em que <extraction-root> é a pasta na qual você extraiu o pacote da CodeQL CLI.
• Adicione o <extraction-root>/codeql ao PATH, para que você possa executar o executável apenas como codeql.

Neste ponto, você pode executar comandos do CodeQL. Para ver uma lista completa dos comandos da CodeQL CLI, confira Manual de comandos da CLI do CodeQL.

Testing the CodeQL CLI configuration

After you extract the CodeQL CLI bundle, you can run the following command to verify that the CLI is correctly configured to create and analyze databases:

• codeql resolve packs if /<extraction root>/codeql is on the PATH.
• /<extraction root>/codeql/codeql resolve packs otherwise.

If successful, you should see output similar to the extract below:

Searching directories specified by `--additional-packs`. All directories have equal priority.
  Searching in:
    No packs were found at this location.
Searching directories specified by `--search-path`. Directories are searched in order.
Searching the root of the CodeQL distribution.
  Searching in:
      <extraction root>
    The following packs were found:
      codeql/java-all@<version>: (library) <extraction root>/qlpacks/codeql/javat-all/<version>/qlpack.yml
      codeql/java-queries@<version>: (query) <extraction root>/qlpacks/codeql/java-queries/<version>/qlpack.yml
      codeql/javascript-all@<version>: (library) <extraction root>/qlpacks/codeql/javascript-all/<version>/qlpack.yml
      codeql/javascript-queries@<version>: (query) <extraction root>/qlpacks/codeql/javascript-queries/<version>/qlpack.yml
      codeql/swift-all@<version>: (library) <extraction root>/qlpacks/codeql/swift-all/<version>/qlpack.yml
      codeql/swift-queries@<version>: (query) <extraction root>/qlpacks/codeql/swift-queries/<version>/qlpack.yml
...

The results have been truncated for brevity. The actual results will be longer and more detailed.

You should check that the output contains the expected languages and also that the directory location for the qlpack files is correct. The location should be within the extracted CodeQL CLI bundle, shown in the earlier example as <extraction root>. If the CodeQL CLI is unable to locate the qlpacks for the expected languages, check that you downloaded the CodeQL bundle and not a standalone copy of the CodeQL CLI.

You can also run codeql resolve languages to show which languages are available for database creation. This will list the languages supported by default in your CodeQL CLI package.

Optionally, you can download some CodeQL packs containing pre-compiled queries you would like to run. For more information, see Como personalizar a análise com pacotes CodeQL.

The codeql resolve packs command is useful for diagnosing problems when the CodeQL CLI is unable to locate query packs that you expect to be available for analysis.

Next steps

To learn how to prepare your code to be analyzed by the CodeQL CLI, see Como preparar seu código para a análise do CodeQL.