CodeQL CLI SARIF output

About SARIF output

SARIF is designed to represent the output of a broad range of static analysis tools, and there are many features in the SARIF specification that are considered “optional”. This document details the output produced when using the format type sarifv2.1.0, which corresponds to the SARIF v2.1.0.csd1 specification. For more information on selecting a file format for your analysis results, see the database analyze command in the CodeQL documentation.

SARIF specification and schema

This article is intended to be read alongside the detailed SARIF specification. For more information on the specification and the SARIF schema, see the SARIF specification documentation.

Change notes

Changes between versions

CodeQL version	Format type	Changes
2.0.0	sarifv2.1.0	First version of this format.

Future changes to the output

The output produced for a given specific format type (for example, sarifv2.1.0) may change in future CodeQL releases. We will endeavor to maintain backwards compatibility with consumers of the generated SARIF by ensuring that:

• No field which is marked as “Always” being generated will be removed.

• The circumstances under which “Optional” fields are generated may change. Consumers of the CodeQL SARIF output should be robust to the presence or absence of these fields.

New output fields may be added in future releases under the same format type–these are not considered to break backwards compatibility, and consumers should be robust to the presence of newly added fields.

New format argument types may be added in future versions of CodeQL—for example, to support new versions of SARIF. These have no guarantee of backwards compatibility, unless explicitly documented.

Generated SARIF objects

This details each SARIF component that may be generated, along with any specific circumstances. We omit any properties that are never generated.

sarifLog object

JSON property name	When is this generated?	Notes
$schema	Always	Provides a link to the SARIF schema.
version	Always	The version of the SARIF used to generate the output.
runs	Always	An array containing a single run object, for one language.

run object

JSON property name	When is this generated?	Notes
tool	Always	–
originalUriBaseIds	Always	A dictionary of uriBaseIds to artifactLocations representing the original locations on the analysis machine. At a minimum, this will contain the %SRCROOT% uriBaseId, which represents the root location on the analysis machine of the source code for the analyzed project. Each artifactLocation will contain the uri and description properties.
artifacts	Always	An array containing at least one artifact object for every file referenced in a result.
results	Always	–
newLineSequences	Always	–
columnKind	Always	–
properties	Always	The properties dictionary will contain the semmle.formatSpecifier, which identifies the format specifier passed to the CodeQL CLI.

tool object

JSON property name	When is this generated?	Notes
driver	Always	–

toolComponent object

JSON property name	When is this generated?	Notes
name	Always	Set to “CodeQL command-line toolchain” for output from the CodeQL CLI tools. Note, if the output was generated using a different tool a different name is reported, and the format may not be as described here.
organization	Always	Set to “GitHub”.
version	Always	Set to the CodeQL release version e.g. “2.0.0”.
rules	Always	An array of reportingDescriptor objects that represent rules. This array will contain, at a minimum, all the rules that were run during this analysis, but may contain rules which were available but not run. For more detail about enabling queries, see defaultConfiguration.

reportingDescriptor object (for rule)

reportingDescriptor objects may be used in multiple places in the SARIF specification. When a reportingDescriptor is included� in the rules array of a toolComponent object it has the following properties.

JSON property name	When is this generated?	Notes
id	Always	Will contain the @id property specified in the query that defines the rule, which is usually of the format language/rule-name (for example cpp/unsafe-format-string). If your organization defines the @opaqueid property in the query it will be used instead.
name	Always	Will contain the @id property specified in the query. See the id property above for an example.
shortDescription	Always	Will contain the @name property specified in the query that defines the rule.
fullDescription	Always	Will contain the @description property specified in the query that defines the rule.
defaultConfiguration	Always	A reportingConfiguration object, with the enabled property set to true or false, and a level property set according to the @severity property specified in the query that defines the rule. Omitted if the @severity property was not specified.

artifact object

JSON property name	When is this generated?	Notes
location	Always	An artifactLocation object.
index	Always	The index of the artifact object.
contents	Optionally	If results are generated using the --sarif-add-file-contents flag, and the source code is available at the time the SARIF file is generated, then the contents property is populated with an artifactContent object, with the text property set.

artifactLocation object

JSON property name	When is this generated?	Notes
uri	Always	–
index	Always	–
uriBaseId	Optionally	If the file is relative to some known abstract location, such as the root source location on the analysis machine, this will be set.

result object

The composition of the results is dependent on the options provided to CodeQL. By default, the results are grouped by unique message format string and primary location. Thus, two results that occur at the same location with the same underlying message, will appear as a single result in the output. This behavior can be disabled by using the flag --ungroup-results, in which case no results are grouped.

JSON property name	When is this generated?	Notes
ruleId	Always	See the description of the id property in reportingDescriptor object (for rule) .
ruleIndex	Always	–
message	Always	A message describing the problem(s) occurring at this location. This message may be a SARIF “Message with placeholder”, containing links that refer to locations in the relatedLocations property.
locations	Always	An array containing a single location object.
partialFingerprints	Always	A dictionary from named fingerprint types to the fingerprint. This will contain, at a minimum, a value for the primaryLocationLineHash, which provides a fingerprint based on the context of the primary location.
codeFlows	Optionally	This array may be populated with one or more codeFlow objects if the query that defines the rule for this result is of @kind path-problem.
relatedLocations	Optionally	This array will be populated if the query that defines the rule for this result has a message with placeholder options. Each unique location is included once.
suppressions	Optionally	If the result is suppressed, then this will contain a single suppression object, with the @kind property set to IN_SOURCE. If this result is not suppressed, but there is at least one result that has a suppression, then this will be set to an empty array, otherwise it will not be set.

location object

JSON property name	When is this generated?	Notes
physicalLocation	Always	–
id	Optionally	location objects that appear in the relatedLocations array of a result object may contain the id property.
message	Optionally	location objects may contain the message property if: - They appear in the relatedLocations array of a result object may contain the message property. - They appear in the threadFlowLocation.location property.

physicalLocation object

JSON property name	When is this generated?	Notes
artifactLocation	Always	–
region	Optionally	If the given physicalLocation exists in a text file, such as a source code file, then the region property may be present.
contextRegion	Optionally	May be present if this location has an associated snippet.

region object

There are two types of region object produced by CodeQL:

• Line/column offset regions

• Character offset and length regions

Any region produced by CodeQL may be specified in either format, and consumers should robustly handle either type.

For line/column offset regions, the following properties will be set:

JSON property name	When is this generated?	Notes
startLine	Always	–
startColumn	Optionally	Not included if equal to the default value of 1.
endLine	Optionally	Not included if identical to startLine.
endColumn	Always	–
snippet	Optionally	–

For character offset and length regions, the following properties will be set:

JSON property name	When is this generated?	Notes
charOffset	Optionally	Provided if startLine, startColumn, endLine, and endColumn are not populated.
charLength	Optionally	Provided if startLine, startColumn, endLine, and endColumn are not populated.
snippet	Optionally	–

codeFlow object

JSON property name	When is this generated?	Notes
threadFlows	Always	–

threadFlow object

JSON property name	When is this generated?	Notes
locations	Always	–

threadFlowLocation object

JSON property name	When is this generated?	Notes
location	Always	–