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resolve queries

In this article

[Deep plumbing] Expand query directories and suite specifications.

GitHub CodeQL is licensed on a per-user basis upon installation. You can use CodeQL only for certain tasks under the license restrictions. For more information, see "About the CodeQL CLI."

If you have a GitHub Advanced Security license, you can use CodeQL for automated analysis, continuous integration, and continuous delivery. For more information, see "About GitHub Advanced Security."

This content describes the most recent release of the CodeQL CLI. For more information about this release, see https://github.com/github/codeql-cli-binaries/releases.

To see details of the options available for this command in an earlier release, run the command with the --help option in your terminal.

Synopsis

Shell
codeql resolve queries <options>... -- <query|dir|suite|pack>...

Description

[Deep plumbing] Expand query directories and suite specifications.

This plumbing command is responsible for expanding the command-line parameters of subcommands that can run multiple queries, to an actual list of individual .ql files to execute.

If run without any arguments, will display a help message including a list of "well-known" query suite definitions found in available QL packs to the standard error stream, and successfully return an empty list of queries.

Primary options

<querysuite|pack>...

[Mandatory] Queries to execute. Each argument is in the form scope/name@range:path where:

  • scope/name is the qualified name of a CodeQL pack.
  • range is a semver range.
  • path is a file system path.

If a scope/name is specified, the range and path are optional. A missing range implies the latest version of the specified pack. A missing path implies the default query suite of the specified pack.

The path can be one of a *.ql query file, a directory containing one or more queries, or a .qls query suite file. If there is no pack name specified, then a path must be provided, and will be interpreted relative to the current working directory of the current process.

To specify a path that contains a literal @ or :, use path: as a prefix to the argument, like this: path:directory/with:and@/chars.

If a scope/name and path are specified, then the path cannot be absolute. It is considered relative to the root of the CodeQL pack.

--format=<fmt>

Select output format. Choices include:

text (default): A line-oriented list of pathnames.

json: A plain list of pathnames as strings.

bylanguage: A richer JSON representation that groups queries by which extractor they work with, as deduced from their library dependencies -- this is slightly more expensive to compute.

installedpacks: [Deep plumbing] A JSON representation listing CodeQL query packs that are referenced directly or inside of a query suite and are not locally available.

Options for finding QL packs (which may be necessary to interpret query suites)

--search-path=<dir>[:<dir>...]

A list of directories under which QL packs may be found. Each directory can either be a QL pack (or bundle of packs containing a .codeqlmanifest.json file at the root) or the immediate parent of one or more such directories.

If the path contains more than one directory, their order defines precedence between them: when a pack name that must be resolved is matched in more than one of the directory trees, the one given first wins.

Pointing this at a checkout of the open-source CodeQL repository ought to work when querying one of the languages that live there.

If you have checked out the CodeQL repository as a sibling of the unpacked CodeQL toolchain, you don't need to give this option; such sibling directories will always be searched for QL packs that cannot be found otherwise. (If this default does not work, it is strongly recommended to set up --search-path once and for all in a per-user configuration file).

(Note: On Windows the path separator is ;).

--additional-packs=<dir>[:<dir>...]

If this list of directories is given, they will be searched for packs before the ones in --search-path. The order between these doesn't matter; it is an error if a pack name is found in two different places through this list.

This is useful if you're temporarily developing a new version of a pack that also appears in the default path. On the other hand, it is not recommended to override this option in a config file; some internal actions will add this option on the fly, overriding any configured value.

(Note: On Windows the path separator is ;).

Options for configuring the CodeQL package manager

--registries-auth-stdin

Authenticate to GitHub Enterprise Server Container registries by passing a comma-separated list of \<registry_url>=\ pairs.

For example, you can pass https://containers.GHEHOSTNAME1/v2/=TOKEN1,https://containers.GHEHOSTNAME2/v2/=TOKEN2 to authenticate to two GitHub Enterprise Server instances.

This overrides the CODEQL_REGISTRIES_AUTH and GITHUB_TOKEN environment variables. If you only need to authenticate to the github.com Container registry, you can instead authenticate using the simpler --github-auth-stdin option.

--github-auth-stdin

Authenticate to the github.com Container registry by passing a github.com GitHub Apps token or personal access token via standard input.

To authenticate to GitHub Enterprise Server Container registries, pass --registries-auth-stdin or use the CODEQL_REGISTRIES_AUTH environment variable.

This overrides the GITHUB_TOKEN environment variable.

Common options

-h, --help

Show this help text.

-J=<opt>

[Advanced] Give option to the JVM running the command.

(Beware that options containing spaces will not be handled correctly.)

-v, --verbose

Incrementally increase the number of progress messages printed.

-q, --quiet

Incrementally decrease the number of progress messages printed.

--verbosity=<level>

[Advanced] Explicitly set the verbosity level to one of errors, warnings, progress, progress+, progress++, progress+++. Overrides -v and -q.

--logdir=<dir>

[Advanced] Write detailed logs to one or more files in the given directory, with generated names that include timestamps and the name of the running subcommand.

(To write a log file with a name you have full control over, instead give --log-to-stderr and redirect stderr as desired.)