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
codeql query compile [--check-only] [--keep-going] [--threads=<num>] [--ram=<MB>] <options>... -- <file>...
codeql query compile [--check-only] [--keep-going] [--threads=<num>] [--ram=<MB>] <options>... -- <file>...
Description
Compile or check QL code.
Compile one or more queries. Usually the main outcome of this command is that the compiled version of the query is written to a compilation cache where it will be found when the query is later executed. Other output options are mostly for debugging.
Options
Primary Options
<file>...
[Mandatory] Queries to compile. Each argument is one of:
- A .ql file to compile.
- A directory which will be searched recursively for .ql files.
- A .qls file that defines a particular set of queries.
- The basename of a "well-known" .qls file exported by one of the installed QL packs.
-n, --check-only
Just check that the QL is valid and print any errors; do not actually optimize and store a query plan. This can be much faster than a full compilation.
--[no-]precompile
[Advanced] Save each compiled query as a binary .qlx
file next to
the .ql
source.
This is only supposed to be used while preparing a query pack for
distribution (in which case it is used automatically by codeql pack publish). Once the .qlx
files exist, later commands that execute queries may ignore
changes to the QL source in favor of the precompiled version.
Some rarely used compilation options are incompatible with this and will lead to a run-time error.
Available since v2.12.0
.
--[no-]dump-dil
[Advanced] Print the optimized DIL intermediate representation to standard output while compiling.
When JSON output is selected, the DIL will be represented as an array of single-line strings, with some wrapping to identify which query is being compiled.
-k, --[no-]keep-going
Keep going with compilation even if an error is found.
--[no-]dump-ra
[Advanced] Print the optimized RA query plan to standard output while compiling.
When JSON output is selected, the RA will be represented as an array of single-line strings, with some wrapping to identify which query is being compiled.
--format=<fmt>
Select output format, either text
(default) or json
.
-j, --threads=<num>
Use this many threads to compile queries.
Defaults to 1. You can pass 0 to use one thread per core on the machine, or -N to leave N cores unused (except still use at least one thread).
-M, --ram=<MB>
Set total amount of RAM the compiler should be allowed to use.
QL variant and compiler control options
--warnings=<mode>
How to handle warnings from the QL compiler. One of:
hide
: Suppress warnings.
show
(default): Print warnings but continue with compilation.
error
: Treat warnings as errors.
--no-debug-info
Don't emit source location info in RA for debugging.
--[no-]fast-compilation
[Deprecated] [Advanced] Omit particularly slow optimization steps.
--no-release-compatibility
[Advanced] Use the newest compiler features, at the cost of portability.
From time to time, new QL language features and evaluator optimizations will be supported by the QL evaluator a few releases before they are enabled by default in the QL compiler. This helps ensure that the performance you experience when developing queries in the newest CodeQL release can be matched by slightly older releases that may still be in use for Code Scanning or CI integrations.
If you do not care about your queries being compatible with other (earlier or later) CodeQL releases, you can sometimes achieve a small amount of extra performance by using this flag to enable recent improvements in the compiler early.
In releases where there are no recent improvements to enable, this option silently does nothing. Thus it is safe to set it once and for all in your global CodeQL config file.
Available since v2.11.1
.
--[no-]local-checking
Only perform initial checks on the part of the QL source that is used.
--no-metadata-verification
Don't check embedded query metadata in QLDoc comments for validity.
--compilation-cache-size=<MB>
[Advanced] Override the default maximum size for a compilation cache directory.
--fail-on-ambiguous-relation-name
[Advanced] Fail compilation if an ambiguous relation name is generated during compilation.
Options to set up compilation environment
--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 ;
).
--library-path=<dir>[:<dir>...]
[Advanced] An optional list of directories that will be added to the raw import search path for QL libraries. This should only be used if you're using QL libraries that have not been packaged as QL packs.
(Note: On Windows the path separator is ;
).
--dbscheme=<file>
[Advanced] Explicitly define which dbscheme queries should be compiled against. This should only be given by callers that are extremely sure what they're doing.
--compilation-cache=<dir>
[Advanced] Specify an additional directory to use as a compilation cache.
--no-default-compilation-cache
[Advanced] Don't use compilation caches in standard locations such as in the QL pack containing the query or in the CodeQL toolchain directory.
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>=<token> 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.)
--common-caches=<dir>
[Advanced] Controls the location of cached data on disk that will
persist between several runs of the CLI, such as downloaded QL packs and
compiled query plans. If not set explicitly, this defaults to a
directory named .codeql
in the user's home directory; it will be
created if it doesn't already exist.
Available since v2.15.2
.