{% ifversion ghec or ghes %}

By default, the {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql_cli %} expects to download {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql %} packs from and publish packs to the {% data variables.product.prodname_container_registry %} on {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom_the_website %}. However, you can also work with {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql %} packs in a {% data variables.product.prodname_container_registry %} on {% data variables.enterprise.gh_enterprise %} by creating a qlconfig.yml file to tell the CLI which {% data variables.product.prodname_container_registry %} to use for each pack.

Create a ~/.codeql/qlconfig.yml file on Linux/MacOS or %HOMEPATH%\.codeql\qlconfig.yml on Windows using your preferred text editor, and add entries to specify which registry to use for one or more package name patterns. For example, the following qlconfig.yml file associates all packs with the {% data variables.product.prodname_container_registry %} at {% data variables.enterprise.gh_enterprise_domain %}, except packs matching codeql/\* or the other-org/* organization, which are associated with the {% data variables.product.prodname_container_registry %} on {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom_the_website %}:

registries:
- packages:
  - 'codeql/*'
  - 'other-org/*'
  # {% data variables.product.prodname_container_registry %} on {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom_the_website %}
  url: https://ghcr.io/v2/
- packages: '*'
  # {% data variables.product.prodname_container_registry %} hosted at `{% data variables.enterprise.gh_enterprise_domain %}`
  url: {% data variables.enterprise.gh_enterprise_container_registry %}

The {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql_cli %} will determine which registry to use for a given package name by finding the first item in the registries list with a packages property that matches that package name. This means that you’ll generally want to define the most specific package name patterns first. The packages property may be a single package name, a glob pattern, or a YAML list of package names and glob patterns.

The registries list can also be placed inside a codeql-workspace.yml file. Doing so will allow you to define the registries to be used within a specific workspace, so that it can be shared amongst other {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql %} users of the workspace. The registries list in codeql-workspace.yml will be merged with and take precedence over the list in the global qlconfig.yml. For more information about codeql-workspace.yml, see AUTOTITLE.

You can now use codeql pack publish, codeql pack download, and codeql database analyze to manage packs on {% data variables.enterprise.gh_enterprise %}.

{% endif %}

You can publish packs and download private packs by authenticating to the appropriate {% data variables.product.github %} {% data variables.product.prodname_container_registry %}.

{% ifversion ghec or ghes %}

{% endif %}

You can authenticate to the {% data variables.product.prodname_container_registry %} in two ways:

1. Pass the --github-auth-stdin option to the {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql_cli %}, then supply a {% data variables.product.prodname_github_apps %} token or {% data variables.product.pat_generic %} via standard input.
2. Set the GITHUB_TOKEN environment variable to a {% data variables.product.prodname_github_apps %} token or {% data variables.product.pat_generic %}.

{% ifversion ghec or ghes %}

Similarly, you can authenticate to a {% data variables.product.prodname_container_registry %} on {% data variables.enterprise.gh_enterprise %}, or authenticate to multiple registries simultaneously (for example, to download or run private packs from multiple registries) in two ways:

1. Pass the --registries-auth-stdin option to the {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql_cli %}, then supply a registry authentication string via standard input.
2. Set the CODEQL_REGISTRIES_AUTH environment variable to a registry authentication string.

A registry authentication string is a comma-separated list of <registry-url>=<token> pairs, where registry-url is a {% data variables.product.prodname_container_registry %} URL, such as {% data variables.enterprise.gh_enterprise_container_registry %}, and token is a {% data variables.product.prodname_github_apps %} token or {% data variables.product.pat_generic %} for that {% data variables.product.prodname_container_registry %}. This ensures that each token is only passed to the {% data variables.product.prodname_container_registry %} you specify.

For example, the following registry authentication string specifies that the {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql_cli %} should authenticate as follows:

• Use the token <token1> to authenticate to {% data variables.product.prodname_container_registry %} on {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom_the_website %}.
• Use the token <token2> to authenticate to the {% data variables.product.prodname_container_registry %} for the enterprise at {% data variables.enterprise.gh_enterprise_container_registry %}.

https://ghcr.io/v2/=<token1>,{% data variables.enterprise.gh_enterprise_container_registry %}=<token2>

{% endif %}

To share your {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql %} pack with other people, you can publish it to the {% data variables.product.prodname_container_registry %}.

{% data reusables.code-scanning.codeql-cli-version-ghes %}

You can check and modify the configuration details of your {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql %} pack prior to publishing. Open the qlpack.yml file in your preferred text editor.

library: # set to true if the pack is a library. Set to false or omit for a query pack
name: <scope>/<pack>
version: <x.x.x>
description: <Description to publish with the package>
defaultSuite: # optional, one or more queries in the pack to run by default
    - query: <relative-path>/query-file>.ql
defaultSuiteFile: default-queries.qls # optional, a pointer to a query-suite in this pack
license: # optional, the license under which the pack is published
dependencies: # map from CodeQL pack name to version range

• name: must follow the <scope>/<pack> format, where <scope> is the {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} organization that you will publish to and <pack> is the name for the pack.

• A maximum of one of defaultSuite or defaultSuiteFile is allowed. These are two different ways to define a default query suite to be run, the first by specifying queries directly in the qlpack.yml file and the second by specifying a query suite in the pack.

When you are ready to publish a pack to the {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} {% data variables.product.prodname_container_registry %}, you can run the following command in the root of the pack directory:

codeql pack publish

The published package will be displayed in the packages section of {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} organization specified by the scope in the qlpack.yml file.

To run a pack that someone else has created, you must first download it by running the following command:

codeql pack download <scope>/<pack>@x.x.x

• <scope>: the name of the {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} organization that you will download from.
• <pack>: the name for the pack that you want to download.
• @x.x.x: an optional version number. If omitted, the latest version will be downloaded.

This command accepts arguments for multiple packs.

If you write scripts that specify a particular version number of a query pack to download, keep in mind that when you update your version of {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql %} to a newer one, you may also need to switch to a newer version of the query pack. Newer versions of {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql %} may provide degraded performance when used with query packs that have been pinned to a very old version. For more information, see AUTOTITLE.

To analyze a {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql %} database with a {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql %} pack, run the following command:

codeql database analyze <database> <scope>/<pack>@x.x.x:<path>

• <database>: the {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql %} database to be analyzed.
• <scope>: the name of the {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} organization that the pack is published to.
• <pack>: the name for the pack that you are using.
• @x.x.x: an optional version number. If omitted, the latest version will be used.
• :<path>: an optional path to a query, directory, or query suite. If omitted, the pack’s default query suite will be used.

The analyze command will run the default suite of any specified {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql %} packs. You can specify multiple {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql %} packs to be used for analyzing a {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql %} database. For example:

codeql <database> analyze <scope>/<pack> <scope>/<other-pack>