Whole codebase scan¶

The review prompts work on what the agent gives them, often the diff of a merge request, and scan_code is limited to SECREVIEW_MAX_CONTENT_CHARS per call. To cover the whole repository, use the pipeline client security-review-ci scan-code: it reads the files of the repository and sends their content to the controller, which scans them with the rules of its database.

export SECREVIEW_CONTROLLER_URL=https://secreview.example.com
export SECREVIEW_TOKEN=...   # ci token restricted to the project (or admin token)

security-review-ci scan-code . --project portal                               # text summary, exit code 0/1/2
security-review-ci scan-code . --project portal --format json -o scan.json    # for the codebase-review prompt
security-review-ci scan-code . --project portal --format sarif -o code.sarif  # GitHub code scanning, Jenkins...
security-review-ci scan-code . --project portal --save --commit "$CI_COMMIT_SHA"

The pipeline needs neither the database nor the package: only Python and the ci token of the project. On a workstation, use a personal mcp or ci token.

File selection¶

The client chooses the files; the controller never reads its own disk.

Files come from git ls-files (tracked + untracked not ignored: .gitignore is honored). Outside a git repository, or with --no-git, the tree is walked, skipping node_modules, .venv, dist, build, target, obj, etc.
The language is inferred from the name: .py, .java, .go, .cs/.cshtml/.razor, .rs, .ts, .js, .html (Angular templates), .yml/.yaml, .properties, .toml, .env*, Dockerfile*, Jenkinsfile, .gitlab-ci.yml, and the files that steer an AI assistant (AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, GEMINI.md, copilot-instructions.md, .cursorrules, .windsurfrules, .clinerules, *.mdc, *.instructions.md, *.prompt.md, *.md under .claude/, .cursor/, .windsurf/ or .clinerules/), scanned for hidden text and injected instructions (AI-* rules). Lockfiles, *.min.js and *.d.ts are skipped. Only these files are sent.
Skipped files: --exclude GLOB (repeatable, e.g. --exclude tests/, only counted), and, reported, files beyond --max-file-bytes (1 MiB by default), binaries and symbolic links.

The content leaves the build agent

The source code is sent to the controller (HTTPS, or plain HTTP to a loopback address or with --allow-http). Exclude what must not leave the agent with --exclude.

Limits of the controller¶

Variable	Default	Effect
`SECREVIEW_MAX_SCAN_REQUEST_MB`	`64`	Size of the request: beyond it, the controller answers `413` (exit code `2`)
`SECREVIEW_MAX_SCAN_FILES`	`10000`	Files per request: beyond it, `422`
`SECREVIEW_MAX_SCAN_FILE_CHARS`	`1048576`	A larger file is not scanned and is listed as skipped

Threshold and saving¶

--fail-on (default high) sets the blocking threshold; the rules of the database and the secreview:ignore markers apply as for scan_code.
--save stores the matches as a code-scan report (at most SECREVIEW_MAX_FINDINGS_PER_REPORT findings, the most severe first), with the list of files not analyzed in scope and the label of the token as the device that saved it; the user of a personal ci token is the author, else --author adds the username of the developer (see author of a report), --repository, --branch and --commit the context.
With --save --format sarif, the SARIF log carries the ids of the stored findings.

Triage before blocking

Matches are leads. Triage them (triage-report prompt) before making a gate depend on this report, otherwise the false positives will block it.

Agent-guided review¶

Then, the codebase-review prompt (scan_results argument = the JSON, possibly filtered) guides the agent: inventory, prioritization of the entry points, tracing of the flows between files, checklists, and a coverage section that says what was not read. Without scan_results, the prompt asks an agent that can run commands to launch security-review-ci scan-code itself (with a personal mcp or ci token): the files reach the controller as they are, instead of being copied by the model into scan_code calls. The dependency-review prompt does the same with security-review-ci scan-deps.