Socket Security CLI

The Socket Security CLI was created to enable integrations with other tools like GitHub Actions, GitLab, BitBucket, local use cases and more. The tool will get the head scan for the provided repo from Socket, create a new one, and then report any new alerts detected. If there are new alerts against the Socket security policy it'll exit with a non-Zero exit code.

Quick Start

The CLI now features automatic detection of git repository information, making it much simpler to use in CI/CD environments. Most parameters are now optional and will be detected automatically from your git repository.

Minimal Usage Examples

GitHub Actions:

socketcli --target-path $GITHUB_WORKSPACE --scm github --pr-number $PR_NUMBER

GitLab CI:

socketcli --target-path $CI_PROJECT_DIR --scm gitlab --pr-number ${CI_MERGE_REQUEST_IID:-0}

Local Development:

socketcli --target-path ./my-project

The CLI will automatically detect:

• Repository name from git remote
• Branch name from git
• Commit SHA and message from git
• Committer information from git
• Default branch status from git and CI environment
• Changed files from git commit history

CI/CD Workflow Examples

Pre-configured workflow examples are available in the workflows/ directory:

• GitHub Actions - Complete workflow with concurrency control and automatic PR detection
• GitLab CI - Pipeline configuration with caching and environment variable handling
• Bitbucket Pipelines - Basic pipeline setup with optional path filtering

These examples are production-ready and include best practices for each platform.

Usage

socketcli [-h] [--api-token API_TOKEN] [--repo REPO] [--integration {api,github,gitlab}] [--owner OWNER] [--branch BRANCH]
          [--committers [COMMITTERS ...]] [--pr-number PR_NUMBER] [--commit-message COMMIT_MESSAGE] [--commit-sha COMMIT_SHA]
          [--target-path TARGET_PATH] [--sbom-file SBOM_FILE] [--files FILES] [--save-submitted-files-list SAVE_SUBMITTED_FILES_LIST]
          [--default-branch] [--pending-head] [--generate-license] [--enable-debug] [--enable-json] [--enable-sarif] 
          [--disable-overview] [--disable-security-issue] [--allow-unverified] [--ignore-commit-files] [--disable-blocking] 
          [--scm SCM] [--timeout TIMEOUT] [--exclude-license-details]

If you don't want to provide the Socket API Token every time then you can use the environment variable SOCKET_SECURITY_API_KEY

Parameters

Authentication

Parameter	Required	Default	Description
--api-token	False		Socket Security API token (can also be set via SOCKET_SECURITY_API_KEY env var)

Repository

Parameter	Required	Default	Description
--repo	False	auto	Repository name in owner/repo format (auto-detected from git remote)
--integration	False	api	Integration type (api, github, gitlab)
--owner	False		Name of the integration owner, defaults to the socket organization slug
--branch	False	auto	Branch name (auto-detected from git)
--committers	False	auto	Committer(s) to filter by (auto-detected from git commit)
--repo-is-public	False	False	If set, flags a new repository creation as public. Defaults to false.

Pull Request and Commit

Parameter	Required	Default	Description
--pr-number	False	"0"	Pull request number
--commit-message	False	auto	Commit message (auto-detected from git)
--commit-sha	False	auto	Commit SHA (auto-detected from git)

Path and File

Parameter	Required	Default	Description
--target-path	False	./	Target path for analysis
--sbom-file	False		SBOM file path
--files	False	auto	Files to analyze (JSON array string). Auto-detected from git commit changes when not specified
--excluded-ecosystems	False	[]	List of ecosystems to exclude from analysis (JSON array string). You can get supported files from the Supported Files API
--license-file-name	False	license_output.json	Name of the file to save the license details to if enabled
--save-submitted-files-list	False		Save list of submitted file names to JSON file for debugging purposes
--save-manifest-tar	False		Save all manifest files to a compressed tar.gz archive with original directory structure

Branch and Scan Configuration

Parameter	Required	Default	Description
--default-branch	False	auto	Make this branch the default branch (auto-detected from git and CI environment when not specified)
--pending-head	False	auto	If true, the new scan will be set as the branch's head scan (automatically synced with default-branch)

Output Configuration

Parameter	Required	Default	Description
--generate-license	False	False	Generate license information
--enable-debug	False	False	Enable debug logging
--enable-json	False	False	Output in JSON format
--enable-sarif	False	False	Enable SARIF output of results instead of table or JSON format
--disable-overview	False	False	Disable overview output
--exclude-license-details	False	False	Exclude license details from the diff report (boosts performance for large repos)

Security Configuration

Parameter	Required	Default	Description
--allow-unverified	False	False	Allow unverified packages
--disable-security-issue	False	False	Disable security issue checks

Advanced Configuration

Parameter	Required	Default	Description
--ignore-commit-files	False	False	Ignore commit files
--disable-blocking	False	False	Disable blocking mode
--scm	False	api	Source control management type
--timeout	False		Timeout in seconds for API requests
--include-module-folders	False	False	If enabled will include manifest files from folders like node_modules

Plugins

The Python CLI currently Supports the following plugins:

• Jira
• Slack

Jira

Environment Variable	Required	Default	Description
SOCKET_JIRA_ENABLED	False	false	Enables/Disables the Jira Plugin
SOCKET_JIRA_CONFIG_JSON	True	None	Required if the Plugin is enabled.

Example SOCKET_JIRA_CONFIG_JSON value

{"url": "https://REPLACE_ME.atlassian.net", "email": "[email protected]", "api_token": "REPLACE_ME", "project": "REPLACE_ME" }

Slack

Environment Variable	Required	Default	Description
SOCKET_SLACK_ENABLED	False	false	Enables/Disables the Slack Plugin
SOCKET_SLACK_CONFIG_JSON	True	None	Required if the Plugin is enabled.

Example SOCKET_SLACK_CONFIG_JSON value

{"url": "https://REPLACE_ME_WEBHOOK"}

Automatic Git Detection

The CLI now automatically detects repository information from your git environment, significantly simplifying usage in CI/CD pipelines:

Auto-Detected Information

• Repository name: Extracted from git remote origin URL
• Branch name: Current git branch or CI environment variables
• Commit SHA: Latest commit hash or CI-provided commit SHA
• Commit message: Latest commit message
• Committer information: Git commit author details
• Default branch status: Determined from git repository and CI environment
• Changed files: Files modified in the current commit (for differential scanning)

Default Branch Detection

The CLI uses intelligent default branch detection with the following priority:

1. Explicit --default-branch flag: Takes highest priority when specified
2. CI environment detection: Uses CI platform variables (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI)
3. Git repository analysis: Compares current branch with repository's default branch
4. Fallback: Defaults to false if none of the above methods succeed

Both --default-branch and --pending-head parameters are automatically synchronized to ensure consistent behavior.

Scan Behavior

The CLI determines scanning behavior intelligently:

• Manifest files changed: Performs differential scan with PR/MR comments when supported
• No manifest files changed: Creates full repository scan report without waiting for diff results
• Force API mode: When no supported manifest files are detected, automatically enables non-blocking mode

File Selection Behavior

The CLI determines which files to scan based on the following logic:

1. Git Commit Files (Default): The CLI automatically checks files changed in the current git commit. If any of these files match supported manifest patterns (like package.json, requirements.txt, etc.), a scan is triggered.

2. --files Parameter Override: When specified, this parameter takes precedence over git commit detection. It accepts a JSON array of file paths to check for manifest files.

3. --ignore-commit-files Flag: When set, git commit files are ignored completely, and the CLI will scan all manifest files in the target directory regardless of what changed.

4. Automatic Fallback: If no manifest files are found in git commit changes and no --files are specified, the CLI automatically switches to "API mode" and performs a full repository scan.

Important: The CLI doesn't scan only the specified files - it uses them to determine whether a scan should be performed and what type of scan to run. When triggered, it searches the entire --target-path for all supported manifest files.

Scanning Modes

• Differential Mode: When manifest files are detected in changes, performs a diff scan with PR/MR comment integration
• API Mode: When no manifest files are in changes, creates a full scan report without PR comments but still scans the entire repository
• Force Mode: With --ignore-commit-files, always performs a full scan regardless of changes

Examples

• Commit with manifest file: If your commit includes changes to package.json, a differential scan will be triggered automatically with PR comment integration.
• Commit without manifest files: If your commit only changes non-manifest files (like .github/workflows/socket.yaml), the CLI automatically switches to API mode and performs a full repository scan.
• Using --files: If you specify --files '["package.json"]', the CLI will check if this file exists and is a manifest file before determining scan type.
• Using --ignore-commit-files: This forces a full scan of all manifest files in the target path, regardless of what's in your commit.
• Auto-detection: Most CI/CD scenarios now work with just socketcli --target-path /path/to/repo --scm github --pr-number $PR_NUM

Debugging and Troubleshooting

Saving Submitted Files List

The CLI provides a debugging option to save the list of files that were submitted for scanning:

socketcli --save-submitted-files-list submitted_files.json

This will create a JSON file containing:

• Timestamp of when the scan was performed
• Total number of files submitted
• Total size of all files (in bytes and human-readable format)
• Complete list of file paths that were found and submitted for scanning

Example output file:

{
  "timestamp": "2025-01-22 10:30:45 UTC",
  "total_files": 3,
  "total_size_bytes": 2048,
  "total_size_human": "2.00 KB",
  "files": [
    "./package.json",
    "./requirements.txt",
    "./Pipfile"
  ]
}

This feature is useful for:

• Debugging: Understanding which files the CLI found and submitted
• Verification: Confirming that expected manifest files are being detected
• Size Analysis: Understanding the total size of manifest files being uploaded
• Troubleshooting: Identifying why certain files might not be included in scans or if size limits are being hit

Note: This option works with both differential scans (when git commits are detected) and full scans (API mode).

Saving Manifest Files Archive

For backup, sharing, or analysis purposes, you can save all manifest files to a compressed tar.gz archive:

socketcli --save-manifest-tar manifest_files.tar.gz

This will create a compressed archive containing all the manifest files that were found and submitted for scanning, preserving their original directory structure relative to the scanned directory.

Example usage with other options:

# Save both files list and archive
socketcli --save-submitted-files-list files.json --save-manifest-tar backup.tar.gz

# Use with specific target path
socketcli --target-path ./my-project --save-manifest-tar my-project-manifests.tar.gz

The manifest archive feature is useful for:

• Backup: Creating portable backups of all dependency manifest files
• Sharing: Sending the exact files being analyzed to colleagues or support
• Analysis: Examining the dependency files offline or with other tools
• Debugging: Verifying file discovery and content issues
• Compliance: Maintaining records of scanned dependency files

Note: The tar.gz archive preserves the original directory structure, making it easy to extract and examine the files in their proper context.

Development

This project uses pyproject.toml as the primary dependency specification.

Development Workflows

The following Make targets provide streamlined workflows for common development tasks:

Initial Setup (Choose One)

1. Standard Setup (using PyPI packages):

pyenv local 3.11  # Ensure correct Python version
make first-time-setup

2. Local Development Setup (for SDK development):

pyenv local 3.11  # Ensure correct Python version
SOCKET_SDK_PATH=~/path/to/socket-sdk-python make first-time-local-setup

The default SDK path is ../socket-sdk-python if not specified.

Ongoing Development Tasks

After changing dependencies in pyproject.toml:

make update-deps

After pulling changes:

make sync-all

Available Make targets:

High-level workflows:

• make first-time-setup: Complete setup using PyPI packages
• make first-time-local-setup: Complete setup for local SDK development
• make update-deps: Update requirements.txt files and sync dependencies
• make sync-all: Sync dependencies after pulling changes
• make dev-setup: Setup for local development (included in first-time-local-setup)

Implementation targets:

• make init-tools: Creates virtual environment and installs pip-tools
• make local-dev: Installs dependencies needed for local development
• make compile-deps: Generates requirements.txt files with locked versions
• make setup: Creates virtual environment and installs dependencies
• make sync-deps: Installs exact versions from requirements.txt
• make clean: Removes virtual environment and cache files
• make test: Runs pytest suite
• make lint: Runs ruff for code formatting and linting

Environment Variables

• SOCKET_SDK_PATH: Path to local socket-sdk-python repository (default: ../socket-sdk-python)