query compile
Compile or check QL code.
Who can use this feature?
CodeQL is available for the following repository types:
- Public repositories on GitHub.com, seeGitHub CodeQL Terms and Conditions
- Organization-owned repositories on GitHub Team withGitHub Code Security enabled
In this article
Note
This content describes the most recent release of the CodeQL CLI. For more information about this release, seehttps://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 isthat the compiled version of the query is written to acompilationcache where it will be found when the query is later executed. Otheroutput 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 theinstalled QL packs.
-n, --check-only
Just check that the QL is valid and print any errors; do not actuallyoptimize and store a query plan. This can be much faster than a fullcompilation.
--[no-]precompile
[Advanced] Save each compiled query as a binary.qlx
file next tothe.ql
source.
This is only supposed to be used while preparing a query pack fordistribution (in which case it is used automatically bycodeql pack publish). Once the.qlx
files exist, later commands that execute queries may ignorechanges to the QL source in favor of the precompiled version.
Some rarely used compilation options are incompatible with this and willlead to a run-time error.
Available sincev2.12.0
.
--[no-]dump-dil
[Advanced] Print the optimized DIL intermediate representation tostandard output while compiling.
When JSON output is selected, the DIL will be represented as an array ofsingle-line strings, with some wrapping to identify which query is beingcompiled.
-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 whilecompiling.
When JSON output is selected, the RA will be represented as an array ofsingle-line strings, with some wrapping to identify which query is beingcompiled.
--format=<fmt>
Select output format, eithertext
(default) orjson
.
-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 leaveN cores unused (except still use at least onethread).
-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 ofportability.
From time to time, new QL language features and evaluator optimizationswill be supported by the QL evaluator a few releases before they areenabled by default in the QL compiler. This helps ensure that theperformance you experience when developing queries in the newest CodeQLrelease can be matched by slightly older releases that may still be inuse 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 smallamount of extra performance by using this flag to enable recentimprovements in the compiler early.
In releases where there are no recent improvements to enable, thisoption silently does nothing. Thus it is safe to set it once and for allin your global CodeQL config file.
Available sincev2.11.1
.
--[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 cachedirectory.
--fail-on-ambiguous-relation-name
[Advanced] Fail compilation if an ambiguous relation name is generatedduring compilation.
Options to set up compilation environment
--search-path=<dir>[:<dir>...]
A list of directories under which QL packs may be found. Each directorycan either be a QL pack (or bundle of packs containing a.codeqlmanifest.json
file at the root) or the immediate parent of oneor more such directories.
If the path contains more than one directory, their order definesprecedence between them: when a pack name that must be resolved ismatched in more than one of the directory trees, the one given firstwins.
Pointing this at a checkout of the open-source CodeQL repository oughtto work when querying one of the languages that live there.
If you have checked out the CodeQL repository as a sibling of theunpacked CodeQL toolchain, you don't need to give this option; suchsibling directories will always be searched for QL packs that cannot befound otherwise. (If this default does not work, it is stronglyrecommended to set up--search-path
once and for all in a per-userconfiguration file).
(Note: On Windows the path separator is;
).
--additional-packs=<dir>[:<dir>...]
If this list of directories is given, they will be searched for packsbefore the ones in--search-path
. The order between these doesn'tmatter; it is an error if a pack name is found in two different placesthrough this list.
This is useful if you're temporarily developing a new version of a packthat also appears in the default path. On the other hand, it isnotrecommended to override this option in a config file; some internalactions will add this option on the fly, overriding any configuredvalue.
(Note: On Windows the path separator is;
).
--library-path=<dir>[:<dir>...]
[Advanced] An optional list of directories that will be added to theraw import search path for QL libraries. This should only be used ifyou'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 compiledagainst. This should only be given by callers that are extremely surewhat they're doing.
--compilation-cache=<dir>
[Advanced] Specify an additional directory to use as a compilationcache.
--no-default-compilation-cache
[Advanced] Don't use compilation caches in standard locations such asin the QL pack containing the query or in the CodeQL toolchaindirectory.
Options for configuring the CodeQL package manager
--registries-auth-stdin
Authenticate to GitHub Enterprise Server Container registries by passinga comma-separated list of <registry_url>=<token> pairs.
For example, you can passhttps://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 environmentvariables. If you only need to authenticate to the github.com Containerregistry, you can instead authenticate using the simpler--github-auth-stdin
option.
--github-auth-stdin
Authenticate to the github.com Container registry by passing agithub.com GitHub Apps token or personal access token via standardinput.
To authenticate to GitHub Enterprise Server Container registries, pass--registries-auth-stdin
or use the CODEQL_REGISTRIES_AUTH environmentvariable.
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 givendirectory, with generated names that include timestamps and the name ofthe running subcommand.
(To write a log file with a name you have full control over, insteadgive--log-to-stderr
and redirect stderr as desired.)
--common-caches=<dir>
[Advanced] Controls the location of cached data on disk that willpersist between several runs of the CLI, such as downloaded QL packs andcompiled query plans. If not set explicitly, this defaults to adirectory named.codeql
in the user's home directory; it will becreated if it doesn't already exist.
Available sincev2.15.2
.