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.

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		Repository name in owner/repo format
--integration	False	api	Integration type (api, github, gitlab)
--owner	False		Name of the integration owner, defaults to the socket organization slug
--branch	False	""	Branch name
--committers	False		Committer(s) to filter by
--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		Commit message
--commit-sha	False	""	Commit SHA

Path and File

Parameter	Required	Default	Description
--target-path	False	./	Target path for analysis
--sbom-file	False		SBOM file path
--files	False	[]	Files to analyze (JSON array string)
--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	False	Make this branch the default branch
--pending-head	False	False	If true, the new scan will be set as the branch's head scan

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": "example@example.com", "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"}

File Selection Behavior

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

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

2. --files Parameter: If no git commit exists, or no manifest files are found in the commit changes, the CLI checks files specified via the --files parameter. This parameter accepts a JSON array of file paths.

3. --ignore-commit-files: When this flag is set, git commit files are ignored completely, and only files specified in --files are considered. This also forces a scan regardless of whether manifest files are present.

4. No Manifest Files: If no manifest files are found in either git commit changes or --files (and --ignore-commit-files is not set), the scan is skipped.

Note: The CLI does not scan only the specified files - it uses them to determine whether a scan should be performed. When a scan is triggered, it searches the entire --target-path for all supported manifest files.

Examples

• Commit with manifest file: If your commit includes changes to package.json, a scan will be triggered automatically.
• Commit without manifest files: If your commit only changes non-manifest files (like .github/workflows/socket.yaml), no scan will be performed unless you use --files or --ignore-commit-files.
• Using --files: If you specify --files '["package.json"]', the CLI will check if this file exists and is a manifest file before triggering a scan.
• Using --ignore-commit-files: This forces a scan of all manifest files in the target path, regardless of what's in your commit.

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)