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Skillscodacy-analysis-cli

codacy-analysis-cli

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Updated 10-15 19:50

About this skill

Codacy Analysis CLI

Glossary: See glossary.md for shared definitions of Codacy concepts (issues, findings, severity, coverage, tools, patterns, etc.).

The Codacy Analysis CLI (codacy-analysis) runs static analysis locally on a repository. It detects languages, selects tools, and reports issues — without pushing code to Codacy. This is a different tool from the Codacy Cloud CLI (codacy), which queries remote Codacy data.

Always use --output-format json for structured output in agentic workflows.

For gating runs (pre-commit, PR review, CI), also pass --fail-if-missing — see Strict mode.

Setup

# Install
npm i -g @codacy/analysis-cli

# Verify
codacy-analysis --help

Authentication (optional)

Authentication is only required for init --remote (fetching config from a Codacy repository). Local analysis works without authentication.

# Option 1: Interactive login
codacy-analysis login

# Option 2: Token flag
codacy-analysis login --token <your-api-token>

# Option 3: Environment variable
export CODACY_API_TOKEN=<your-api-token>

# Obtain tokens: Codacy > My Account > Access Management
# Remove credentials
codacy-analysis logout

Shared session: The Analysis CLI and the Cloud CLI (codacy) share the same credentials at ~/.codacy/credentials. Logging in or out with either CLI applies to both — there is no need to authenticate separately.

Getting help

codacy-analysis --help
codacy-analysis <command> --help
# e.g. codacy-analysis analyze --help

Filesystem conventions

The CLI uses two managed locations:

Location Scope Contents
.codacy/ (in repo root) Per-project codacy.config.json, generated/ (tool configs), .gitignore (auto-created)
~/.codacy/ (home dir) Machine-wide Runtimes, tool binaries, caches, logs, credentials

The analyzed repository is never modified outside of .codacy/. The .codacy/.gitignore is auto-created to exclude generated/, logs, and other transient files.

Key files

  • .codacy/codacy.config.json — Main configuration: tools, patterns, excludes, metadata. See references/config-format.md for the full schema
  • .codacy/generated/<ToolId>/ — Materialized tool-specific configs (gitignored)
  • ~/.codacy/credentials — Stored API token
  • ~/.codacy/logs/ — Structured logs (JSON lines, rotated at 10 MB)

Provider values

Used with init --remote. See the Provider section in the glossary for the full table of CLI values (gh, gl, bb).

Analysis workflow

Analysis Progress:
- [ ] Step 1: Initialize configuration
- [ ] Step 2: Inspect tool availability (dry-run)
- [ ] Step 3: Install missing dependencies
- [ ] Step 4: Run analysis
- [ ] Step 5: Interpret results

Step 1: Initialize configuration

Choose the init mode based on the repository's situation:

Repository is in Codacy and you want its exact config:

# Requires authentication (login or CODACY_API_TOKEN)
codacy-analysis init --remote <provider> <org> <repo>
# e.g. codacy-analysis init --remote gh my-org my-repo

Repository is in Codacy but you just want sensible defaults:

# No token needed — uses the public Codacy API for default patterns
codacy-analysis init --default

Broad auto-tuned initialization (maximum pattern coverage):

# Initializes with all patterns matching the given severity/category filter
codacy-analysis init --auto "AllCritical,High,Warning,Minor,AllSecurity,ErrorProne,Performance,BestPractice,UnusedCode,Compatibility,Complexity,Comprehensibility,CodeStyle,Documentation"

The --auto flag selects patterns broadly based on a comma-separated filter of severities and categories. Use this when you want to start with maximum coverage and then trim noise using analysis data.

Repository is not in Codacy (local-only analysis):

# Detects languages and tools based on local files and config
codacy-analysis init

A specific directory (not the current one):

codacy-analysis init /path/to/repo

All modes create .codacy/codacy.config.json in the repo root (or the file passed to --config-file, see Working with alternative configuration files). If a .codacy.yaml (or .codacy.yml) exists, its exclude_paths are automatically merged into the config.

Updating an existing configuration

When the config was initialized with --remote and you want to re-sync with the remote Codacy configuration:

codacy-analysis update-config

This re-fetches the configuration from the same Codacy repository used during init.

Only use update-config with --remote configs. For configs initialized with --default or bare init, update-config re-runs the original init mode, which would overwrite any manual changes you've made to the config file.

Working with alternative configuration files

By default every command reads and writes .codacy/codacy.config.json. Pass --config-file <path> to init, analyze, and update-config to use a different file. This lets you keep several configurations side by side and test them in parallel without overwriting the main config:

# Create an alternative, broadly-tuned config in a separate file
codacy-analysis init --auto AllCritical,AllSecurity --config-file .codacy/auto-config.json

# Analyze using that config instead of the default
codacy-analysis analyze --config-file .codacy/auto-config.json --output-format json

# Regenerate it later using its original init mode (the mode is stored in the file)
codacy-analysis update-config --config-file .codacy/auto-config.json

--config-file is honored by init (where to create the config), analyze (which config to run with), and update-config (which config to regenerate). It defaults to .codacy/codacy.config.json everywhere.

Combining configuration files (config command)

The config command performs set operations on two config files, combining their tools and patterns. Use it to reconcile experimental configs with a baseline:

# Merge — union of tools/patterns from source into dest
codacy-analysis config --merge --source .codacy/extra.json

# Intersect — keep only tools/patterns present in BOTH files
codacy-analysis config --intersect --source a.json --dest b.json

# Diff — keep tools/patterns in dest that are NOT in source (dest − source)
codacy-analysis config --diff --source baseline.json --dest .codacy/codacy.config.json
  • Exactly one of --merge, --intersect, --diff is required.
  • --source <path> is read-only (default .codacy/codacy.config.json); --dest <path> is overwritten with the result (default .codacy/codacy.config.json).
  • At least one of --source / --dest must be provided — they cannot both fall back to the same default file.

--dest is overwritten in place. Point it at a throwaway file (or back up the original first) if you need to preserve the destination config.

Discovering the repository stack

Use discover to auto-detect the repository's languages, frameworks, and libraries before initialization:

codacy-analysis discover --output-format json --output /tmp/codacy-discover.json

The output lists detected languages, frameworks, and the tools that apply. Use this to inform which tools and patterns to enable.

Listing supported tools

Use info to see which tools are available in the local Analysis CLI:

codacy-analysis info

This lists all tools the CLI can run locally. Compare against tools enabled in Codacy Cloud to identify cloud-only tools that the local CLI cannot run.

Step 2: Inspect tool availability (dry-run)

Before running analysis, check which tools are available and which are missing:

codacy-analysis analyze --inspect --output-format json

This produces a capability report without running any analysis. Parse the JSON output:

# See which tools are ready
codacy-analysis analyze --inspect --output-format json | jq '.capability.ready[] | {toolId, version, installation}'

# See which tools are missing and how to fix them
codacy-analysis analyze --inspect --output-format json | jq '.capability.unavailable[] | {toolId, reason, remediation}'

Important: --inspect, --install-dependencies, and --fail-if-missing are all mutually exclusive — combining any two exits 2. Use them in sequence: --inspect to check readiness, --install-dependencies to install and run, --fail-if-missing on later runs.

Decision point:

  • If all needed tools are in capability.ready → skip to Step 4
  • If tools are in capability.unavailable → proceed to Step 3

Step 3: Install missing dependencies

Preferred: use --install-dependencies — installs tools into the .codacy/ / ~/.codacy/ scope without affecting the rest of the machine:

codacy-analysis analyze --install-dependencies --output-format json

This installs missing tools and then runs analysis in a single command. The installed binaries go to ~/.codacy/ (machine-scoped, reused across repositories).

Last resort: manual installation — if --install-dependencies fails for a specific tool, install it manually on the machine (e.g., brew install shellcheck, pip install ruff). See references/supported-tools.md for tool details.

Step 4: Run analysis

Always use --output-format json for agentic workflows.

Analyze the entire repository

codacy-analysis analyze --output-format json

Analyze specific files or paths

# Single file (positional argument)
codacy-analysis analyze ./src/main.py --output-format json

# Multiple files by path or glob (--files flag)
codacy-analysis analyze --files src/a.py src/b.py --output-format json

# Glob pattern (always quote to prevent shell expansion)
codacy-analysis analyze --files "src/**/*.ts" --output-format json

# Subdirectory
codacy-analysis analyze ./src/api/ --output-format json

Restrict to specific tools

Tool IDs are case-sensitive. See references/supported-tools.md for the full list.

# Single tool
codacy-analysis analyze --tool Ruff --output-format json

# Multiple tools
codacy-analysis analyze --tool Ruff --tool Bandit --output-format json

# Combine with file targeting
codacy-analysis analyze --tool ESLint9 --files "src/**/*.ts" --output-format json

Run with an alternative configuration file

By default analyze reads .codacy/codacy.config.json. Pass --config-file <path> to run with a different config — useful for comparing configurations side by side (see Working with alternative configuration files):

codacy-analysis analyze --config-file .codacy/auto-config.json --output-format json

Git-aware scoping

Analyze only the code that changed, instead of the full repository. These are typically gate checks, so include --fail-if-missing (Strict mode):

# Only files staged for commit
codacy-analysis analyze --staged --fail-if-missing --output-format json

# Changes relative to the current branch's merge base (uncommitted + committed)
codacy-analysis analyze --diff --fail-if-missing --output-format json

# Changes in a pull request (compares against the PR's target branch)
codacy-analysis analyze --pr --fail-if-missing --output-format json

These flags work with --tool, --files, and all other analyze options. When combined with --files, the intersection is used (files that match both the git scope and the file filter).

Performance tuning

# Run up to 4 tools in parallel
codacy-analysis analyze --parallel-tools 4 --output-format json

# Increase timeout for slow tools (default: 600000ms = 10 min)
codacy-analysis analyze --tool-timeout 600000 --output-format json

Strict mode

By default an unavailable tool is silently skipped: the run still exits 0 with an empty issues array, so a scan that ran no scanners looks clean. --fail-if-missing makes it a hard stop:

codacy-analysis analyze --fail-if-missing --output-format json

The run halts before analysis and exits 2 with errors[].kind == "UnavailableTools" — match on that, not the exit code, which is overloaded.

Two caveats: the check covers every configured tool, not just those matching the changed files (narrow it with --tool <id>), and it does not catch a config with no tools enabled — that still exits 0.

Details: references/trustworthy-results.md.

Save output to file

codacy-analysis analyze --output-format json --output results.json

Debugging

# Verbose logging to stderr
codacy-analysis analyze --log-level debug --output-format json

# Disable log file writing (e.g., in CI)
codacy-analysis analyze --no-log --output-format json

Step 5: Interpret results

The JSON output contains the full AnalysisResult. See references/output-format.md for the complete schema.

Quick reference for parsing:

# Count issues by severity
codacy-analysis analyze --output-format json | jq '.issues | group_by(.severity) | map({severity: .[0].severity, count: length})'

# Get critical/high issues only
codacy-analysis analyze --output-format json | jq '[.issues[] | select(.severity == "Error" or .severity == "High")]'

# Issues grouped by file
codacy-analysis analyze --output-format json | jq '.issues | group_by(.filePath) | map({file: .[0].filePath, count: length})'

# Check for tool errors
codacy-analysis analyze --output-format json | jq '.errors'

# Per-tool summary
codacy-analysis analyze --output-format json | jq '.toolResults | map({toolId, status, issueCount, durationMs})'

Before reporting "no issues"

An empty issues array only means something if the tools actually ran:

codacy-analysis analyze --fail-if-missing --output-format json \
  | jq '{blocked: [.errors[].kind], executed: [.toolResults[].toolId], skipped: [.capability.unavailable[].toolId]}'

Empty executed means nothing was scanned — unverified, not clean. Always name the tools behind a clean result.

Exit codes:

  • 0 — No issues found — trustworthy only if toolResults is non-empty
  • 1 — Issues found
  • 2 — Execution error: unavailable tools in strict mode, conflicting flags, bad --diff base, or tool crash (check errors[].kind). Never means clean.

Common workflows

Quick scan of a repository not in Codacy

codacy-analysis init
codacy-analysis analyze --install-dependencies --output-format json

Scan only changed files (e.g., before a commit)

Gate checks, so include --fail-if-missing:

# Staged files only (pre-commit check)
codacy-analysis analyze --staged --fail-if-missing --output-format json

# All changes on the current branch
codacy-analysis analyze --diff --fail-if-missing --output-format json

# Changes in a pull request
codacy-analysis analyze --pr --fail-if-missing --output-format json

Exit 2 means the check didn't run, not that the code is clean: install the missing tools (--install-dependencies, a separate run) and retry. Omit --fail-if-missing only for exploratory scans.

Reproduce Codacy remote analysis locally

codacy-analysis login --token <token>
codacy-analysis init --remote gh my-org my-repo
codacy-analysis analyze --install-dependencies --output-format json

Check a single file for issues

codacy-analysis analyze ./src/main.py --output-format json

Re-scan after configuration changes

codacy-analysis update-config
codacy-analysis analyze --output-format json

Test two configurations side by side

# Baseline config (default location) plus an experimental, broader config
codacy-analysis init
codacy-analysis init --auto AllCritical,AllSecurity --config-file .codacy/experimental.json

# Run each independently and compare the results
codacy-analysis analyze --output-format json --output baseline-results.json
codacy-analysis analyze --config-file .codacy/experimental.json --output-format json --output experimental-results.json

# Promote the extra tools/patterns from the experiment into the baseline
codacy-analysis config --merge --source .codacy/experimental.json --dest .codacy/codacy.config.json

Run only security-focused tools

codacy-analysis analyze --tool Bandit --tool Brakeman --tool Trivy --tool Semgrep --tool Checkov --output-format json

Analyze a Ruby project

codacy-analysis analyze --tool RuboCop --tool Reek --tool Brakeman --output-format json

Troubleshooting

Problem Cause Fix
Tool X not found / tool in unavailable Tool binary not installed Run with --install-dependencies; if that fails, install the tool manually
Analysis produces no results No tools enabled or no matching files Re-run codacy-analysis init or check .codacy/codacy.config.json has tools configured
Wrong tools detected Language detection missed files Use --tool <id> to force specific tools
Tool timeout Analysis takes too long on large codebase Increase --tool-timeout <ms> (default 600000)
Config outdated after adding new languages Init was run before new files existed Run codacy-analysis update-config
Config already exists on init .codacy/codacy.config.json already present Use update-config instead, or delete .codacy/codacy.config.json first
Remote init fails with auth error Missing or invalid API token Run codacy-analysis login or set CODACY_API_TOKEN
Permission errors on ~/.codacy/ Directory ownership mismatch Check permissions: ls -la ~/.codacy/
Inspect shows tool as bundled but it fails Bundled library tool has dependency issue Check --log-level debug output; may need npm rebuild
Different results than Codacy Cloud Different tool versions or pattern config Use init --remote to sync config; check tool versions in inspect output
Exit 2, errors[].kind == "UnavailableTools" Strict mode and a tool can't run Run --install-dependencies, or scope with --tool <id>
Clean result but nothing scanned No tools enabled for the changed files Check toolResults is non-empty; re-run init

Reading logs

Logs are written to ~/.codacy/logs/ in JSON lines format:

# View latest log
cat ~/.codacy/logs/*.log | jq .

# Filter for errors
cat ~/.codacy/logs/*.log | jq 'select(.level == "error")'

Use --log-level debug for the most verbose output when troubleshooting tool issues.