Creating CodeQL query suites¶

CodeQL query suites provide a way of selecting queries, based on their filename, location on disk or in a QL pack, or metadata properties. Create query suites for the queries that you want to frequently use in your CodeQL analyses.

Query suites allow you to pass multiple queries to CodeQL without having to specify the path to each query file individually. Query suite definitions are stored in YAML files with the extension .qls. A suite definition is a sequence of instructions, where each instruction is a YAML mapping with (usually) a single key. The instructions are executed in the order they appear in the query suite definition. After all the instructions in the suite definition have been executed, the result is a set of selected queries.

Note

Any custom queries that you want to add to a query suite must be in a QL pack and contain the correct query metadata. For more information, see “Using custom queries with the CodeQL CLI.”

Locating queries to add to a query suite¶

When creating a query suite, you first need to specify the locations of the queries that you want to select. You can define the location of one or more queries using:

A query instruction—tells CodeQL to look for one or more specified .ql files:
```
- query: <path-to-query>
```
The argument must be one or more file paths, relative to the QL pack containing the suite definition.
A queries instruction—tells CodeQL to recursively scan a directory for .ql files:
```
- queries: <path-to-subdirectory>
```
The path of the directory must be relative to the root of the QL pack that contains the suite definition file. To find the queries relative to a different QL pack, add a from field:
```
- queries: <path-to-subdirectory>
  from: <ql-pack-name>
```
A qlpack instruction—tells CodeQL to resolve queries in the default suite of the named QL pack:
```
- qlpack: <qlpack-name>
```
The default suite of a query pack includes a recommended set of queries inside of that query pack. Not all query packs have a default suite. If the given query pack does not define a default suite, the qlpack instruction will resolve to all of the queries within the pack.

Note

When pathnames appear in query suite definitions, they must always be given with a forward slash, /, as a directory separator. This ensures that query suite definitions work on all operating systems.

You must add at least one query, queries, or qlpack instruction to your suite definition, otherwise no queries will be selected. If the suite contains no further instructions, all the queries found from the list of files, in the given directory, or in the named QL pack are selected. If there are further filtering instructions, only queries that match the constraints imposed by those instructions will be selected.

Filtering the queries in a query suite¶

After you have defined the initial set of queries to add to your suite by specifying query, queries, or qlpack instructions, you can add include and exclude instructions. These instructions define selection criteria based on specific properties:

When you execute an include instruction on a set of queries, any queries that match your conditions are retained in the selection, and queries that don’t match are removed.
When you execute an exclude instructions on a set of queries, any queries that match your conditions are removed from the selection, and queries that don’t match are retained.

The order of your filter instructions is important. The first filter instruction that appears after the locating instructions determines whether the queries are included or excluded by default. If the first filter is an include, the initially located queries will only be part of the suite if they match an explicit include filter. If the first filter is an exclude, the initially located queries are part of the suite unless they are explicitly excluded.

Subsequent instructions are executed in order and the instructions that appear later in the file take precedence over the earlier instructions. So, include instructions can be overridden by a later exclude instructions that match the same query. Similarly, excludes can be overridden by a later include.

For both instructions, the argument is a constraint block—that is, a YAML map representing the constraints. Each constraint is a map entry, where the key is typically a query metadata property. The value can be:

A single string.
A /-enclosed regular expression.
A list containing strings, regular expressions, or both.

To match a constraint, a metadata value must match one of the strings or regular expressions. When there is more than one metadata key, each key must be matched. For more information about query metadata properties, see “Metadata for CodeQL queries.”

In addition to metadata tags, the keys in the constraint block can also be:

query filename—matches on the last path component of the query file name.
query path—matches on the path to the query file relative to its enclosing QL pack.
tags contain—one of the given match strings must match one of the space-separated components of the value of the @tags metadata property.
tags contain all—each of the given match strings must match one of the components of the @tags metadata property.

Examples¶

To define a suite that selects all queries in the default suite of the codeql/cpp-queries QL pack, and then refines them to only include security queries, use:

- qlpack: codeql/cpp-queries
- include:
    tags contain: security

To define a suite that selects all queries with @kind problem and @precision high from the my-custom-queries directory, use:

- queries: my-custom-queries
- include:
    kind: problem
    precision: very-high

To create a suite that selects all queries with @kind problem from the my-custom-queries directory except those with @problem.severity recommendation, use:

- queries: my-custom-queries
- include:
    kind: problem
- exclude:
    problem.severity: recommendation

To create a suite that selects all queries with @tag security and @problem.severity high or very-high from the codeql/cpp-queries QL pack, use:

- queries: .
  from: codeql/cpp-queries
- include:
    tags contain: security
    problem.severity:
    - high
    - very-high

Reusing existing query suite definitions¶

Existing query suite definitions can be reused by specifying:

An import instruction—adds the queries selected by a previously defined .qls file to the current suite:
```
- import: <path-to-query-suite>
```
The path to the imported suite must be relative to the QL pack containing the current suite definition. If the imported query suite is in a different QL pack you can use:
```
- import: <path-to-query-suite>
  from: <ql-pack>
```
Queries added using an import instruction can be filtered using subsequent exclude instructions.
An apply instruction—adds all of the instructions from a previously defined .qls file to the current suite. The instructions in the applied .qls file are executed as if they appear in place of apply. Any include and exclude instructions from the applied suite also act on queries added by any earlier instructions:
```
- apply: <path-to-query-suite>
```
The apply instruction can also be used to apply a set of reusable conditions, saved in a .yml file, to multiple query definitions. For more information, see the example below.
An eval instruction—performs the same function as an import instruction, but takes a full suite definition as the argument, rather than the path to a .qls file on disk.

Example¶

To use the same conditions in multiple query suite definitions, create a separate .yml file containing your instructions. For example, save the following in a file called reusable-instructions.yml:

- include:
    kind:
    - problem
    - path-problem
    tags contain: security
    precision:
    - high
    - very-high

Add reusable-instructions.yml to the same QL pack as your current query suite (for example, my-custom-queries). Apply the reusable instructions to the queries in your current suite using:

- qlpack: my-custom-queries
- apply: reusable-instructions.yml

To apply the same conditions to a different suite or directory within the same QL pack, create a new definition and change (or replace) the qlpack instruction. For example:

- queries: queries/cpp/custom
- apply: reusable-instructions.yml

You can also create a suite definition using reusable-instructions.yml on queries in a different QL pack. If the .qls file is in the same QL pack as the queries, you can add a from field immediately after the apply instruction:

- qlpack: my-other-custom-queries
- apply: reusable-instructions.yml
  from: <name-of-ql-pack>

Naming a query suite¶

You can provide a name for your query suite by specifying a description instruction:

- description: <name-of-query-suite>

This value is displayed when you run codeql resolve queries, if the suite is added to a “well-known” directory. For more information, see “Specifying well-known query suites.”

Saving a query suite¶

Save your query suite in a file with a .qls extension and add it to a QL pack. For more information, see “About QL packs.”

Specifying well-known query suites¶

You can use QL packs to declare directories that contain “well-known” query suites. You can use “well-known” query suites on the command line by referring to their file name, without providing their full path. This gives you a simple way of specifying a set of queries, without needing to search inside QL packs and distributions. To declare a directory that contains “well-known” query suites, add the directory to the suites property in the qlpack.yml file at the root of your QL pack. For more information, see “About QL packs.”

Using query suites with CodeQL¶

You can specify query suites on the command line for any command that accepts .qls files. For example, you can compile the queries selected by a suite definition using query compile, or use the queries in an analysis using database analyze. For more information about analyzing CodeQL databases, see “Analyzing databases with the CodeQL CLI.”

Viewing the query suites used on LGTM.com¶

The query suite definitions used to select queries to run on LGTM.com can be found in the CodeQL repository. For example, to view the CodeQL queries for JavaScript, visit https://github.com/github/codeql/tree/main/javascript/ql/src/codeql-suites.

These suite definitions apply reusable filter patterns to the queries located in the standard QL packs for each supported language. For more information, see the suite-helpers in the CodeQL repository.