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  1. Docs Library | Snyk
  2. Snyk CLI
  3. Test for vulnerabilities

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Test your code from the CLI

To test your project for known vulnerabilities, browse to your project’s folder and run snyk test:

cd ~/projects/myproj/

snyk test takes stock of all the local dependencies and queries the Snyk service for known vulnerabilities. It displays the found issues along with additional information. For Node.js, Ruby, Java projects, it also suggests remediation steps.

How it works

Snyk analyzes only your manifest files, based on which we then create a hierarchical tree that represents the structure represented in the manifest file, both its direct and indirect (transitive) dependencies and the points at which the different packages are introduced. Once we’ve built the tree, we can use our vulnerability database to find vulnerabilities in any of the packages anywhere in the dependency tree. The entire project can be analyzed more easily, and you can quickly identify the point at which any given vulnerable package was actually introduced - then fixing it from its source.

When snyk test runs, it tries to autodetect your project type by looking for the following files, in this order, and then analyzing the first of the files that it finds:

Note

To analyze multiple manifest files, manually specify the file that Snyk should inspect for package information, as described later in this article.

  1. yarn.lock

  2. package-lock.json

  3. package.json

  4. Gemfile.lock

  5. pom.xml

  6. build.gradle

  7. build.sbt

  8. Pipfile

  9. requirements.txt

  10. Gopkg.lock

  11. vendor/vendor.json

  12. obj/project.assets.json

  13. packages.config

  14. composer.lock

  15. build.gradle.kts

  16. go.mod

The way by which Snyk analyzes and builds the tree then varies depending on the language and package manager of the project (based in the manifest file type), as well as the location of your project: 

  • analysis with our CLI tool 

  • import from our app

Note

Additional and more specific details are provided per language, in Language support.

Monorepos and projects with multiple manifest files

For projects that have multiple manifest files, you can specify the file that Snyk should inspect for package information using the file flag:

$ snyk test --file=package.json

Manifest files with custom names

If your manifest files are from a supported language but have a custom name you can let Snyk know about it by using a combination of the file flag and the package-manager flag:

$ snyk test --file=req.txt --package-manager=pip
See also

Test dev dependencies

Many package managers allow calling out separately dependencies which are to be used only in a development/test context (i.e don't get eventually shipped to production). By default Snyk does not scan these dependencies. If you want your dev dependencies to be included in the scan use the dev flag:

$ snyk test --dev

Note

Additional and more specific details are provided per language, in Language support.

Note

For more information about our CLI commands, see Our full CLI reference

See also