Quickstart

Follow the CLI Scanner page to set up either the standalone binary or the Docker image of the HoundDog.ai code scanner.

Standalone Binary

To scan a file or directory (defaults to the current directory):

bash

hounddog scan [path] [options]

To see the available command-line options:

bash

hounddog scan --help

Docker Image

To scan a directory:

bash

docker run --pull=always -it --rm -v /path/to/repo:/data hounddogai/hounddog hounddog scan [options]

Let’s break down the command above:

Argument / Option	Required	Description
docker run	Yes	Start a new Docker container.
--pull=always	No	Always pull the latest version of the Docker image.
-it	No	Create an interactive session and attach a pseudo-TTY to enable colored output and proper rendering for your terminal size. Important: in a non-interactive environment (for example, build pipelines), use only the -t flag.
--rm	No	Clean up the container after it exits.
-v /path/to/repo:/data	Yes	Mount the host directory into the container’s /data directory, the default scan path inside the HoundDog.ai Docker image.
hounddogai/hounddog	Yes	Name of the HoundDog.ai scanner image, hosted on Docker Hub.
hounddog scan	Yes	The scan command, which scans the code mounted at /data.

Demonstration

To see the privacy scanner in action, scan HoundDog.ai’s TypeScript test repository, a healthcare application that contains deliberate privacy flaws:

bash

# Clone the test repository
git clone https://github.com/hounddogai/hounddog-test-typescript

# Scan the test repository
hounddog scan hounddog-test-typescript

Useful variations:

bash

# Show detailed dataflow traces
hounddog scan hounddog-test-typescript --trace

# Only show critical and medium severity dataflows
hounddog scan hounddog-test-typescript --severity=critical,medium

# Generate a Markdown report
hounddog scan hounddog-test-typescript --output-format=markdown --output-path=report.md

Next Steps

• Generate a Markdown report for a shareable point-in-time view.
• Set up an API key to upload results to the HoundDog.ai Cloud Platform.
• Explore all command-line options.