When you use {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql %} to scan code, the {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql %} analysis engine generates a database from the code and runs queries on it. {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql %} analysis uses a default set of queries, but you can specify more queries to run, in addition to the default queries.
{% ifversion code-scanning-exclude-queries-from-analysis %} {% tip %}
You can also specify the queries you want to exclude from analysis, or include in the analysis. This requires the use of a custom configuration file. For more information, see "Using a custom configuration file" and "Excluding specific queries from analysis " below.
{% endtip %} {% endif %}
You can run extra queries if they are part of a {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql %} pack published to the {% data variables.product.company_short %} {% data variables.product.prodname_container_registry %} or a {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql %} pack stored in a repository. For more information, see "AUTOTITLE."
The options available to specify the additional queries you want to run are:
packsto install one or more {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql %} query packs and run the default query suite or queries for those packs.queriesto specify a single .ql file, a directory containing multiple .ql files, a .qls query suite definition file, or any combination. For more information about query suite definitions, see "Creating {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql %} query suites."
You can use both packs and queries in the same workflow.
{% ifversion fpt or ghec %}We don't recommend referencing query suites directly from the github/codeql repository, for example, github/codeql/cpp/ql/src@main. Such queries would have to be recompiled, and may not be compatible with the version of {% data variables.product.prodname_codeql %} currently active on {% data variables.product.prodname_actions %}, which could lead to errors during analysis.{% endif %}