Semgrep

Semgrep Security Scan

Run a complete Semgrep scan with automatic language detection, parallel execution via Task subagents, and parallel triage. Uses Semgrep Pro for cross-file taint analysis when available.

Prerequisites

Semgrep CLI required:

semgrep --version

Optional — Semgrep Pro enables cross-file taint tracking, inter-procedural analysis, and additional languages (Apex, C#, Elixir):

semgrep --pro --validate --config p/default 2>/dev/null && echo "Pro available" || echo "OSS only"

Scope

Use for: security audits, vulnerability scanning, bug pattern detection, first-pass static analysis.

Use instead: binary analysis tools (for binaries), existing CI pipelines (if Semgrep CI configured), CodeQL (cross-file without Pro), semgrep-rule-creator skill (custom rules), semgrep-rule-variant-creator skill (porting rules).

Architecture

Main agent orchestrates parallel Task subagents:

1. Detect languages + check Pro availability
2. Select rulesets (ref: rulesets.md)
3. Present plan + rulesets → await user approval (hard gate)
4. Spawn parallel scan Tasks (one per language category)
5. Spawn parallel triage Tasks
6. Collect and report results

Task Tracking

Create all 6 tasks with dependencies on invocation:

Step 3 hard gate: mark completed only after explicit user confirmation ("yes", "proceed", "approved", or equivalent). The original scan request does not count as approval.

Workflow

Step 1: Detect Languages and Pro Availability

# Check Pro
SEMGREP_PRO=false
if semgrep --pro --validate --config p/default 2>/dev/null; then
  SEMGREP_PRO=true
fi

# Find languages by extension
fd -t f -e py -e js -e ts -e jsx -e tsx -e go -e rb -e java -e php -e c -e cpp -e rs | \
  sed 's/.*\.//' | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn

# Detect frameworks
ls -la package.json pyproject.toml Gemfile go.mod Cargo.toml pom.xml 2>/dev/null
fd -t f "Dockerfile" "docker-compose" ".tf" "*.yaml" "*.yml" | head -20

Map extensions → categories: Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, Go, Ruby, Java, PHP, C/C++, Rust, Docker, Terraform, Kubernetes.

Step 2: Select Rulesets

Follow the Ruleset Selection Algorithm in rulesets.md. Output structured JSON for Step 3 review:

{
  "baseline": ["p/security-audit", "p/secrets"],
  "python": ["p/python", "p/django"],
  "javascript": ["p/javascript", "p/react", "p/nodejs"],
  "third_party": ["https://github.com/trailofbits/semgrep-rules"]
}

Third-party rulesets (Trail of Bits, 0xdea, Decurity) are included by default when languages match — they catch vulnerabilities absent from the official registry.

Step 3: Present Plan and Get Approval

Present a plan covering:

• Target directory and output directory (./semgrep-results-NNN/)
• Engine type (Pro/OSS)
• Detected languages with file counts
• All rulesets grouped by category with checkboxes
• Available-but-not-selected rulesets
• Execution strategy (parallel task count, agent types)

Approval flow:

1. Allow the user to add/remove rulesets before approving
2. Use AskUserQuestion if no response received
3. Mark Step 3 complete only after explicit approval
4. Re-present updated plan if user modifies rulesets

Not valid approval: silence, questions about the plan, the original scan request.

Step 4: Spawn Parallel Scan Tasks

Create numbered output directory, then spawn all scan Tasks in a single message:

LAST=$(ls -d semgrep-results-[0-9][0-9][0-9] 2>/dev/null | sort | tail -1 | grep -o '[0-9]*$' || true)
NEXT_NUM=$(printf "%03d" $(( ${LAST:-0} + 1 )))
OUTPUT_DIR="semgrep-results-${NEXT_NUM}"
mkdir -p "$OUTPUT_DIR"

Use subagent_type: static-analysis:semgrep-scanner with approved rulesets from Step 3. See scanner-task-prompt.md for prompt template.

Each task scans one language category, outputting to $OUTPUT_DIR/{lang}-*.json and *.sarif.

Step 5: Spawn Parallel Triage Tasks

After scans complete, spawn triage Tasks using subagent_type: static-analysis:semgrep-triager. See triage-task-prompt.md for prompt template.

Triage reads source context around each finding to classify as true/false positive.

Step 6: Collect Results

Generate merged SARIF with triaged true positives:

uv run {baseDir}/scripts/merge_triaged_sarif.py [OUTPUT_DIR]

The script reads *-triage.json files, filters to true positives, and writes findings-triaged.sarif. Uses SARIF Multitool if available, falls back to pure Python.

Report summary to user:

• Files scanned, rulesets used
• Raw vs triaged finding counts
• Breakdown by severity (ERROR/WARNING/INFO) and category
• Output file locations (findings-triaged.sarif, *-triage.json, raw *.json/*.sarif)

Common Pitfalls

Limitations

1. OSS mode cannot track data flow across files — enable Pro via semgrep login + semgrep install-semgrep-pro
2. Pro cross-file uses -j 1 (slower per ruleset; compensated by parallel rulesets)
3. Some false positive patterns require human judgment