Basic Scanning

Basic Usage

The most common way to use KafkaCode is with the scan command:

kafkacode scan <directory>

Scanning Your Project

Current Directory
Specific Directory
With npx

Scan the current directory and all subdirectories:

kafkacode scan .

Scan a specific project folder:

kafkacode scan /path/to/your/project

Or using relative paths:

kafkacode scan ./src
kafkacode scan ../backend

Run without installing globally:

npx kafkacode scan ./src

Understanding the Output

Scan Summary

Every scan starts with a summary section:

🎯 PRIVACY SCAN REPORT
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

📊 SCAN SUMMARY
📁 Directory: ./src
⏰ Timestamp: 2025-01-15 10:30:45
📄 Files Scanned: 25
🔍 Total Issues: 3
🏆 Privacy Grade: 🟡 B-

═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Key Metrics:

Directory: Path that was scanned
Timestamp: When the scan was performed
Files Scanned: Number of source files analyzed
Total Issues: Count of all findings
Privacy Grade: Overall grade (A+ to F)

Issue Listings

Issues are grouped by severity:

🔴 CRITICAL (1)
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  📄 src/config.js:12
     AWS Access Key detected
     aws_access_key_id = "AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE"

     💡 Recommendation: Move to environment variables

🟠 HIGH (1)
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  📄 src/auth.js:23
     API key found in code
     const apiKey = "sk_live_abc123..."

     💡 Recommendation: Use configuration management

🟡 MEDIUM (2)
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  📄 src/utils/validator.js:45
     Email address found in code
     const adminEmail = "admin@company.com"

     💡 Recommendation: Use configuration file

  📄 src/database/connection.js:8
     Potential database connection string
     const dbUrl = "mongodb://localhost:27017/mydb"

     💡 Recommendation: Use environment variables

🔵 LOW (3)
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  📄 src/config.js:5
     IP address detected
     const serverIP = "192.168.1.100"

     💡 Recommendation: Use DNS names when possible

Each finding includes:

File path: Location of the issue
Line number: Exact line where issue was found
Description: What was detected
Code snippet: The problematic code
Recommendation: How to fix it

Verbose Mode

Get detailed progress information during scanning:

kafkacode scan ./src --verbose

Verbose output shows:

🚀 Starting KafkaCode privacy scan...
📁 Discovering source code files...
Found 25 files to analyze
🔍 Performing privacy analysis...

Analyzing: src/config.js
Analyzing: src/auth.js
Analyzing: src/utils/validator.js
Analyzing: src/database/connection.js
...

✅ Analysis complete

Verbose mode is helpful for:

Understanding what KafkaCode is doing
Debugging issues
Monitoring progress on large codebases

Exit Codes

KafkaCode uses exit codes to indicate results:

Exit Code	Meaning
`0`	✅ No issues found
`1`	⚠️ Issues found or scan error

Use in scripts:

# Exit if issues found
kafkacode scan ./src || exit 1

# Or with custom handling
if kafkacode scan ./src; then
  echo "✅ No privacy issues detected"
else
  echo "⚠️ Privacy issues found, see report above"
  exit 1
fi

Common Scenarios

Scenario 1: Quick Project Check

# Navigate to project
cd ~/projects/my-app

# Quick scan
kafkacode scan .

Scenario 2: Scan Before Commit

# Scan staged changes
git diff --name-only --cached | xargs -I {} dirname {} | sort -u | xargs kafkacode scan

# Or scan entire src directory
kafkacode scan ./src

Scenario 3: Focus on Specific Directory

# Scan only backend code
kafkacode scan ./backend

# Scan only specific module
kafkacode scan ./src/auth

Scenario 4: Multiple Directory Scan

# Scan multiple directories (requires loop)
for dir in frontend backend mobile; do
  echo "Scanning $dir..."
  kafkacode scan ./$dir
done

What Files Are Scanned?

Included Files

KafkaCode automatically scans these file types:

Python

*.py

JavaScript

*.js, *.jsx

TypeScript

*.ts, *.tsx

Java

*.java

Go

*.go

Ruby

*.rb

PHP

*.php

Excluded Files & Directories

Automatically skipped: Version Control:

.git/
.svn/
.hg/

Dependencies:

node_modules/
vendor/
bower_components/

Python Virtual Environments:

venv/
.venv/
env/
__pycache__/
.pytest_cache/
.mypy_cache/

Build Outputs:

build/
dist/
target/
out/
.next/
.nuxt/

Test Coverage:

coverage/
.coverage/

Plus any files/directories in your .gitignore

Gitignore Support

KafkaCode automatically respects your .gitignore file:

# .gitignore
*.env
*.key
*.pem
secrets/
config/local.*
credentials.json

All matching files will be excluded from scanning.

Pro Tip: If you want KafkaCode to skip certain files, add them to your .gitignore. This is especially useful for test fixtures or mock data.

Performance Tips

Scan Specific Directories

Instead of scanning the entire project, target specific directories:

# Instead of this:
kafkacode scan .

# Do this:
kafkacode scan ./src ./lib

Use .gitignore Effectively

Add large directories to .gitignore:

# Exclude test fixtures
tests/fixtures/

# Exclude generated files
generated/

# Exclude third-party code
third_party/

Monitor Scan Time

Use time to measure performance:

time kafkacode scan ./src

Typical performance:

Small project (< 100 files): 2-5 seconds
Medium project (100-1000 files): 10-30 seconds
Large project (> 1000 files): 30-120 seconds

Interpreting Results

No Issues Found

📊 SCAN SUMMARY
📄 Files Scanned: 25
🔍 Total Issues: 0
🏆 Privacy Grade: 🟢 A+

✅ No privacy issues detected!

Action: Great! Your code is clean. Continue following best practices.

Minor Issues Found

📊 SCAN SUMMARY
📄 Files Scanned: 25
🔍 Total Issues: 3
🏆 Privacy Grade: 🟢 A-

🔵 LOW (3)
  📄 src/config.js:5
     IP address detected

Action: Review and address minor issues when convenient.

Critical Issues Found

📊 SCAN SUMMARY
📄 Files Scanned: 25
🔍 Total Issues: 5
🏆 Privacy Grade: 🔴 D

🔴 CRITICAL (2)
  📄 src/config.js:12
     AWS Access Key detected

  📄 src/stripe.js:8
     Stripe Secret Key detected

Action: Fix critical issues immediately before deploying!

Next Steps

CLI Options

Explore all command-line options

Interpreting Results

Learn to read and act on reports

CI/CD Integration

Automate scanning in your pipeline

Examples

See real-world usage examples

Important: KafkaCode is a static analysis tool. It may produce false positives or miss certain issues. Always review findings in context and use it as part of a comprehensive security strategy.

Get Started

Core Concepts

Usage Guide

Advanced

Basic Usage

Scanning Your Project

Understanding the Output

Scan Summary

Issue Listings

Verbose Mode

Exit Codes

Common Scenarios

Scenario 1: Quick Project Check

Scenario 2: Scan Before Commit

Scenario 3: Focus on Specific Directory

Scenario 4: Multiple Directory Scan

What Files Are Scanned?

Included Files

Python

JavaScript

TypeScript

Java

Go

Ruby

PHP

Excluded Files & Directories

Gitignore Support

Performance Tips

Interpreting Results

No Issues Found

Minor Issues Found

Critical Issues Found

Next Steps

CLI Options

Interpreting Results

CI/CD Integration

Examples

​Basic Usage

​Scanning Your Project

​Understanding the Output

​Scan Summary

​Issue Listings

​Verbose Mode

​Exit Codes

​Common Scenarios

​Scenario 1: Quick Project Check

​Scenario 2: Scan Before Commit

​Scenario 3: Focus on Specific Directory

​Scenario 4: Multiple Directory Scan

​What Files Are Scanned?

​Included Files

Python

JavaScript

TypeScript

Java

Go

Ruby

PHP

​Excluded Files & Directories

​Gitignore Support

​Performance Tips

​Interpreting Results

​No Issues Found

​Minor Issues Found

​Critical Issues Found

​Next Steps

CLI Options

Interpreting Results

CI/CD Integration

Examples

Basic Usage

Scanning Your Project

Understanding the Output

Scan Summary

Issue Listings

Verbose Mode

Exit Codes

Common Scenarios

Scenario 1: Quick Project Check

Scenario 2: Scan Before Commit

Scenario 3: Focus on Specific Directory

Scenario 4: Multiple Directory Scan

What Files Are Scanned?

Included Files

Excluded Files & Directories

Gitignore Support

Performance Tips

Interpreting Results

No Issues Found

Minor Issues Found

Critical Issues Found

Next Steps