SafeDep VET

What is SafeDep VET about?

SafeDep VET protects modern applications from risky open‑source components. It performs deep code‑level analysis, combines vulnerability databases, malicious‑package detection, and policy‑as‑code enforcement to give developers and security engineers confidence in their dependencies.

How to use SafeDep VET?

1. Install – e.g., brew install safedep/tap/vet or download a binary.
2. Scan – run vet scan -D . to analyze the current project, or target a specific manifest with -M.
3. Enforce policies – add CEL expressions via --filter and fail CI pipelines with --filter-fail.
4. Integrate – use the GitHub Action, GitLab CI component, or Docker image for automated scans.
5. Run as MCP server – start vet server mcp --server-type sse to provide scanning services to AI‑generated code.

Key Features of SafeDep VET

• Code‑aware dependency analysis – evaluates actual code usage to reduce noise.
• Real‑time malicious package detection – powered by SafeDep Cloud, with fallback query mode.
• Policy as Code – write CEL expressions to block vulnerable versions, unwanted licenses, low‑star GitHub projects, etc.
• Multi‑ecosystem support – npm, PyPI, Maven, Go, RubyGems, Rust, PHP, Docker images, SBOMs (CycloneDX, SPDX), JARs, wheels, and raw source.
• CI/CD native – GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, container image, and command‑line options.
• Reporting – SARIF, JSON, CSV, HTML, Markdown, SBOM generation, dependency graphs.
• MCP server & agents – expose scanning capabilities to AI assistants.

Use Cases of SafeDep VET

• CI pipeline gate – automatically fail builds when critical CVEs, malicious packages, or non‑compliant licenses are found.
• Open‑source project auditing – scan repositories before release to ensure supply‑chain cleanliness.
• Policy enforcement for enterprises – codify security standards and govern third‑party component usage.
• Developer self‑service – run local scans to catch issues early during development.
• AI‑assisted coding environments – integrate the MCP server so AI code suggestions are vetted before insertion.

FAQ about SafeDep VET

Q: Do I need an API key for malicious package detection? A: An API key enables active scanning via SafeDep Cloud. Without it, VET falls back to query mode using public databases.

Q: Which package managers are supported? A: npm, Yarn, pnpm, PyPI, Maven, Gradle, Go modules, RubyGems, Cargo, Composer, and many others, plus container images and SBOM formats.

Q: How can I enforce custom security policies? A: Write CEL expressions and pass them with --filter. Combine multiple filters and use --filter-fail to make the scan exit with a non‑zero code.

Q: Can I run VET in a container? A: Yes. Use the official image ghcr.io/safedep/vet:latest and mount your workspace, e.g., docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/app ghcr.io/safedep/vet:latest scan -D /app.

Q: Is telemetry collected? A: Anonymous usage telemetry is sent by default, but no code or package data leaves your machine. Set VET_DISABLE_TELEMETRY=true to opt‑out.

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🎯 Why vet?

70-90% of modern software constitute code from open sources — How do we know if it's safe?

vet is an open source software supply chain security tool built for developers and security engineers who need:

✅ Next-gen Software Composition Analysis — Vulnerability and malicious package detection
✅ Policy as Code — Express opinionated security policies using CEL
✅ Real-time malicious package detection — Powered by SafeDep Cloud active scanning
✅ Multi-ecosystem support — npm, PyPI, Maven, Go, Docker, GitHub Actions, and more
✅ CI/CD native — Built for DevSecOps workflows with support for GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, and more
✅ MCP Server — Run vet as a MCP server to vet open source packages from AI suggested code
✅ Agents — Run AI agents to query and analyze scan results

⚡ Quick Start

Install in seconds:

# macOS & Linux
brew install safedep/tap/vet

or download a pre-built binary

Scan your project:

# Scan current directory
vet scan -D .

# Scan a single file
vet scan -M package-lock.json

# Fail CI on critical vulnerabilities
vet scan -D . --filter 'vulns.critical.exists(p, true)' --filter-fail

# Fail CI on OpenSSF Scorecard requirements
vet scan -D . --filter 'scorecard.scores.Maintained < 5' --filter-fail

# Fail CI if a package is published from a GitHub repository with less than 5 stars
vet scan -D . --filter 'projects.exists(p, p.type == "GITHUB" && p.stars < 5)' --filter-fail

🔒 Key Features

🕵️ Code Analysis

Unlike dependency scanners that flood you with noise, vet analyzes your actual code usage to prioritize real risks. See dependency usage evidence for more details.

🛡️ Malicious Package Detection

Integrated with SafeDep Cloud for real-time protection against malicious packages in the wild. Free for open source projects. Fallback to Query Mode when API key is not provided. Read more about malicious package scanning.

📋 Policy as Code

Define security policies using CEL expressions to enforce context specific security requirements.

# Block packages with critical CVEs
vet scan \
--filter 'vulns.critical.exists(p, true)'

# Enforce license compliance
vet scan \
--filter 'licenses.contains_license("GPL-3.0")'

# Enforce OpenSSF Scorecard requirements
# Require minimum OpenSSF Scorecard scores
vet scan \
--filter 'scorecard.scores.Maintained < 5'

🎯 Multi-Format Support

• Package Managers: npm, PyPI, Maven, Go, Ruby, Rust, PHP
• Container Images: Docker, OCI
• SBOMs: CycloneDX, SPDX
• Binary Artifacts: JAR files, Python wheels
• Source Code: Direct repository scanning

🔥 See vet in Action

🚀 Production Ready Integrations

📦 GitHub Actions

Zero config security guardrails against vulnerabilities and malicious packages in your CI/CD pipeline with your own opinionated policies:

- uses: safedep/vet-action@v1
  with:
    policy: '.github/vet/policy.yml'

See more in vet-action documentation.

🔧 GitLab CI

Enterprise grade scanning with vet CI Component:

include:
  - component: gitlab.com/safedep/ci-components/vet/scan@main

🐳 Container Integration

Run vet anywhere, even your internal developer platform or custom CI/CD environment using our container image.

docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/app ghcr.io/safedep/vet:latest scan -D /app

📚 Table of Contents

• 🎯 Why vet?
• ⚡ Quick Start
• 🔒 Key Features
  • 🕵️ Code Analysis
  • 🛡️ Malicious Package Detection
  • 📋 Policy as Code
  • 🎯 Multi-Format Support
• 🔥 See vet in Action
• 🚀 Production Ready Integrations
  • 📦 GitHub Actions
  • 🔧 GitLab CI
  • 🐳 Container Integration
• 📚 Table of Contents
• 📦 Installation Options
  • 🍺 Homebrew (Recommended)
  • 📥 Direct Download
  • 🐹 Go Install
  • 🐳 Container Image
  • ⚙️ Verify Installation
• 🎮 Advanced Usage
  • 🔍 Scanning Options
  • 🎯 Policy Enforcement Examples
  • 🔧 SBOM Support
  • 📊 Query Mode & Data Persistence
• 📊 Reporting
  • 📋 Report Formats
  • 🎯 Report Examples
  • 🤖 MCP Server
  • 🤖 Agents
• 🛡️ Malicious Package Detection
  • 🚀 Quick Setup
  • 🎯 Advanced Malicious Package Analysis
  • 🔒 Security Features
• 📊 Privacy and Telemetry
• 🎊 Community & Support
  • 🌟 Join the Community
  • 💡 Get Help & Share Ideas
  • ⭐ Star History
  • 🙏 Built With Open Source

📦 Installation Options

🍺 Homebrew (Recommended)

brew tap safedep/tap
brew install safedep/tap/vet

📥 Direct Download

See releases for the latest version.

🐹 Go Install

go install github.com/safedep/vet@latest

🐳 Container Image

# Quick test
docker run --rm ghcr.io/safedep/vet:latest version

# Scan local directory
docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/workspace ghcr.io/safedep/vet:latest scan -D /workspace

⚙️ Verify Installation

vet version
# Should display version and build information

🎮 Advanced Usage

🔍 Scanning Options

📁 Directory Scanning

# Scan current directory
vet scan

# Scan a given directory
vet scan -D /path/to/project

# Resolve and scan transitive dependencies
vet scan -D . --transitive

📄 Manifest Files

# Package managers
vet scan -M package-lock.json
vet scan -M requirements.txt
vet scan -M pom.xml
vet scan -M go.mod
vet scan -M Gemfile.lock

🐙 GitHub Integration

# Setup GitHub access
vet connect github

# Scan repositories
vet scan --github https://github.com/user/repo

# Organization scanning
vet scan --github-org https://github.com/org

📦 Artifact Scanning

# Container images
vet scan --image nginx:latest
vet scan --image /path/to/image-saved-file.tar

# Binary artifacts
vet scan -M app.jar
vet scan -M package.whl

🎯 Policy Enforcement Examples

# Security-first scanning
vet scan -D . \
  --filter 'vulns.critical.exists(p, true) || vulns.high.exists(p, true)' \
  --filter-fail

# License compliance
vet scan -D . \
  --filter 'licenses.contains_license("GPL-3.0")' \
  --filter-fail

# OpenSSF Scorecard requirements
vet scan -D . \
  --filter 'scorecard.scores.Maintained < 5' \
  --filter-fail

# Popularity-based filtering
vet scan -D . \
  --filter 'projects.exists(p, p.type == "GITHUB" && p.stars < 50)' \
  --filter-fail

🔧 SBOM Support

# Scan a CycloneDX SBOM
vet scan -M sbom.json --type bom-cyclonedx

# Scan a SPDX SBOM
vet scan -M sbom.spdx.json --type bom-spdx

# Generate SBOM output
vet scan -D . --report-cdx=output.sbom.json

# Package URL scanning
vet scan --purl pkg:npm/lodash@4.17.21

📊 Query Mode & Data Persistence

For large codebases and repeated analysis:

# Scan once, query multiple times
vet scan -D . --json-dump-dir ./scan-data

# Query with different filters
vet query --from ./scan-data \
  --filter 'vulns.critical.exists(p, true)'

# Generate focused reports
vet query --from ./scan-data \
  --filter 'licenses.contains_license("GPL")' \
  --report-json license-violations.json

📊 Reporting

vet generate reports that are tailored for different stakeholders:

📋 Report Formats

# SARIF for GitHub Security tab
vet scan -D . --report-sarif=report.sarif

# JSON for custom tooling
vet scan -D . --report-json=report.json

# CSV for spreadsheet analysis
vet scan -D . --report-csv=report.csv

# HTML for web-based analysis
vet scan -D . --report-html=report.html

# Markdown reports for PRs
vet scan -D . --report-markdown=report.md

# Console summary (default)
vet scan -D . --report-summary

# SBOM generation
vet scan -D . --report-cdx=sbom.json

# Dependency graphs
vet scan -D . --report-graph=dependencies.dot

🎯 Report Examples

# Multi-format output
vet scan -D . \
  --report-json=report.json \
  --report-sarif=report.sarif \
  --report-markdown=report.md \
  --report-html=report.html

# Focus on specific issues
vet scan -D . \
  --filter 'vulns.high.exists(p, true)' \
  --report-json=report.json

🤖 MCP Server

vet can be used as an MCP server to vet open source packages from AI suggested code.

# Start the MCP server with SSE transport
vet server mcp --server-type sse

For more details, see vet MCP Server documentation.

🤖 Agents

See vet Agents documentation for more details.

🛡️ Malicious Package Detection

Malicious package detection through active scanning and code analysis powered by SafeDep Cloud. vet requires an API key for active scanning of unknown packages. When API key is not provided, vet will fallback to Query Mode which detects known malicious packages from SafeDep and OSV databases.

• Grab a free API key from SafeDep Platform App or use vet cloud quickstart
• API access is free forever for open source projects
• No proprietary code is collected for malicious package detection
• Only open source package scanning from public repositories is supported

🚀 Quick Setup

Malicious package detection requires an API key for SafeDep Cloud.

# One-time setup
vet cloud quickstart

# Enable malware scanning
vet scan -D . --malware

# Query for known malicious packages without API key
vet scan -D . --malware-query

Example malicious packages detected and reported by SafeDep Cloud malicious package detection:

• MAL-2025-3541: express-cookie-parser
• MAL-2025-4339: eslint-config-airbnb-compat
• MAL-2025-4029: ts-runtime-compat-check
• MAL-2025-2227: nyc-config

🎯 Advanced Malicious Package Analysis

🔍 Scan packages with malicious package detection enabled

# Real-time scanning
vet scan -D . --malware

# Timeout adjustment
vet scan -D . --malware \
  --malware-analysis-timeout=300s

# Batch analysis
vet scan -D . --malware \
  --json-dump-dir=./analysis

🎭 Specialized Scans

# VS Code extensions
vet scan --vsx --malware

# GitHub Actions
vet scan -D .github/workflows --malware

# Container Images
vet scan --image nats:2.10 --malware

# Scan a single package and fail if its malicious
vet scan --purl pkg:/npm/nyc-config@10.0.0 --fail-fast

# Active scanning of a single package (requires API key)
vet inspect malware \
  --purl pkg:npm/nyc-config@10.0.0

🔒 Security Features

• ✅ Real-time analysis of packages against known malware databases
• ✅ Behavioral analysis using static and dynamic analysis
• ✅ Zero day protection through active code scanning
• ✅ Human in the loop for triaging and investigation of high impact findings
• ✅ Real time analysis with public analysis log

📊 Privacy and Telemetry

vet collects anonymous usage telemetry to improve the product. Your code and package information is never transmitted.

# Disable telemetry (optional)
export VET_DISABLE_TELEMETRY=true

🎊 Community & Support

🌟 Join the Community

💡 Get Help & Share Ideas

• 🚀 Interactive Tutorial - Learn vet hands-on
• 📚 Complete Documentation - Comprehensive guides
• 💬 Discord Community - Real-time support
• 🐛 Issue Tracker - Bug reports & feature requests
• 🤝 Contributing Guide - Join the development

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⭐ Star History

🙏 Built With Open Source

vet stands on the shoulders of giants:

OSV • OpenSSF Scorecard • SLSA • OSV-SCALIBR • Syft

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Created with ❤️ by SafeDep and the open source community