Code scanning analysis takes too long

There are several approaches you can try to reduce the build time in a code scanning analysis.

Increase the memory or cores

You can increase the memory or disk space available on your runners. If you're using CodeQL for your code scanning analysis, you can review the recommended hardware resources for CodeQL to make sure your runners meet those requirements. For more information, see Empfohlene Hardwareressourcen zum Ausführen von CodeQL.

Use matrix builds to parallelize the analysis

To speed up analysis of workflows that involve multiple jobs, you can modify your workflow to use a matrix. For more information, see Ausführen von Variationen von Aufträgen in einem Workflow.

The default CodeQL-Analyseworkflow uses a matrix of languages, which causes the analysis of each language to run in parallel. However, if you're using CodeQL with advanced setup and you have specified the languages you want to analyze directly in the "Initialize CodeQL" step, analysis of each language will happen sequentially. In this configuration, you can speed up your analysis by modifying your advanced setup workflow to use a matrix. For an example, see the workflow extract in Some languages were not analyzed with CodeQL advanced setup.

Reduce the amount of code being analyzed in a single workflow

Analysis time is typically proportional to the amount of code being analyzed. If you're using CodeQL with advanced setup, you can reduce the analysis time by reducing the amount of code being analyzed at once. For example, by excluding test code, or breaking analysis into multiple workflows that analyze only a subset of your code at a time.

Bei der Verwendung von build-mode: autobuild oder build-mode: manual für kompilierte Sprachen wie Java, Kotlin, Go, C, C++ und C#, analysiert CodeQL den gesamten Code, der während der Workflowausführung erstellt wurde. Um den Umfang des analysierten Codes einzuschränken, kompilier nur den Code, den du analysieren möchtest, indem du deine eigenen Buildschritte in einem run-Block angibst. Durch die Angabe deiner eigenen Buildschritte mithilfe der Filter paths und paths-ignore für die Ereignisse pull_request und push kannst du die Schritte wie gewünscht kombinieren, um sicherzustellen, dass dein Workflow nur ausgeführt wird, wenn der bestimmte Code geändert wird. Weitere Informationen finden Sie unter Workflowsyntax für GitHub Actions.

Für Sprachen wie JavaScript, Python und TypeScript, die CodeQL analysiert, ohne den Quellcode zu kompilieren, oder bei Verwendung bei einer kompilierten Sprache mit build-mode: none können Sie zusätzliche Konfigurationsoptionen angeben, um den zu analysierenden Codeumfang zu begrenzen. Weitere Informationen finden Sie unter Anpassen des erweiterten Setups für das Codescanning.

If you split your CodeQL analysis into multiple workflows, we still recommend that you have at least one workflow which runs on a schedule which analyzes all of the code in your repository. Because CodeQL analyzes data flows between components, some complex security behaviors may only be detected on a complete build.

Run only during a schedule event

You may find that your analysis is slow during push or pull_request events. If so, you can set your analysis to only trigger on the schedule event. If you're using CodeQL for your code scanning analysis, you can configure this with an advanced setup workflow, but not in default setup. For more information, see Grundlegendes zu GitHub Actions.

Check which queries or rules the workflow runs

Another option to reduce analysis time is to run only the queries or rules that you consider critical in workflows that run on pull requests. If you use a third-party tool for code scanning, you should refer to the documentation for the tool.

In CodeQL, there are two main query suites available for each language. If you have optimized the CodeQL database build and the process is still too long, you could reduce the number of queries you run. The default query suite is run automatically: it provides the best possible compromise between quality and speed.

If you're using CodeQL with advanced setup, you may be running extra queries or query suites in addition to the default queries. Check whether the workflow defines an additional query suite or additional queries to run using the queries element. You can experiment with disabling the additional query suite or queries. For more information, see Anpassen des erweiterten Setups für das Codescanning.