gate scan

Discovers agent configuration, classifies what it can do, runs every rule, and prints a blast radius.

Usage

gate scan [path]
npx @usegate/cli scan [path]

path defaults to the current directory. scan is the default command, so gate on its own does the same thing.

The scan is read-only and local. Gate opens configuration files, and does not start MCP servers, write to the repository, or make network calls.

Options

Name
--json
Type
boolean
Description
Emit the machine-readable scan result instead of human output. Stable enough to depend on in CI, and validated against its published schema on the way out.
Name
--sarif <file>
Type
path
Description
Also write SARIF 2.1.0 for GitHub code scanning. Additive; does not replace --json.
Name
-q, --quiet
Type
boolean
Description
Print a single summary line. Useful for a build log where the detail lives in an artifact.
Name
-s, --severity <level>
Type
info | low | medium | high | critical
Description
Exit non-zero at this severity or above. Defaults to high, or whatever gate.config.ts says.
Name
-c, --config <file>
Type
path
Description
Use a specific configuration file. Without this, Gate looks for gate.config.ts, .mts, .mjs, .js, .json, then a gate key in package.json. A missing file passed here is an error, not a fallback.
Name
--baseline <file>
Type
path
Description
Compare against a baseline and mark findings as new or unchanged. Defaults to .gate/baseline.json when that file exists.
Name
--write-baseline
Type
boolean
Description
Record the current state as the baseline and write it to .gate/baseline.json. Commit the result.
Name
--inspect
Type
boolean
Description
Connect to already-running remote MCP servers and enumerate their real tools. Gate never calls a tool. See deep inspection.
Name
--allow-stdio-launch
Type
boolean
Description
Also start local stdio MCP servers during --inspect. Unsafe: this executes command lines taken from the configuration Gate is auditing. Gate prints the exact command and asks before each one.
Name
-y, --yes
Type
boolean
Description
Do not prompt before starting a local server. Only meaningful with --allow-stdio-launch.
Name
--show-suppressed
Type
boolean
Description
List findings hidden by ignore entries in your configuration, with the reason each was suppressed.
Name
--no-telemetry
Type
boolean
Description
Do not send anonymous aggregate usage data for this run. See privacy.
Name
--no-color
Type
boolean
Description
Disable coloured output. Gate also honours NO_COLOR and disables colour automatically when output is redirected.

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
`0`	No findings at or above the configured threshold
`1`	Findings at or above the threshold
`2`	Gate itself failed. Bad configuration, unreadable file, internal error

1 and 2 are separate so CI can tell "your agent is dangerous" from "Gate broke". See exit codes.

Examples

Everyday use

# Scan the current repository
gate scan

# Only fail the build on critical findings
gate scan --severity critical

# Machine-readable output for a pipeline
gate scan --json > gate-result.json

# See what your configuration is hiding
gate scan --show-suppressed

Working with a baseline

# Record what the agent can do today
gate scan --write-baseline

# Later: what has changed since?
gate scan --baseline .gate/baseline.json

Deep inspection

# Ask running remote servers what tools they really have
gate scan --inspect

# Also start local stdio servers (unsafe, prompts per server)
gate scan --inspect --allow-stdio-launch

gate explain Configuration