Private rules

Users of the Team or Enterprise tier of Semgrep Code can publish rules to the Semgrep Registry as private rules that are not visible to others outside their organization. Maintaining the rules' privacy allows you the benefits of using the Semgrep Registry while keeping sensitive code or information internal.

Creating private rules

Create private rules the same way you create other custom rules. Private rules are stored in Semgrep Registry but they are not visible outside your organization. The two sections below can help you to create and save your private rules.

Prerequisite

Team or Enterprise tier of Semgrep Code.

Creating private rules through Semgrep Cloud Platform

To publish private rules through the Semgrep Cloud Platform:

1. Go to Semgrep Editor.
2. Click Create New Rule.
3. Choose one of the following:
   • Create a new rule and test code by clicking plus icon, select New rule, and then click Save.
   • In the Library panel, select a rule from a category in Semgrep Registry. Click Fork, modify the rule or test code, and then click Save.
4. Click Share.
5. Click Private.

Your private rule has been created and added to the Registry, visible only to logged in users of your organization. Its private status is reflected by the Share button displaying a icon.

Private rules are stored in the folder with the same name as your Semgrep Cloud Platform organization.

Creating private rules through the command line

To create private rules through the Semgrep CLI, :

1. Interactively login to Semgrep:

   semgrep login

2. Create your rule. For more information, see Contributing rules documentation.

3. Publish your rule from the command line with semgrep publish command followed by the path to your private rules:

   semgrep publish myrules/

If the directory contains test cases for the rules, Semgrep uploads them as well (see testing Semgrep rules).

You can also change the visibility of the rules. For instance, to publish the rules as unlisted (which does not require authentication but will not be displayed in the public registry):

semgrep publish --visibility=unlisted myrules/

For more details, run semgrep publish --help.

Viewing and using private rules

View your rule in the editor under the folder corresponding to your organization name.

You can also find it in the registry by searching for [organization-id].[rule-id]. For example: r2c.test-rule-id.

To enforce the rule on new scans, add the rule in the registry to an existing policy.

Automatically publishing rules

This section provides an example of how to automatically publish your private rules so they are accessible within your private organization. "Publishing" your private rules in this manner does not make them public. The following sample of the GitHub Actions workflow publishes rules from a private Git repository after a merge to the main, master, or develop branches.

1. Make sure that SEMGREP_APP_TOKEN is defined in your Github project or organization's secrets.

2. Create the following file at .github/workflows/semgrep-publish.yml:

   name: semgrep-publish
   
   on:
     push:
       branches:
       - main
       - master
       - develop
   
   jobs:
     publish:
       name: publish-private-semgrep-rules
       runs-on: ubuntu-latest
       container:
         image: semgrep/semgrep
       steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - name: publish private semgrep rules
         run: semgrep publish --visibility=org_private ./private_rule_dir
         env:
           SEMGREP_APP_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.SEMGREP_APP_TOKEN }}

   A sample job for GitLab CI/CD:

   semgrep-publish:
     image: semgrep/semgrep
     script: semgrep publish --visibility=org_private ./private_rule_dir
   
   rules:
     - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH
   
   variables:
     SEMGREP_APP_TOKEN: $SEMGREP_APP_TOKEN

   Ensure that SEMGREP_APP_TOKEN is defined in your GitLab project's CI/CD variables.

Deleting private rules

To remove a private rule, follow these steps:

1. In the Semgrep Editor, find a private rule to delete under the Library tab. Private rules are usually stored in the folder with the same name as your Semgrep Cloud Platform organization.
2. Click the rule you want to delete, and then click the three vertical dots.
3. Click Delete.

Deleting a rule is permanent. If the rule was previously added to the Policies page, it is removed upon deletion.

Appendix

Visibility of private rules

Private rules are only visible to logged-in members of your organization.

Publishing a rule with the same rule ID

Rules have unique IDs. If you publish a rule with the same ID as an existing rule, the new rule overwrites the previous one.

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