Integration with Gitlab Pipelines

Introduction

Integrating Licensight into your CI/CD pipeline helps you automatically scan every code change for open-source vulnerabilities, license risks, and policy violations. This ensures continuous monitoring and helps catch issues early in the development process.

Prerequisites

Configure variables

Define these variables in the GitLab project's CI/CD settings (Settings > CI/CD > Variables) or in a parent group.

Variable	Description
LICENSIGHT_APPLICATION_NAME	The name of the application in Licensight platform.
LICENSIGHT_ACCESS_TOKEN	Your Licensight access token. Please refer to Creating an access token for detailed instructions.
LICENSIGHT_URL	Licensight platform endpoint
GITLAB_TOKEN	To enable GitLab PR decoration, set a variable with a valid GitLab token (API access required).

Licensight Integration for GitLab Platforms

For details on the parameters of Licensight Scan, refer to Using Licensight Scan.

Create a .gitlab-ci.yml file in the root directory.

Scan Pull Requests with GitLab pipeline

stages:
  - deploy

licensight:
  stage: deploy
  script:
    - apt update && apt install -y python3 golang maven curl
    - curl -O https://licensight.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/latest/linux/licensight-scan
    - chmod +x ./licensight-scan
    - |
      ./licensight-scan generate \
        -d . \
        -a "$LICENSIGHT_APPLICATION_NAME" \
        -e $LICENSIGHT_URL \
        -at $LICENSIGHT_ACCESS_TOKEN \
        -b $CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME \
        -dpr true
  rules:
    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == 'merge_request_event' && $GITLAB_TOKEN != null

When a new PR is created, the pipeline will:

• Automatically run the scanner on the changed code:

• Decorate the Pull Request with scan results:

Scan on Default Branch

This pipeline below trigger Licensight every time code merge to default branch

stages:
  - deploy

licensight:
  stage: deploy
  script:
    - apt update && apt install -y python3 golang maven curl
    - curl -O https://licensight.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/latest/linux/licensight-scan
    - chmod +x ./licensight-scan
    - |
      ./licensight-scan generate \
        -d . \
        -a "$LICENSIGHT_APPLICATION_NAME" \
        -e $LICENSIGHT_URL \
        -at $LICENSIGHT_ACCESS_TOKEN \
        -b $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH
  rules:
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH

The pipeline result:

Example for default branch has been scanned:

Scan on Release Tags

This Pipeline trigger Licensight every time release tags created:

stages:
  - deploy

licensight:
  stage: deploy
  script:
    - apt update && apt install -y python3 golang maven curl
    - curl -O https://licensight.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/latest/linux/licensight-scan
    - chmod +x ./licensight-scan
    - |
      ./licensight-scan generate \
        -d . \
        -a "$LICENSIGHT_APPLICATION_NAME" \
        -e $LICENSIGHT_URL \
        -at $LICENSIGHT_ACCESS_TOKEN \
        -t $CI_COMMIT_TAG
  rules:
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_TAG

The pipeline result:

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Issue	Description	Solution
Exit code 3	A space in the application name (e.g., My App) is interpreted as two arguments	Wrap the value in quotes: -a "My App"
Invalid access token	LICENSIGHT_ACCESS_TOKEN is incorrect or missing	Regenerate the token from Licensight and update it in Gitlab variables
Unauthorized access to application	You do not have permission to access the Licensight application.	Contact the application's owner to request access rights
Scan results not visible in Licensight platform	Incorrect application name or URL Licensight does not scan on the Default branch	Double-check LICENSIGHT_APPLICATION_NAME and LICENSIGHT_URL Ensure the Gitlab pipeline ran on Default branch
Licensight not triggered	Pipeline not triggered due to unmet conditions	Check rules: section in .gitlab-ci.yml to ensure correct conditions
Private dependencies not resolved	Licensight can't access private repos	Configure credentials (e.g., Maven settings.xml) in the pipeline
Error: No dependencies found	Scan directory lacks a component management file (e.g., package.json, pom.xml) Required build tools are missing	Verify scan path Python project → install python3 Java project → install maven Go project → install golang
Unauthorized Gitlab access token	Token is expired or lacks sufficient permissions	Regenerate a new token with appropriate API permission levels and assign it to GITLAB_TOKEN