Quick Start

Get up and running with vlayer in under 5 minutes.

Your First Scan

Navigate to your project directory and run:

vlayer scan .

vlayer will analyze your codebase and output findings to the terminal:

Scanning project...

PHI Exposure
  ⚠ HIGH: Potential SSN pattern found
    → src/utils/validate.ts:45
    Reference: HIPAA §164.514

  ⚠ MEDIUM: Hardcoded date of birth
    → src/models/patient.ts:12
    Reference: HIPAA §164.514

Encryption
  ✗ CRITICAL: MD5 hash algorithm detected
    → src/auth/password.ts:23
    Reference: HIPAA §164.312(a)(2)(iv)

Audit Logging
  ✓ Logging framework detected (winston)

Access Control
  ✓ Authentication middleware found

Data Retention
  ⚠ LOW: No retention policy detected
    → src/services/cleanup.ts
    Reference: HIPAA §164.530(j)

Summary: 2 critical, 1 high, 1 medium, 1 low

Understanding Severity Levels

Severity	Description	Action Required
CRITICAL	Immediate security risk	Fix before deploying
HIGH	Likely compliance violation	Fix soon
MEDIUM	Potential issue	Review and fix
LOW	Best practice recommendation	Consider fixing

Generating Reports

HTML Report

Generate a detailed HTML report for sharing with your team:

vlayer scan . -f html -o hipaa-report.html

Open hipaa-report.html in your browser to see:

• Summary dashboard
• Findings by category
• Code snippets with line numbers
• Remediation guidance
• HIPAA references

JSON Report

Export findings as JSON for programmatic processing:

vlayer scan . -f json -o findings.json

Markdown Report

Generate Markdown for documentation or GitHub issues:

vlayer scan . -f markdown -o HIPAA-FINDINGS.md

Scanning Specific Directories

Scan only certain parts of your codebase:

# Scan only the src directory
vlayer scan ./src

# Scan multiple directories
vlayer scan ./src ./lib ./api

Filtering by Category

Focus on specific compliance categories:

# Only check encryption
vlayer scan . --category encryption

# Check multiple categories
vlayer scan . --category phi,encryption,audit

Available categories:

• phi - PHI exposure detection
• encryption - Encryption standards
• audit - Audit logging
• access - Access control
• retention - Data retention

Auto-Fix Mode

Let vlayer automatically fix some common issues:

vlayer scan . --fix

caution

Auto-fix modifies your code. Always review changes and run tests afterward.

Exit Codes

vlayer uses exit codes for CI/CD integration:

Code	Meaning
0	No findings or only LOW severity
1	MEDIUM or higher findings
2	CRITICAL findings

Example CI usage:

vlayer scan . || exit 1

Next Steps

• Learn about the CLI commands in detail
• Understand what each scanner checks for
• Set up CI/CD integration
• Configure vlayer with custom rules