ConsoleSentinel

CLI Reference

Complete reference for the ConsoleSentinel command-line interface.

Synopsis

consolesentinel [command] [options]

If no command is specified, scan is used by default.

Commands

scan (default)

Run a full audit against a target URL.

consolesentinel scan --url https://example.com

serve

Start the real-time dashboard on a local port.

consolesentinel serve --port 3900

compare

Compare two scan reports and show the delta.

consolesentinel compare --baseline report-a.json --current report-b.json

init

Create a default consolesentinel.config.json in the current directory.

consolesentinel init

Global Options

| Flag | Alias | Type | Default | Description | | ---- | ----- | ---- | ------- | ----------- | | --url | -u | string | — | Target URL to scan (required for scan) | | --config | -c | string | Auto | Path to config file | | --max-pages | -m | number | 100 | Maximum pages to crawl | | --max-depth | | number | 5 | Maximum link depth | | --format | -f | string | html | Output format: json, html, markdown, or all | | --out-dir | -o | string | ./consolesentinel-reports | Report output directory | | --timeout | -t | number | 30000 | Page timeout in ms | | --viewport | | string | 1440x900 | Viewport as WxH | | --headless | | boolean | true | Run in headless mode | | --verbose | -v | boolean | false | Verbose logging | | --quiet | -q | boolean | false | Suppress terminal output | | --version | -V | — | — | Print version and exit | | --help | -h | — | — | Show help |

Scan Options

Auditor Toggles

Enable or disable individual modules:

consolesentinel --url https://example.com --disable dast,visualAi
consolesentinel --url https://example.com --only console,network,seo

| Flag | Type | Description | | ---- | ---- | ----------- | | --disable | string | Comma-separated list of auditors to skip | | --only | string | Run only these auditors (skip all others) |

Crawl Control

consolesentinel --url https://example.com \
  --include "/blog/**" \
  --exclude "/admin/**,*.pdf" \
  --follow-external false

| Flag | Type | Description | | ---- | ---- | ----------- | | --include | string | Glob patterns to prioritize | | --exclude | string | Glob patterns to skip | | --follow-external | boolean | Follow external links (default false) |

Authentication

consolesentinel --url https://staging.example.com \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  --cookie "session=abc123"

| Flag | Type | Description | | ---- | ---- | ----------- | | --header | string | Custom headers (Key: Value). Repeatable. | | --cookie | string | Custom cookies. Repeatable. | | --basic-auth | string | HTTP basic auth (user:password) |

CI / CD

consolesentinel --url https://example.com \
  --fail-on-grade C \
  --fail-on-critical \
  --fail-on-high 5

| Flag | Type | Description | | ---- | ---- | ----------- | | --fail-on-grade | string | Exit non-zero if grade at-or-below (e.g. C) | | --fail-on-critical | boolean | Exit non-zero on any critical finding | | --fail-on-high | number | Exit non-zero if high-severity count exceeds N |

Exit Codes

| Code | Meaning | | ---- | ------- | | 0 | Scan completed, all CI thresholds passed | | 1 | Scan completed, CI threshold exceeded | | 2 | Scan failed (network error, timeout, etc.) |

Examples

Quick scan with JSON output:

npx consolesentinel -u https://example.com -f json

Run only security modules:

npx consolesentinel -u https://example.com --only security,dast

CI pipeline with grade gate:

npx consolesentinel -u $DEPLOY_URL --fail-on-grade C --fail-on-critical -f json -q

Compare before/after deploy:

npx consolesentinel compare \
  --baseline reports/pre-deploy.json \
  --current reports/post-deploy.json

Next Steps