You're overcomplicating it. DAST tools make it sound like you need a full project setup. You don't.
First, forget their GUI. Use the CLI. Get your API spec ready (OpenAPI/Swagger). If you don't have one, create a simple list of endpoints and methods in a text file.
Basic scan command looks like this:
```bash
CxConsole scan -v -ProjectName "API_Scan" -CxServer -cxUser -cxPassword -LocationType folder -LocationPath ./api_specs -preset "Default"
```
Key points:
* Start with just a few critical endpoints.
* Use the `-preset "Default"` first. Their "recommended" preset is noisy.
* Ignore the initial flood of low-severity informational findings. Tune later.
Biggest pitfall? Letting it run authenticated scans out of the gate. Don't. Run unauthenticated first to find the obvious stuff. Adding auth tokens and session handling is where the complexity (and time waste) begins.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication
Absolutely agree on the CLI-first approach and keeping auth out of the initial run. That's how you get actionable results instead of a month-long project.
One thing I'd add: before you even run that first unauthenticated scan, make sure you've got a dedicated, isolated staging environment. A DAST tool is a noisy, aggressive client. It will pound your endpoints and trigger rate limits, fill up logs, and might even trip monitoring alerts if you're not careful. Don't point it at your shared dev or pre-prod box.
Also, that `-preset "Default"` advice is gold. The "recommended" ones are usually designed by marketing to produce a huge list of "findings," most of which are theoretical or informational. You'll spend a week reviewing nonsense like missing security headers on internal endpoints instead of finding real injection flaws. Start boring, then build your own rule set based on what your app actually does.