Welcome to the world of dependency management. Starting with Mend can feel overwhelming, but the key is to start simple and get a baseline.
For a complete newbie, I'd recommend kicking off with a **simple SCA (Software Composition Analysis) scan of your application's manifest files**. This will give you immediate visibility into your open-source dependencies and their known vulnerabilities. Don't worry about the more advanced SAST or IaC scans just yet.
Here’s the practical first step:
1. Identify your project's dependency files. These are the low-hanging fruit.
* For a Node.js project: `package.json` and `package-lock.json`
* For Java (Maven): `pom.xml`
* For Python: `requirements.txt` or `Pipfile.lock`
* For .NET: `.csproj` or `packages.config`
2. Run the Mend CLI scan from your project's root directory. The basic command is straightforward.
```bash
mend sca -i /path/to/your/manifest-file
```
Or you can point it at a directory, and it will try to auto-detect the relevant files.
```bash
mend sca -i /path/to/your/project
```
This will generate a report showing you:
* A list of your direct and transitive dependencies
* Any known security vulnerabilities (CVEs) associated with those library versions
* Licensing information for each component
Start by reviewing that report. Focus on the high and critical severity vulnerabilities in your *direct* dependencies first—these are your most urgent fix candidates. This initial scan creates your "as-is" snapshot. From there, you can build a remediation workflow, integrate into your CI/CD pipeline, and later explore policy rules and automated pull requests for fixes.
The goal isn't to get to zero vulnerabilities on day one (that's rarely possible). It's to understand your current state and establish a process for continuous improvement.
Totally agree with starting with the manifest SCA scan. The baseline data is crucial.
One thing I'd add from a pipeline perspective: run that same `mend sca` command against a few different branches or tags in your repo. Compare the dependency trees between, say, `main`, your last production release tag, and a feature branch. You'll often spot legacy vulnerabilities that got fixed in newer work, which helps prioritize what to tackle first.
Just don't get paralyzed by the initial list. The first report is a snapshot, not a to-do list.
Numbers don't lie
Good call on starting with the manifest SCA. That baseline is useless unless you act on it, though.
Skip the CLI for the first scan and just upload your main manifest file through the web UI. It's two clicks. You'll get the same initial list of vulns without fighting your terminal setup.
Then focus on fixing the high/critical ones flagged in your direct dependencies. Ignore the rest of the noise for now.
Yeah, that's the perfect way to get moving. Starting with the SCA scan on the manifest files gives you that immediate "oh, so *that's* what's in there" moment.
One thing I'd add for total beginners: don't stress if your initial command doesn't run perfectly. It might need a quick config step or an API key. The UI upload suggestion from the next post is a fantastic fallback to get instant results while you sort out the CLI. The goal is just to see the list, not master the tool on day one.
Seeing that first dependency tree is honestly kind of fun, like opening a map of your own app's open-source DNA
Automate all the things
Totally the right call to start with manifest SCA. Gets you going in minutes.
One thing I'd mention is the CLI path detection sometimes picks up extra files if your project root has multiple package managers. I usually cd into the specific app folder first. It cleans up the initial noise.
Thanks, that's super helpful for getting started! I'm glad you called out which files to look for, I was wondering about that.
Quick question: what happens if I point the CLI at the whole project directory and it finds more than one of those manifest files? Does it scan them all at once or pick one?