# anchore/anchore-engine

A service that analyzes docker images and scans for vulnerabilities

Repository: https://github.com/anchore/anchore-engine
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/anchore-engine
Language: Python
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: docker, containers, security, python, static-analysis, vulnerabilities, docker-image, anchore-engine, dockerhub, whitelist
Archived: true
Last push: 2023-01-26T23:58:18+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 10/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3283, "days_push": 1315, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, archived
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1589, forks 269 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:08.083114+00:00)

## What it is
Anchore Engine is an open-source service that inspects, analyzes, and certifies container images, scanning them against a vulnerability database via a REST API and CLI. It is no longer maintained as of 2023; users are directed to Syft and Grype instead.

## Use cases
- scan docker images for known vulnerabilities
- analyze container images from a registry before deployment
- audit npm, pip, gem, jar, and go module dependencies in images
- set up automated container image security checks in CI
- whitelist or gate images based on policy findings
- run a centralized container image inspection service

## When to choose
- you need a self-hosted container image analysis service with a REST API
- you are maintaining a legacy deployment already built on Anchore Engine

## When to avoid
- starting a new project - use Syft and Grype instead
- you need actively maintained vulnerability scanning or SBOM tooling
- you want a lightweight CLI-only scanner without running a service

## Facets
- artifact type: service
- maturity: abandoned
- function: security, vulnerability-scanning, container-runtime, api-framework, cli
- domain: security, developer-tools
- platform: self-hosted, python
- tags: container-image-analysis, docker-image-scanning, sbom, vulnerability-database, deprecated, rest-api, containers, devops, docker, kubernetes, linux

## Member repositories
- anchore/anchore-engine (main) score 10

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:08.083114+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T03:54:50.059872+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/anchore/anchore-engine (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:08.083114+00:00, sha 2831a2c693cc)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.