# aboutcode-org/scancode-toolkit

:mag: ScanCode detects licenses, copyrights, dependencies by "scanning code" ... to discover and inventory open source and third-party packages used in your code. Sponsored by NLnet, the Google Summer of Code, Azure credits, nexB and other generous sponsors!

Repository: https://github.com/aboutcode-org/scancode-toolkit
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/scancode-toolkit
Homepage: https://scancode-toolkit.readthedocs.io/
Language: Python
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Topics: license, copyright, packages, dependencies, spdx, provenance, license-scan, copyright-scan, licensing, spdx-licenses, open-source-licensing, oss-compliance, license-checking, software-composition-analysis, purl, package-url, sbom, sca, cyclonedx, dependency-graph
Last push: 2026-08-25T21:54:57+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 94/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 84, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4081, "days_push": 8, "days_rel": 26, "gap_med": 57, "n_releases_24m": 10}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2612, forks 770 (observed 2026-08-28T04:07:04.466242+00:00)

## What it is
ScanCode Toolkit is a command-line tool and Python library that scans codebases to detect licenses, copyrights, package manifests, dependencies, and vulnerabilities in source and binary files. It produces inventories of open source and third-party packages and can generate SBOMs in SPDX and CycloneDX formats.

## Use cases
- detect open source licenses in a codebase
- generate an SBOM for my project
- find copyrights and license notices in source files
- inventory third-party dependencies and packages
- check license compliance before releasing software
- generate attribution documents for used open source packages
- scan binaries and source for license and vulnerability info

## When to choose
- you need accurate, best-in-class license and copyright detection across large codebases
- you want a standalone CLI that embeds easily in CI/CD pipelines
- you need SPDX or CycloneDX SBOM generation
- you run Windows, macOS, or Linux and want a heavily tested tool

## When to avoid
- you need a web UI and scan project management - use the companion ScanCode.io app instead
- you only need dependency resolution for a single package manager rather than full license scanning
- you want real-time container or runtime security scanning rather than static code analysis

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: security, parser, developer-tools, cli
- domain: developer-tools, security, legal
- platform: windows, python, cli
- tags: license-scanning, sbom, spdx, cyclonedx, software-composition-analysis, copyright-detection, open-source-compliance, package-url, automation, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- aboutcode-org/scancode-toolkit (main) score 94

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:04.466242+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 2026-08-30T02:20:38.567431+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/aboutcode-org/scancode-toolkit (fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:04.466242+00:00, sha 4254fb6d336e)
  - registry_pypi: https://pypi.org/pypi/scancode-toolkit/json (fetched 2026-08-29T10:04:02.079903+00:00, sha 0f2b639b911b)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.