content/code-security/codeql-cli/codeql-cli-manual/database-export-diagnostics.md

---
title: database export-diagnostics
intro: |-
  [Experimental] Export diagnostic information from a database for a
  failed analysis.
versions: # DO NOT MANUALLY EDIT. CHANGES WILL BE OVERWRITTEN BY A 🤖
  fpt: '*'
  ghec: '*'
  ghes: '*'
topics:
  - Code Security
  - Code scanning
  - CodeQL
type: reference
product: '{% data reusables.gated-features.codeql %}'
autogenerated: codeql-cli
redirect_from:
  - /code-security/codeql-cli/manual/database-export-diagnostics
---

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{% data reusables.codeql-cli.man-pages-version-note %}

## Synopsis

```shell copy
codeql database export-diagnostics --format=<format> [--output=<output>] <options>... -- <database>
```

## Description

\[Experimental] Export diagnostic information from a database for a
failed analysis.

Available since `v2.12.6`.

## Options

### Primary Options

#### `<database>`

\[Mandatory] Path to the CodeQL database under construction. This must
have been prepared for extraction with [codeql database init](/code-security/codeql-cli/codeql-cli-manual/database-init).

If the `--db-cluster` option is given, this is not a database itself,
but a directory that _contains_ databases, and all of those databases
will be processed together.

#### `--format=<format>`

\[Mandatory] The format in which to write the results. One of:

`raw`: A list of raw, uninterpreted diagnostic messages as JSON objects.

`sarif-latest`: Static Analysis Results Interchange Format (SARIF), a
JSON-based format for describing static analysis results. This format
option uses the most recent supported version (v2.1.0). This option is
not suitable for use in automation as it will produce different versions
of SARIF between different CodeQL versions.

`sarifv2.1.0`: SARIF v2.1.0.

`text`: A bullet point list of diagnostic messages.

#### `--[no-]db-cluster`

Indicates that the directory given on the command line is not a database
itself, but a directory that _contains_ one or more databases under
construction. Those databases will be processed together.

#### `-o, --output=<output>`

The output path to write diagnostic information to.

#### `--sarif-exit-code=<sarifExitCode>`

\[SARIF formats only] Exit code of the failing process.

#### `--sarif-exit-code-description=<sarifExitCodeDescription>`

\[SARIF formats only] Reason that the failing process exited.

#### `--sarif-category=<category>`

\[SARIF formats only] \[Recommended] Specify a category for this
analysis to include in the SARIF output. A category can be used to
distinguish multiple analyses performed on the same commit and
repository, but on different languages or different parts of the code.

If you analyze the same version of a code base in several different ways
(e.g., for different languages) and upload the results to GitHub for
presentation in Code Scanning, this value should differ between each of
the analyses, which tells Code Scanning that the analyses _supplement_
rather than _supersede_ each other. (The values should be consistent
between runs of the same analysis for _different_ versions of the code
base.)

This value will appear (with a trailing slash appended if not already
present) as the `<run>.automationDetails.id` property.

### Common options

#### `-h, --help`

Show this help text.

#### `-J=<opt>`

\[Advanced] Give option to the JVM running the command.

(Beware that options containing spaces will not be handled correctly.)

#### `-v, --verbose`

Incrementally increase the number of progress messages printed.

#### `-q, --quiet`

Incrementally decrease the number of progress messages printed.

#### `--verbosity=<level>`

\[Advanced] Explicitly set the verbosity level to one of errors,
warnings, progress, progress+, progress++, progress+++. Overrides `-v`
and `-q`.

#### `--logdir=<dir>`

\[Advanced] Write detailed logs to one or more files in the given
directory, with generated names that include timestamps and the name of
the running subcommand.

(To write a log file with a name you have full control over, instead
give `--log-to-stderr` and redirect stderr as desired.)

#### `--common-caches=<dir>`

\[Advanced] Controls the location of cached data on disk that will
persist between several runs of the CLI, such as downloaded QL packs and
compiled query plans. If not set explicitly, this defaults to a
directory named `.codeql` in the user's home directory; it will be
created if it doesn't already exist.

Available since `v2.15.2`.