Introducing SARIF Visualizer: Transform Your Security Scan Reports into Actionable Insights

In today's software development landscape, security scanning tools are essential. Whether you're using ESLint, Snyk, CodeQL, SonarQube, or Semgrep, these tools generate crucial security and code quality findings. But there's a problem: the output format.

The Challenge of Modern Security Analysis

Most security tools export their results in SARIF (Static Analysis Results Interchange Format) - a standardized JSON format that's great for machine processing but challenging for humans to digest. Opening a raw SARIF file in a text editor reveals thousands of lines of nested JSON that's nearly impossible to navigate efficiently.

What if you could visualize all that data in seconds, without installing anything?

Meet SARIF Visualizer

SARIF Visualizer is a modern, responsive web application that transforms complex SARIF reports into beautiful, interactive dashboards. Built with React, TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS, it provides security teams, developers, and DevOps engineers with instant insights into their code quality and security posture.

Why SARIF Visualizer?

🚀 Zero Setup Required

Forget about Node.js, npm, webpack configs, or build processes. With our Docker image, you're up and running in under 60 seconds:

docker pull mykolaa25/sarifvisualizer:latest
docker run -d -p 99:80 --name sarifvisualizer mykolaa25/sarifvisualizer:latest

Open http://localhost:99 and you're done. No compilation, no dependencies, no headaches.

📤 Upload Page - Simple and Intuitive

The upload page greets you with a clean, modern interface. Simply drag and drop your SARIF file, or click to browse. The application also provides a sample file so you can explore features immediately without needing your own SARIF data.

📊 Rich Visual Dashboard

The moment you upload a SARIF file, you're greeted with a comprehensive dashboard featuring:

• Summary Statistics: Total issues, severity breakdown, and fixable issues at a glance
• Severity Distribution: Beautiful pie charts showing the proportion of errors, warnings, and notes
• Rule Breakdown: Bar charts identifying which rules trigger the most findings
• File Impact Analysis: Visualize which files have the most issues
• Tool Information: See which analysis tools were used and their versions

🔍 Advanced Filtering and Search

The Findings Explorer goes beyond simple lists:

• Multi-dimensional Filters: Filter by severity (error, warning, note, info), specific rules, or affected files
• Real-time Search: Search across issue messages instantly
• Smart Sorting: Sort by severity, rule ID, or file location
• Quick Navigation: Jump directly to detailed views with one click

📚 Comprehensive Rule Directory

Understanding the "why" behind findings is crucial:

• Complete Rule Catalog: Browse all rules with descriptions and metadata
• External Documentation: Direct links to official documentation for each rule
• Usage Statistics: See how many issues each rule has identified
• Category Classification: Rules organized by category and CWE classification

📄 Detailed Issue Analysis

When you need to dig deep:

• Complete Context: Full issue descriptions with Markdown support
• Code Locations: Precise file paths, line numbers, and column positions
• Snippet Preview: See the problematic code in context
• Related Locations: Understand issue chains and related code sections
• Fix Suggestions: View automated fix suggestions when available
• CVE/CWE Enrichment: Automatic vulnerability database lookups for security issues

Key Features That Set Us Apart

🔗 Vulnerability Enrichment

SARIF Visualizer automatically enriches security findings with information from CVE and CWE databases. When it detects a security vulnerability, it fetches:

• Detailed vulnerability descriptions
• Severity ratings and CVSS scores
• Remediation recommendations
• External references and resources

This transforms a simple "SQL Injection" finding into actionable intelligence with context and guidance.

⚡ Performance Optimized

Large SARIF files can contain thousands of findings. We use Web Workers to parse files in the background, ensuring the UI remains responsive even with massive reports. Upload a 50MB SARIF file, and you'll still get instant feedback.

📱 Fully Responsive

Whether you're reviewing findings on your development workstation, presenting results on a projector, or checking issues on a tablet during a meeting - SARIF Visualizer adapts perfectly to any screen size.

🎨 Modern, Intuitive UI

Built with Tailwind CSS, the interface is clean, modern, and easy to navigate. Color-coded severity badges, intuitive icons, and thoughtful spacing make information dense reports easy to digest.

🔒 Privacy First

SARIF Visualizer is completely client-side. Your SARIF files never leave your browser. Everything happens locally, so your sensitive security data remains private and secure.

Supported Analysis Tools

SARIF Visualizer supports the SARIF 2.1.0 specification, making it compatible with a wide range of security and code quality tools:

And many more! If a tool can export SARIF, SARIF Visualizer can visualize it.

Real-World Use Cases

Use Case 1: Security Team Dashboard

A security team receives SARIF reports from multiple scanning tools across different projects. Instead of manually parsing JSON files or dealing with tool-specific UIs, they:

1. Upload all SARIF files to SARIF Visualizer
2. Use the dashboard to identify critical issues across projects
3. Filter by specific vulnerability types (e.g., all SQL injections)
4. Export findings with enriched CVE/CWE data for incident reports

Use Case 2: CI/CD Pipeline Integration

A DevOps engineer wants to review scan results before approving deployments:

1. CI/CD pipeline generates SARIF reports from security scans
2. Pipeline artifacts include the SARIF file
3. Engineer downloads the artifact and uploads to SARIF Visualizer
4. Quickly reviews the dashboard to make go/no-go decisions
5. Drills into specific high-severity findings when needed

Use Case 3: Developer Code Review

A developer receives a PR review comment about potential security issues:

1. Runs the security scanner locally (e.g., eslint --format sarif)
2. Opens SARIF Visualizer running on localhost:99
3. Uploads the SARIF file
4. Identifies all issues in their changes
5. Uses the enrichment data to understand proper fixes
6. Validates fixes by re-running the scanner

Getting Started in 3 Steps

Step 1: Run SARIF Visualizer

Option A: Docker (Recommended - 30 seconds)

docker run -d -p 99:80 --name sarifvisualizer mykolaa25/sarifvisualizer:latest

Option B: Docker Compose (Infrastructure)

version: '3.8'
services:
  sarifvisualizer:
    image: mykolaa25/sarifvisualizer:latest
    container_name: sarifvisualizer
    ports:
      - "99:80"
    restart: unless-stopped

Then: docker-compose up -d

Option C: Build from Source (For Developers)

git clone https://github.com/NickolaiA/SARIFVisualizer.git
cd SARIFVisualizer
npm install
npm run dev

Step 2: Open Your Browser

Navigate to http://localhost:99 (Docker) or http://localhost:5173 (development)

Step 3: Upload and Explore

Drag and drop your SARIF file, or use the file picker. That's it!

Technical Architecture

For the technically curious, here's what powers SARIF Visualizer:

Frontend Stack

• React 19.2.0: Latest React with concurrent features for optimal performance
• TypeScript 5.9.3: Full type safety across the entire codebase
• Vite 7.1.11: Lightning-fast builds and hot module replacement
• Tailwind CSS 4.1.15: Utility-first styling for rapid UI development
• Zustand 5.0.8: Lightweight state management (< 1KB)
• React Router 7.9.4: Declarative routing with nested routes
• Recharts 3.3.0: Beautiful, composable charts built on D3
• React Markdown: Rich text rendering for issue descriptions
• DOMPurify: XSS protection for user-generated content

Performance Optimizations

• Web Workers: File parsing runs off the main thread
• Code Splitting: Lazy-loaded routes reduce initial bundle size
• Memoization: React.memo and useMemo prevent unnecessary re-renders
• Virtual Scrolling: Handle thousands of findings without lag

Production Deployment

• Multi-Stage Docker Build: Node.js build stage → nginx production stage
• Multi-Platform Support: ARM64 and AMD64 images for universal compatibility
• Optimized Bundle: Tree-shaking and minification reduce bundle to ~730KB
• Static Asset Serving: nginx with gzip compression and caching headers
• Health Checks: Built-in Docker health monitoring

Multi-Platform Support

SARIF Visualizer's Docker image is built for multiple architectures, ensuring it runs smoothly on:

• ✅ Windows (Intel/AMD processors)
• ✅ macOS (Intel Macs and Apple Silicon M1/M2/M3)
• ✅ Linux (x86_64 and ARM64)
• ✅ Cloud Platforms (AWS Graviton, Azure ARM, Google Cloud)
• ✅ Edge Devices (Raspberry Pi 4+, NVIDIA Jetson)

Docker automatically pulls the correct image for your platform. No configuration needed.

Open Source and Community

SARIF Visualizer is open source under the MIT License, welcoming contributions from the community.

Contributing

We'd love your help! Whether it's:

• 🐛 Bug reports and fixes
• ✨ New feature suggestions
• 📝 Documentation improvements
• 🌍 Translations and internationalization
• 🎨 UI/UX enhancements

Check out our GitHub repository and open an issue or pull request.

Roadmap

Here's what's coming next:

• SARIF Report Comparison: Compare two SARIF files to see what changed
• Export Features: Export filtered results as CSV, PDF, or new SARIF
• Team Collaboration: Share findings with annotations and comments
• Trend Analysis: Track issue counts over time across multiple scans
• Custom Themes: Dark mode and customizable color schemes
• Batch Processing: Upload multiple SARIF files and view aggregated results
• API Integration: REST API for programmatic access
• Browser Extensions: Upload SARIF files directly from GitHub/GitLab

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is my SARIF data sent to a server?

A: No. SARIF Visualizer is completely client-side. All processing happens in your browser. Your security data never leaves your machine.

Q: What's the file size limit?

A: There's no hard limit, but very large files (>100MB) may take longer to parse. We use Web Workers to keep the UI responsive during parsing.

Q: Can I use this in my CI/CD pipeline?

A: Yes! Run SARIF Visualizer as a Docker container in your pipeline, or generate HTML reports programmatically. We're working on a headless mode specifically for CI/CD.

Q: Does it work offline?

A: The Docker image includes everything needed to run offline. The only external calls are for CVE/CWE enrichment, which gracefully degrades if offline.

Q: Can I customize the look and feel?

A: Currently, the theme is fixed. Dark mode and custom themes are on our roadmap. The source code is available if you want to build a custom version.

Q: What browsers are supported?

A: All modern browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari. We test on the latest two versions of each.

Pricing

SARIF Visualizer is 100% free and open source.

No subscriptions, no trials, no feature gates. Use it in personal projects, commercial products, or enterprise environments.

If you find it valuable, consider:

• ⭐ Starring the GitHub repository
• ☕ Buying me a coffee
• 📢 Sharing with your team and network

Get Started Today

Transform your SARIF reports from cryptic JSON files into actionable security insights.

docker pull mykolaa25/sarifvisualizer:latest
docker run -d -p 99:80 --name sarifvisualizer mykolaa25/sarifvisualizer:latest

About the Author

SARIF Visualizer is built and maintained by Mykola A., a software architect with nearly 30 years of experience, passionate about developer tools, security, and open source.

Connect:

• GitHub: @NickolaiA
• Docker Hub: mykolaa25

Made with ❤️ for the security and development community

Tags: #SARIF #Security #DevSecOps #StaticAnalysis #CodeQuality #Docker #React #TypeScript #OpenSource #SecurityTools #Visualization