The standalone CLI binaries are self-contained and include the runtime,
so no globally installed .NET is required on CI runners or Linux/macOS machines.
No rules are bundled: they come from the profiles in your .codecharter/config.yml,
resolved against the portal.
The Windows installer is framework-dependent and uses the .NET already on
the machine; if none is found, it offers to install .NET 9 via winget when
winget is available, otherwise it shows the official .NET download page. The
installer is x64-only and installs per user by default, so no administrator
rights are required.
Supported operating systems
| Platform | Status | Binary |
|---|---|---|
| Windows 10/11 x64 | supported | cli-win-x64 |
| Windows Server 2019+ | supported | cli-win-x64 |
| Ubuntu 22.04+ x64 | supported | cli-linux-x64 |
| Debian 12+ x64 | supported | cli-linux-x64 |
| macOS 13+ x64 | supported | cli-osx-x64 |
| macOS 13+ arm64 | supported | cli-osx-arm64 |
Only a glibc-based Linux x64 build is shipped. Musl-based distributions such as Alpine are not supported. Linux arm64 is not supported either — no arm64 Linux binary is published, so use x64 runners on Linux.
Hardware
| Solution size | Recommended |
|---|---|
| Up to 50,000 lines of code | 4 GB RAM |
| 50,000 to 200,000 LoC | 8 GB RAM |
| Over 200,000 LoC | 16 GB RAM |
Analysis time scales with code size. Every CLI run loads and analyzes the solution from scratch; there is no analysis cache between runs.
.NET prerequisites
- The CLI as a standalone binary requires no globally installed .NET runtime — it is self-contained.
- When you run CodeCharter against your solution, that solution must compile. The .NET SDKs required by the solution must therefore be installed on the machine.
- This typically covers .NET Framework 4.6.1+, all .NET Core variants, and .NET 5/6/7/8/9.
VS Code Extension
- VS Code version 1.85 or later
- The CodeCharter CLI must be on the PATH, or you set
codecharter.serverPathexplicitly in the VS Code settings.
CI runners
- GitHub Action: downloads the self-contained CLI from the CodeCharter portal and runs it natively on the runner — no Docker required. Linux x64, Windows x64, and macOS (x64 and arm64) runners are supported, GitHub-hosted and self-hosted alike. The runner needs the .NET SDKs your solution requires.
- Self-hosted runners: all platforms listed above
- Docker: any Linux x64 image with a modern glibc that also provides the .NET SDKs your solution needs — the solution must compile inside the container.
Network
During analysis, CodeCharter requires no network access. Source code never leaves your environment.
CI runners that use the GitHub Action need access to the CodeCharter portal
(codecharter.tools): the action downloads the CLI from
there on each run (the binary is cached between runs), and the CLI mints
its short-lived license from your API key against the portal. If you
build in an air-gapped environment, the action cannot be used: pull the
binary once, mirror it to your internal artifact store, and run the CLI
directly.
A valid codecharter.license file must be present at runtime; it validates
offline until it expires. CI licenses fetched via API key are short-lived
(24 hours by default) and renewing them requires portal access, so
air-gapped setups should mirror the license file along with the binary.
License
CodeCharter is commercial. Without a valid subscription you cannot access the binaries. See Plan overview for details and Trial for 7-day full access without a credit card.