Ingestion
What ingestion does
How Lighthouse reads a branch of your repository and turns it into security cards.
An ingestion is Lighthouse reading one branch of your repository, at one commit, to learn how the code works and which security rules it follows. Run one for every new repository. Without it, Lighthouse only has generic guidance.
What it produces
| Output | Used for |
|---|---|
| Security cards | Rules specific to your repository, such as "every query in billing/ must use the scoped_session helper". Your agent gets the relevant ones each time you enhance a prompt. |
| Repository summaries | A description of the repository in five parts: Persistence, Routes, Entry points, Controls, and Libraries. Max-depth scans use it to review changes in context. |
| Dependency list | Your libraries and their versions, so Lighthouse can pick the matching global cards. |
When to run one
- For every new repository. Until its first ingestion completes, enhancement only has global cards, and Max scans have no repository summary.
- When the code has moved on. The branch status changes to Outdated when there are newer commits than the last ingestion. The old cards stay in use until you run a new one.
- For long-lived branches. Each branch has its own cards. Ingest release branches you work on for weeks.
Ingesting a commit that's already been ingested does nothing. Lighthouse says Nothing has changed since the last ingestion.
Branch status
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Not started | No ingestion has run on this branch. |
| Queued | An ingestion is waiting to start. |
| Building | An ingestion is running. |
| Ready | The latest ingestion completed, and its cards are in use. |
| Outdated | The branch has newer commits than the last ingestion. The existing cards are still used. |
| Failed | The latest ingestion failed. If an earlier one completed, its cards are still used. |
Cost
Ingestion uses credits, more for larger repositories. Your team needs at least 3,000 credits left to start one. To use fewer, skip files that don't matter, such as generated code and test fixtures.
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