Set Up Your Dev Environment

This tutorial will guide you on how to set up your dev environment to quickly start developing on Cortex XSOAR. While in Cortex XSOAR you can write code directly in the UI, which is awesome, you'll need a proper development environment external to Cortex XSOAR to contribute a full integration. This is because, in order to build a full fledged integration, you'll need to lint your code, run unit tests with pytest, create some documentation, submit your changes via git and more.

If you've been through this process already and just want a quick reference, you can jump to the Development Setup page, otherwise keep reading for more details.

This tutorial will guide you through the following steps:

1. Verify the requirements
2. Fork the GitHub repo
3. Clone the GitHub fork locally
4. Set up the environment
5. Run the linter and unit tests
6. Create a branch and integration directory
7. Commit and push

Step 1: Verify the requirements

Let's go make sure that all the requirements are satisfied, one by one.

Cortex XSOAR

We are assuming that Cortex XSOAR is already installed. For more information about installing Cortex XSOAR please refer to this article (Support Center credentials are required)

Check if your Cortex XSOAR License is correctly installed by navigating to Settings -> ABOUT -> License and make sure that everything is green:

PRO tip: you can quickly navigate to different pages within Cortex XSOAR by hitting Ctrl-K and then typing what you want. For the license page, for example, type /settings/license or just lic and select the autocompleted option:

GitHub

Not much to check here, just go to GitHub and make sure that you have an account or Sign Up for one:

Docker

Make sure that docker is installed on your system and is working correctly by running the hello-world container:

sb@dddd:~/demisto$ docker run --rm hello-world

Hello from Docker!

This message shows that your installation appears to be working correctly.

[... output omitted for brevity ...]

For more examples and ideas, visit:

https://docs.docker.com/get-started/

sb@dddd:~/demisto$

info

Make sure that Allow the default Docker socket to be used (requires password) is enabled in Docker advanced settings.

tip

If you are using WSL2 on Windows, you can still use Docker Desktop from WSL. See the following tutorial for more details.

Great, all the prerequisites are set! We can get started.

Step 2: Fork the GitHub repo

Make sure you're logged on GitHub and navigate to the Cortex XSOAR Content Repo and click on Fork:

Once the fork is complete, copy the URL:

This is the fork where you will commit your code and, once ready, create the Pull Request to submit your contribution back to the Cortex XSOAR Content repository.

Step 3: Clone the GitHub fork locally

Back to the shell, create a folder (in the tutorial we'll use ~/demisto) and clone your fork of the content repository using git clone [your_fork_url], where [your_fork_url] is the URL you copied from GitHub in the previous step:

sb@dddd:~$ mkdir demisto

sb@dddd:~$ cd demisto

sb@dddd:~/demisto$ git clone https://github.com/[omitted]/content.git

Cloning into 'content'...

remote: Enumerating objects: 108, done.

remote: Counting objects: 100% (108/108), done.

remote: Compressing objects: 100% (90/90), done.

remote: Total 101143 (delta 50), reused 53 (delta 18), pack-reused 101035

Receiving objects: 100% (101143/101143), 110.65 MiB | 11.04 MiB/s, done.

Resolving deltas: 100% (73634/73634), done.

Checking out files: 100% (4522/4522), done.

sb@dddd:~/demisto$

Note: You must clone your fork of the repository, as you will need to be able to write into it. Do not clone demisto/content, as you won't be able to push commits.

Step 4: Setup environment

Option 1: Setup a remote environment

Follow the instructions in this guide.

Option 2: Setup a local environment

Let VSCode extension set up a local environment (Linux, MacOS, WSL2)

Follow this guide to set up a fully configured local environment.

Manually set up a local environment (Linux, MacOS, WSL2)

Operating System

We assume you have an operating system and that it is working. :)

Note: If you are using Windows with WSL, and your code resides in a shared folder on the Windows tree (i.e., /mnt/c/code/demisto), make sure that the folder is set to be case sensitive.

Python and pyenv

You will need python3 installed on your system. We recommend using pyenv. At the time of this writing, the latest version of Python 3.10 is 3.10.5.

Make sure pyenv in installed and that the eval "$(pyenv init -)" expression is placed in your shell configuration (~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc) - more information about this.

sb@dddd:~/demisto$ eval "$(pyenv init -)"

sb@dddd:~/demisto$ pyenv -v

pyenv 1.2.15

sb@dddd:~/demisto$~/demisto$

If this doesn't work, follow the instructions here. Either Homebrew for MacOS or the automatic installer on Linux/WSL works fine.

Make sure that the required version of Python is available:

sb@dddd:~/demisto$ pyenv versions

3.10.5

sb@dddd:~/demisto$

If this doesn't work, follow the instructions here. Either Homebrew for MacOS or the automatic installer on Linux/WSL work fine.

If the required version of Python is missing, you will need to install it. As pyenv compiles CPython, you might need some libraries. Depending on your operating system, this article explains how to install the required dependencies and provides useful troubleshooting info.

Now is a good time to take a break since installing might take a while.

Install Python 3.10.5:

sb@dddd:~/demisto$ pyenv install 3.10.5

Downloading Python-3.10.5.tar.xz...

-> https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.10.5/Python-3.10.5.tar.xz

Installing Python-3.10.5...

Installed Python-3.10.5 to /home/sb/.pyenv/versions/3.10.5

sb@dddd:~/demisto$ pyenv versions

3.10.5

sb@dddd:~/demisto$

And that's it! Again, if the installation fails, check out this page.

Poetry

Follow these instructions to install poetry

Node

Follow these instructions to install the nvm package manager.

After installing, run:

nvm install node

Bootstrap

Before running the bootstrap script that creates the virtual environment, let's set up pyenv to work correctly in the content folder you just cloned.

At the beginning, no local python interpreter has been set via pyenv:

sb@dddd:~/demisto$ cd content

sb@dddd:~/demisto/content$ pyenv local

pyenv: no local version configured for this directory

You can tell pyenv to use the latest version Python 3 you previously installed and verify that everything is set correctly:

sb@dddd:~/demisto/content$ pyenv local 3.10.5

sb@dddd:~/demisto/content$ pyenv local

3.10.5

sb@dddd:~/demisto/content$ which python3

/home/sb/.pyenv/shims/python3

sb@dddd:~/demisto/content$ python3 -V

Ptyhon 3.10.5

Now you can run the .hooks/bootstrap script that will install the dependencies and create the poetry environment:

sb@dddd:~/demisto/content$ .hooks/bootstrap

Installing 'pre-commit' hooks

=======================

Configure poetry to install virtual environment in the project repo (will be available in (.venv)

Check if poetry files are valid

All set!

Installing dependencies...

Detected local env.

Installing dependencies from lock file

No dependencies to install or update

==========================

Done setting up virtualenv with poetry

Activate the venv by running: poetry shell

Deactivate by running: deactivate

=======================

Running: npm install ...

up to date, audited 230 packages in 1s

Note: if you are using WSL and you see some errors about "python.exe" getting called, disable it in App Execution Alias (details).

Everything is configured, and you can start developing. When you work on your integration, you can activate poetry with the poetry shell command:

sb@dddd:~/demisto/content$ poetry shell

(.venv) sb@dddd:~/demisto/content$

Note the (.venv) in front of the prompt. You can always leave the poetry virtual environment using the deactivate command:

(.venv) sb@dddd:~/demisto/content$ deactivate

sb@dddd:~/demisto/content$

Step 5: Run the linter and unit tests

Our content ships with an HelloWorld integration that provides basic functionality and is useful to understand how to create integrations.

It's located in the Packs/HelloWorld/Integrations/HelloWorld folder. We will use demisto-sdk to run the linting and unit testing in order to make sure that everything is fine with the dev environment (python, docker, etc.).

First, make sure you are running inside the poetry virtual environment:

sb@dddd:~/demisto/content$ poetry shell

(.venv) sb@dddd:~/demisto/content$

Then, make sure that demisto-sdk has been installed automatically by the bootstrap script as part of the preqreuisites:

(venv) sb@dddd:~/demisto/content$ demisto-sdk --version

demisto-sdk version: 1.33.0

Now, run the demisto-sdk pre-commit command (pre-commit documentation) on the folder Packs/HelloWorld/Integrations/HelloWorld using the -i option, or if you want to run against all the committed files in your branch you can use demisto-sdk pre-commit -g. It will run both the linters and pytest:

(venv) sb@dddd:~/demisto/content$ demisto-sdk pre-commit -i Packs/HelloWorld/Integrations/HelloWorld

Running pre-commit using template /Users/sfainberg/dev/demisto/content/.pre-commit-config_template.yaml

Running pre-commit with Python 3.11 on:

Packs/HelloWorld/Integrations/HelloWorld/HelloWorld.py

Packs/HelloWorld/Integrations/HelloWorld/HelloWorld.yml

Packs/HelloWorld/Integrations/HelloWorld/HelloWorld_description.md

Packs/HelloWorld/Integrations/HelloWorld/HelloWorld_image.png

Packs/HelloWorld/Integrations/HelloWorld/HelloWorld_test.py

Packs/HelloWorld/Integrations/HelloWorld/README.md

Packs/HelloWorld/Integrations/HelloWorld/command_examples

Packs/HelloWorld/Integrations/HelloWorld/test_data/get_alert.json

Packs/HelloWorld/Integrations/HelloWorld/test_data/incident_note_list_command.json

Packs/HelloWorld/Integrations/HelloWorld/test_data/ip_reputation.json

DockerHook - Unable to find image docker.io/devtestdemisto/python3:3.11.10.115186-12dd7198e064c21c217cc72c87ddadd5. Creating image based on docker.io/demisto/python3:3.11.10.115186 - Could take 2-3 minutes at first

check json...............................................................Passed

check yaml...............................................................Passed

check python ast.........................................................Passed

check for merge conflicts................................................Passed

debug statements (python)................................................Passed

python tests naming......................................................Passed

check for added large files..............................................Passed

check for case conflicts.................................................Passed

poetry-check.........................................(no files to check)Skipped

pycln....................................................................Passed

ruff-py3.11..............................................................Passed

autopep8.................................................................Passed

mypy-py3.11..............................................................Passed

xsoar-lint...............................................................Passed

pylint-in-docker-demisto/python3:3.11.10.115186..........................Passed

pytest-in-docker-demisto/python3:3.11.10.115186..........................Passed

validate-deleted-files...................................................Passed

validate-content-paths...................................................Passed

validate-conf-json...................................(no files to check)Skipped

validate.................................................................Passed

secrets..................................................................Passed

merge-pytest-reports.....................................................Passed

coverage-pytest-analyze..................................................Passed

Note that the tests run within a Docker container so, if everything worked well, it means that your development environment is up and running correctly!

Step 6: Create a branch

The Git Flow requires to create a branch with your new code, that you will later use to submit a Pull Request. This tutorial doesn't mean to be an exhaustive guide on how to use git: its purpose is just to make sure that you have all the requirements and tools in place to successfully develop a Cortex XSOAR Integration.

In order to create a branch, use the git checkout -b [branch_name] command, where the name of the branch corresponds to your integration:

(venv) sb@dddd:~/demisto/content$ git checkout -b my_integration_name

Switched to a new branch 'my_integration_name'

Step 7: Create your integration directory

Create a directory under Packs/<Your pack name> named after your product where you will put all your content files later, and add it to the staged changes in git. Make sure you use PascalCase in the directory name (i.e. MyIntegration). For a detailed description regarding what exactly a pack is please click here.

You can create a Pack and an Integration directory using the demisto-sdk init command. An example of creating a pack called MyNewPack, with an integration called MyIntegration, and with the metadata file created automatically:

➜ content-docs2 git:(add-pack-and-sdk-docs) ✗ demisto-sdk init --pack

Please input the name of the initialized pack: MyNewPack

Successfully created the pack test in: MyIntegration

Do you want to fill pack's metadata file? Y/N y

Display name of the pack: MyNewPack

Description of the pack: A description for my newly created pack.

Support type of the pack:

[1] demisto

[2] partner

[3] developer

[4] community

Enter option: 2

Server min version: 5.0.0

Author of the pack: Partner name

The url of support, should represent your GitHub account (optional): https://github.com/<PartnerGitAccount>

The email in which you can be contacted in: partner@partner.com

Pack category options:

[1] Analytics & SIEM

[2] Utilities

[3] Messaging

[4] Endpoint

[5] Network Security

[6] Vulnerability Management

[7] Case Management

[8] Forensics & Malware Analysis

[9] IT Services

[10] Data Enrichment & Threat Intelligence

[11] Authentication

[12] Database

[13] Deception

[14] Email Gateway

Enter option: 1

Tags of the pack, comma separated values:

Created pack metadata at path : MyNewPack/metadata.json

Do you want to create an integration in the pack? Y/N y

Please input the name of the initialized integration: test

Do you want to use the directory name as an ID for the integration? Y/N y

Finished creating integration: MyNewPack/Integrations/test.

Step 8: Commit and push

The last step is to commit your changes and push them to the origin in order to make sure that the pre-commit checks work fine.

But you can also run the hooks locally using the demisto-sdk, in order to do that you can run the commands:

1. demisto-sdk format - this will auto correct couple of things in order for our validation to pass. You can see the docs
2. demisto-sdk validate -g - this will validate the integrity of the yml files, and will make sure they follow our pre-set of roles. You can see the docs
3. demisto-sdk pre-commit -i <The path to your changed/newly added content entity> - this will run variety of checks and linters on your changed python files. You can see the docs

First, run a git commit -m '[some commit message]', which will automatically run the pre validation checks:

(venv) sb@dddd:~/demisto/content$ git commit -m 'Initial commit of MyIntegration'

Validating files...

Starting validating files structure

Using git

Running validation on branch my_integration_name

Validates only committed files

Starting validation against origin/master

The files are valid

Starting secrets detection

Finished validating secrets, no secrets were found.

Skipping running dev tasks (flake8, mypy, pylint, pytest). If you want to run this as part of the precommit hook

set CONTENT_PRECOMMIT_RUN_DEV_TASKS=1. You can add the following line to ~/.zshrc:

echo "export CONTENT_PRECOMMIT_RUN_DEV_TASKS=1" >> ~/.zshrc

Or if you want to manually run dev tasks: ./Tests/scripts/pkg_dev_test_tasks.py -d <integration/script dir>

Example: ./Tests/scripts/pkg_dev_test_tasks.py -d Scripts/ParseEmailFiles

On branch my_integration_name

Untracked files:

.python-version

nothing added to commit but untracked files present

Don't worry about the .python-version file warning, that is generated by pyenv and shouldn't be added to the repository.

Note: since there are no files yet in the directory you have created (Integrations/MyIntegration in the example), it will not show up in your branch after the commit. Again, the purpose of this tutorial is just to make sure that all the components are in place.

If everything worked fine so far, now you can push to your branch with the command git push origin [branch_name]. You will be prompted for your GitHub credentials:

(venv) sb@dddd:~/demisto/content$ git push origin my_integration_name

Username for 'https://github.com': [omitted]

Password for 'https://[omitted]@github.com':

Total 0 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0)

remote:

remote: Create a pull request for 'my_integration_name' on GitHub by visiting:

remote: https://github.com/[omitted]/content/pull/new/my_integration_name

remote:

To https://github.com/[omitted]/content

* [new branch] my_integration_name -> my_integration_name

(venv) sb@dddd:~/demisto/content$

You can go back to GitHub and, under your fork, you should be able to see that there is a new branch with the name you provided (my_integration_name in this example):

Congratulations! You completed the set up of the Development Environment for Cortex XSOAR! Now you can start writing your code. Please have a look at the Code Conventions.

Thank for your time, we hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Please report issues and suggestions using the link below!