> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.scanoss.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Introduction

> This documentation provides practical guidance for evaluating SCANOSS capabilities through proof-of-concept implementations. It covers hands-on testing scenarios across the SCANOSS core datasets: license compliance, encryption detection and security vulnerabilities.

This guide walks you through evaluating SCANOSS against your own codebase: what each dataset detects, how the tools work, and how to fit them into your existing workflow. Each section is hands-on, you'll run real scans and see real results, not a simulated demo.

## What's Covered

| Section                       | You'll Evaluate                                                                                                                                                                      |
| ----------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Evaluation Path**           | A guided, step-by-step walkthrough: scan your first project, improve accuracy, integrate with CI/CD, add vulnerability and cryptography analysis, then set up continuous monitoring. |
| **License Dataset**           | Snippet detection, SBOM creation, and component declaration workflows for license compliance, using SCANOSS-PY, pre-commit hooks, and CI/CD integrations.                            |
| **Encryption Dataset**        | Cryptographic algorithm detection through the SCANOSS API and command-line tools.                                                                                                    |
| **Security Dataset**          | Vulnerability scanning and management using the SCANOSS API, SBOM Workbench, and Dependency-Track integration.                                                                       |
| **Interfaces & Integrations** | Calling SCANOSS directly through SDKs and REST APIs, automating scans in CI/CD, monitoring vulnerabilities over time, and routing traffic through a controlled proxy.                |

Each section includes step-by-step instructions, configuration examples, and practical use cases to help you evaluate how SCANOSS fits your organisation's needs.

## How Scanning Works

Before you run your first scan, it's worth understanding what actually happens to your code, since this is usually the first question a security or legal team asks.

SCANOSS never uploads your source code. Every scan runs through the same three steps:

```mermaid theme={null}
flowchart LR
    subgraph Local["Your Environment"]
        A["Source Code"] --> B["Fingerprint<br/>(Winnowing algorithm)"]
    end

    B -->|"Fingerprints &amp; hashes only"| C["SCANOSS API"]

    subgraph Remote["SCANOSS"]
        C --> D["Match Against<br/>Knowledgebase"]
    end

    D --> E["Results"]

    style A fill:#4A90E2,stroke:#2E5C8A,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff
    style B fill:#66BB6A,stroke:#43A047,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff
    style C fill:#FFCA28,stroke:#F57F17,stroke-width:2px,color:#212121
    style D fill:#AB47BC,stroke:#8E24AA,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff
    style E fill:#26A69A,stroke:#00897B,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff
```

1. **Fingerprint locally.** Every SCANOSS tool follows the same procedure: it reads your files on your own machine or build runner and generates a Winnowing fingerprint, a compact set of hashes that represents each file's content, not the content itself.
2. **Send fingerprints, not files.** Only those fingerprints and hashes are sent to the SCANOSS API. There's no step where your source code, file names, or repository contents leave your environment.
3. **Match and return.** SCANOSS compares the fingerprints against its open-source knowledgebase and sends back matched components, licences, vulnerabilities, and cryptography, whichever datasets you enabled.

<Note>
  Every SCANOSS tool covered in this guide is open source, under
  [github.com/scanoss](https://github.com/scanoss), so you can verify how
  scanning works yourself rather than take our word for it. Contributions
  are welcome. See [Fast Winnowing &
  Fingerprinting](/en/latest/advanced/fast-winnowing-fingerprint-algorithms)
  for how the algorithm itself works.
</Note>

## Where to Start

If you're new to SCANOSS, [Getting Started](/en/latest/poc/evaluation/getting-started) routes you to the right section based on what you want to evaluate first.