Opengrep Launches Playground in Alpha: A Faster, More Stable Environment for SAST Rule Development

The Opengrep team has just released their new Playground tool in alpha, adding a practical new option for the open source static application security testing (SAST) community. This desktop application aims to streamline rule development and provide a more stable environment for security professionals writing and testing SAST rules.

Background: What is Opengrep?#

For those unfamiliar with this emerging project, Opengrep is an open source SAST tool launched in January 2025 as a direct response to licensing changes and feature restriction initiated by Semgrep. Created by a coalition of security vendors including Aikido Security, Jit, Amplify Security, Endor Labs, and Orca Security, Opengrep represents a community-driven effort to preserve and advance open source principles in static code analysis.

The project began as a fork of Semgrep Community Edition (formerly Semgrep OSS) after Semgrep introduced a proprietary "Semgrep Rules License" in December 2024 that restricted the use of rules in commercial, SaaS, or competing products. While Semgrep's engine remains LGPL 2.1 licensed, the change in rule licensing and feature restrictions prompted the security community to create an alternative that remains fully open.

What is Opengrep Playground?#

Opengrep Playground is a desktop application designed to make SAST rule development and maintenance significantly easier. Unlike its web-based predecessors, the Playground offers:

• A blazing fast code editor for rules development
• Local desktop application architecture (not web-based)
• Cross-platform compatibility, including Windows support with no Docker requirement
• Improved stability when handling large files
• Local rule saving and management capabilities
• The ability to test rules against both public and private Git repositories

For developers and security teams invested in code security, Opengrep Playground addresses several pain points that have historically made SAST rule development challenging:

Performance Issues Resolved: The legacy web interface for rule development often suffered from lag and instability, particularly when working with larger codebases.

Platform Accessibility: By supporting all major platforms (including Windows) without Docker dependencies, Opengrep has made SAST more accessible to teams with diverse technical environments.

Iterative Development: The ability to debug and iterate on rules before implementing them in production environments allows for more thorough testing and reduces false positives.

Getting Started

The Opengrep Playground is available for download on GitHub, with installation options for macOS (ZIP or DMG), Linux (RPM or DEB), and Windows. The team has provided detailed installation instructions for each platform.

Opengrep's Mission and Roadmap#

Since its inception, Opengrep has made several key commitments to the security community:

• Full Access: Providing all scanning capabilities without feature restrictions
• Backward Compatibility: Ensuring compatibility with existing workflows and JSON/SARIF outputs
• Portability: Developing security rules that work across any environment
• Community-Driven Development: Prioritizing feature development based on community needs
• Long-Term Stability: Working toward foundation governance to ensure sustainability

The project's founding sponsors have emphasized that "static code analysis is too important to be restricted" and that their goal is to "democratize Static Application Security Testing (SAST) and code security to empower developers to build more secure software."

Multiple organizations contributing to Opengrep have dedicated OCAML developers working on the project, with plans to eventually move it under foundation management to guarantee its open future. The 10-11 companies currently collaborating on the project are pooling financial resources to fund developer time rather than each contributing their own developers. Their focus is on maintaining and enhancing the engine that was open sourced, not just addressing the rules licensing issue.

During the most recent community roadmap session, the team noted that some features requested by the community would never be accepted as PRs to Semgrep as they would contradict Semgrep's business model. They're aiming to make a more stable platform, particularly for large files (current Semgrep JS implementation frequently crashes on files over 200 lines).

A few of the top development priorities they discussed for the roadmap include the following:

• Windows Support: Currently in alpha, almost ready. This is important for broader user adoption and will power their desktop "Playground" tool
• Cross-Function Analysis (Inter-procedural analysis): Most requested feature that will significantly reduce false negatives by tracking data flow between functions
• Cross-File Analysis: Currently Semgrep/Opengrep runs atomically (one rule on one file at a time), limiting its ability to detect vulnerabilities across files
• Language Support: Adding/restoring support for languages like Elixir, C#, Java Server Pages, and fixing bugs in existing language support

The team also discussed their stance on backporting patches from the original Semgrep repository to Opengrep. They are open to backporting patches from the original Semgrep repository, but with two important conditions:

• The patches must be open (publicly available)
• The license must continue to allow it (which they note is currently the case under LGPL)

This suggests the team may be actively monitoring the Semgrep repository for useful changes that could be incorporated, such as performance fixes.

Opengrep Gains Momentum#

The arrival of Playground just two months after launch—with its cross-platform support including Windows, improved performance for large files, and local rule management—shows that Opengrep is not just making promises but has clear momentum towards their goals. The addition of Windows support is particularly noteworthy, as it was specifically highlighted as a priority by Aikido Security's OCAML developers in the project's early days.

Aikido Security has also recently announced that their VSCode plugin is now powered by Opengrep, reportedly making it "up to 10x faster" with "no more crashes" and "instant start & results, even on big repos."

Opengrep's rapid progress and dedication to open source principles signal strong momentum for continued innovation. The project is well organized and is establishing itself as a serious, sustainable alternative in the SAST ecosystem rather than just a reactive fork.

For security professionals looking to contribute to the project or simply benefit from an open SAST solution, Opengrep's GitHub repositories (opengrep/opengrep and opengrep/opengrep-rules) provide entry points to get involved.