Try out SonarQube Community Build

Follow these steps to try out SonarQube Community Build.

You’ve heard about how SonarQube can help you write high quality, safer code, and now you’re ready to try it out for yourself. This guide shows you how to install a local instance of SonarQube Community Build and analyze a project. Installing a local instance gets you up and running quickly, so you can experience SonarQube Community Build firsthand.

You can download SonarQube Community Build. Or try Developer Edition or Enterprise Edition for free for 14 days.

Once you’re ready to set up a production instance, review the Introduction documentation on installing community build.

Installing a local instance of SonarQube Community Build

To get started quickly, we recommend evaluating SonarQube Community Build by spinning up a Docker container. Alternatively, an installation using a zip file is also available.

From the Docker image

Find the SonarQube Community Build Docker image on Docker hub. Start the server by running:

$ docker run -d --name sonarqube -e SONAR_ES_BOOTSTRAP_CHECKS_DISABLE=true -p 9000:9000 sonarqube:latest

Once your instance is up and running, log in to http://localhost:9000 using System Administrator credentials:

• login: admin
• password: admin

You will be asked to change your password.

Zip file alternative

To install from the zip file, use the following instructions:

From the zip file

1. Download and install Java 17 or Java 21.
2. Download the SonarQube Developer Edition zip file.
3. As a non-root user, unzip it in, for example, C:\sonarqube or /opt/sonarqube.
4. As a non-root user, start the SonarQube Community Build:

# On Windows, execute:
C:\sonarqube\bin\windows-x86-64\StartSonar.bat
 
# On other operating systems, as a non-root user execute:
/opt/sonarqube/bin/<OS>/sonar.sh console

If your instance fails to start, check your Server logs to find the cause.

Once your instance is up and running, log in to http://localhost:9000 using System Administrator credentials:

• login: admin
• password: admin

You will be asked to change your password.

Analyzing a project

Now that you’re logged in to your local SonarQube Community Build instance, let’s analyze a project:

1. Select Create new project.
2. Give your project a Project key and a Display name and select Set up.
3. Under Provide a token, select Generate a token. Give your token a name, select Generate, and click Continue.
4. Select your project’s main language under Run analysis on your project, and follow the instructions to analyze your project. Here you’ll download and execute a scanner on your code (if you’re using Maven or Gradle, the scanner is automatically downloaded).

After successfully analyzing your code, you’ll see your first analysis on SonarQube Community Build:

Your first analysis is a measure of your current code. As a developer, you focus on maintaining high standards and taking responsibility specifically for the new code you’re working on. From this point, you should focus on code that has been added or changed. See Quality standards and new code for more information.