The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20230824045501/https://docs.github.com/en/code-security/code-scanning/troubleshooting-code-scanning/not-recognized

Error: "is not a .ql file, .qls file, a directory, or a query pack specification"

CodeQL was unable to locate one of the queries or sets of queries that are specified for analysis.

Code scanning is available for all public repositories on GitHub.com. Code scanning is also available for private repositories owned by organizations that use GitHub Enterprise Cloud and have a license for GitHub Advanced Security. For more information, see "About GitHub Advanced Security."

You will see Error: "is not a .ql file, .qls file, a directory, or a query pack specification" if CodeQL is unable to find the named query, query suite, or query pack at the location requested in the workflow. There are two common reasons for this error.

  • There is a typo in the workflow.
  • A resource the workflow refers to by path was renamed, deleted, or moved to a new location.

After verifying the location of the resource, you can update the workflow to specify the correct location.