---
title: "Runners and CLI"
slug: "runners"
description: "Learn how Traceable runners execute application security scans within your infrastructure. Understand runner concepts, deployment options, and how runners integrate with the Traceable platform for reliable scan execution."
status: "new"
updated: 2025-12-23T09:42:08Z
published: 2025-12-23T09:42:08Z
canonical: "traceabledocs.document360.io/runners"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://traceabledocs.document360.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Runners and CLI

Runners are nothing but Traceable CLI installed on your server as a service. They form the execution backbone of application security testing by enabling scans to run within your infrastructure and communicate results back to the Traceable platform.

## Traceable CLI vs Runner

The following table compares Traceable CLI and runner on various parameters, along with their use case and recommendations:

| Parameters | Traceable CLI | Traceable Runner |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Integration | It is designed to integrate with CI systems, allowing jobs to be triggered and run on a CI runner. It is a quick way to run scans from local or remote hosts. | It is designed to integrate with job schedulers and CI/CD systems, allowing the CI pipeline to trigger the scan and delegate the actual running to the Traceable runner. |
| Execution | It executes synchronously, running tests immediately as they are invoked. | It executes asynchronously, consuming the job queue. |
| Configuration | It is usually a part of the script setup. | It requires a runner pool, which is typically set up using Helm charts or similar deployment tools. |
| Use Case | It is ideal for pre-commit hooks, pre-deploy checks, and other stages in the development pipeline where immediate feedback is required. | It is ideal for scheduling regular security scans, batch jobs, or handling multiple requests asynchronously. |
| Recommendation | It is recommended for use in small to medium-sized projects that require immediate results on simple security tests. | It is recommended for use in either of the following scenarios: - When working with large projects requiring complex security testing, most attack coverage and tests run for longer durations. - When you want to run periodic exhaustive tests as daily/weekly scheduled jobs. |

---

## Runner installation methods

You can download and install a runner using either of the following methods:

- Through the Traceable platform
- As a service using the `install.sh` script
- Using Helm chart
- On AWS ECS using CloudFormation or Terraform

However, before installing a runner, you must ensure that you have the necessary software and hardware requirements. For more information, see [Software and Hardware Requirements](/v1/docs/software-and-hardware-requirements). Once you have the necessary requirements, you can install the runner. For the steps to do this, see [Installing a Runner](/v1/docs/installing-a-runner).

Traceable also allows you to set up custom certificates for runners according to your requirements. For more information, see [Set up custom certificates for runners](/v1/docs/traceable-cli#set-up-custom-certificates-for-runners).