Getting Started
Choose your path: run SOFE locally (free, unlimited) or use the hosted platform (dashboard, history, AI).
Path A: Self-Hosted
pip install, run locally, no account needed. Unlimited evaluations, works offline.
Start here ↓Path B: Cloud Platform
Sign up, get dashboard, history, AI explain, alerts, topology. Free tier available.
Start here ↓Path A: Self-Hosted (Free, Unlimited)
1. Install
pip install sofe
2. Run your first evaluation
sofe evaluate --profile default --policies ./policies/
Uses your local AWS credentials (~/.aws/credentials). Scans 17 services, evaluates 20 policies.
3. See findings
┌──────────┬────────────────────┬──────────┬──────────────────┐ │ SEVERITY │ POLICY │ RESOURCE │ MESSAGE │ ├──────────┼────────────────────┼──────────┼──────────────────┤ │ MEDIUM │ require-cost-tags │ my-func │ missing owner tag│ │ HIGH │ no-idle-ec2 │ i-0abc │ CPU 1.2% │ └──────────┴────────────────────┴──────────┴──────────────────┘
That's it! No account, no API key, no internet required. 17 collectors, 20 policies, unlimited runs, $0 forever.
Want dashboard, history, and AI? Try the Cloud Platform ↓
Path B: Cloud Platform (Dashboard + AI)
1. Sign up
Go to platform.sofe.dev → Login with Google. Free account, no credit card.
2. Connect your AWS account
Deploy a CloudFormation stack (1-click) that creates a read-only IAM role. Full guide →
3. Generate an API key
Go to /keys → Create key → Copy sk_sofe_xxx
4. Run evaluation (via API or CLI)
# Via curl: curl -X POST https://api.sofe.dev/evaluate \ -H "X-API-Key: sk_sofe_xxx" -H "Content-Type: application/json" # Or via CLI: sofe config set api-key sk_sofe_xxx sofe evaluate --cloud
5. Explore the platform
Both Paths Work Together
You can use both! Local mode for unlimited quick scans, cloud mode for history + AI + alerts. They use the same engine and same policies.
sofe evaluate --profile default # local (unlimited) sofe evaluate --cloud # cloud (dashboard + history)