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What is PacketSnitch?

PacketSnitch is a network analysis platform that transforms packet captures into searchable, protocol-aware intelligence, helping security professionals, developers, and researchers rapidly uncover hosts, credentials, certificates, files, locations, protocols, anomalies, and other actionable insights.

Component	Description
Backend	Python script (snitch.py) that parses .pcap files and extracts rich per-packet metadata into JSON
Frontend	Electron-based desktop application for loading, browsing, filtering, and visualizing traffic

Key Features

• 📂 Load PCAP files — Point the backend at a capture, then explore interactively in the desktop app
• 🔍 Powerful filtering — Filter by port, country, entropy, MIME type, and more using dot-notation expressions
• 🌍 GeoIP integration — See source/destination locations with country, city, and timezone
• 📊 Payload analysis — Shannon entropy visualization, MIME type detection, hex dump with ASCII view
• 🤖 LLM summaries — Generate AI-powered analysis reports using Ollama
• 📑 Protocol decoding — DNS, HTTP, SSL/TLS, DHCP, NTP, SIP, and more
• 🧩 Plugin engine — Install zip plugins, manage runtime safety thresholds, and extend UI workflows from the built-in Plugins manager

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Quick Start

Installation

Download a pre-built release from the releases page:

• Windows: .exe installer
• Linux: .deb or .rpm packages

Launch the app with packetsnitch or click the desktop icon.

Basic Workflow

1. Load PCAP — Click Load PCAP to run the backend on a .pcap file
2. Browse packets — Use Prev / Next buttons or select a host from the dropdown
3. Filter — Type expressions like tcp.dst.port:443 and press Enter
4. Summarize — Click Summary for LLM-generated analysis (requires Ollama)

Documentation

• 🚀 Startup Docs — Quickstart Documentation
• 📖 Frontend Docs — UI reference, conversions, encryption, notes
• 🎨 Plugins + Themes Docs — Combined themes reference and complete plugin engine tutorial with hello-snitch sample code
• 🎯 Context Menu Reference — Right-click options for copying, converting, filtering, and exporting
• ⚙️ Backend Docs — snitch.py usage, arguments, output structure
• 🔎 Filter Reference — Complete filter keys, operators, examples

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License

GNU GPLv3 — See LICENSE.md for details.

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Author

Marshall Whittaker

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Support the Project

If you find PacketSnitch useful, please consider supporting its development:

Sponsor on Github
Sponsor on Thanks.Dev
Sponsor on Buy me a Coffee