sherlock README

The project's README from github.com/sherlock-project/sherlock. As one markdown file: README.md.


sherlock
Hunt down social media accounts by username across 400+ social networks

Installation    •    Usage    •    Contributing

demo

Installation

OSINTSearch User Search OSINT Industries

[!WARNING]
Packages for ParrotOS and Ubuntu 24.04, maintained by a third party, appear to be broken.
Users of these systems should defer to uv/pipx/pip or Docker.

Method Notes
pipx install sherlock-project pip or uv may be used in place of pipx
docker run -it --rm sherlock/sherlock
dnf install sherlock-project

Community-maintained packages are available for Debian (>= 13), Ubuntu (>= 22.10), Homebrew, Kali, and BlackArch. These packages are not directly supported or maintained by the Sherlock Project.

See all alternative installation methods here.

General usage

To search for only one user:

sherlock user123

To search for more than one user:

sherlock user1 user2 user3

Accounts found will be stored in an individual text file with the corresponding username (e.g user123.txt).

$ sherlock --help
usage: sherlock [-h] [--version] [--verbose] [--folderoutput FOLDEROUTPUT] [--output OUTPUT] [--csv] [--xlsx] [--site SITE_NAME] [--proxy PROXY_URL] [--dump-response]
                [--json JSON_FILE] [--timeout TIMEOUT] [--print-all] [--print-found] [--no-color] [--browse] [--local] [--nsfw] [--txt] [--ignore-exclusions]
                USERNAMES [USERNAMES ...]

Sherlock: Find Usernames Across Social Networks (Version 0.16.0)

positional arguments:
  USERNAMES             One or more usernames to check with social networks. Check similar usernames using {?} (replace to '_', '-', '.').

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --version             Display version information and dependencies.
  --verbose, -v, -d, --debug
                        Display extra debugging information and metrics.
  --folderoutput FOLDEROUTPUT, -fo FOLDEROUTPUT
                        If using multiple usernames, the output of the results will be saved to this folder.
  --output OUTPUT, -o OUTPUT
                        If using single username, the output of the result will be saved to this file.
  --csv                 Create Comma-Separated Values (CSV) File.
  --xlsx                Create the standard file for the modern Microsoft Excel spreadsheet (xlsx).
  --site SITE_NAME      Limit analysis to just the listed sites. Add multiple options to specify more than one site.
  --proxy PROXY_URL, -p PROXY_URL
                        Make requests over a proxy. e.g. socks5://127.0.0.1:1080
  --dump-response       Dump the HTTP response to stdout for targeted debugging.
  --json JSON_FILE, -j JSON_FILE
                        Load data from a JSON file or an online, valid, JSON file. Upstream PR numbers also accepted.
  --timeout TIMEOUT     Time (in seconds) to wait for response to requests (Default: 60)
  --print-all           Output sites where the username was not found.
  --print-found         Output sites where the username was found (also if exported as file).
  --no-color            Don't color terminal output
  --browse, -b          Browse to all results on default browser.
  --local, -l           Force the use of the local data.json file.
  --nsfw                Include checking of NSFW sites from default list.
  --txt                 Enable creation of a txt file
  --ignore-exclusions   Ignore upstream exclusions (may return more false positives)

Credits

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to Sherlock! ❤️

contributors

Star History

Sherlock Project Star History Chart

License

MIT © Sherlock Project
Creator - Siddharth Dushantha

sherlock (sherlock-project/sherlock)

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94.3K ·GitHub
Sherlock
What is this?Sherlock hunts down social media accounts by username: give it a name and it checks across social networks for accounts registered under it.
Is this a terminal tool, or is there a graphical interface?It is a command-line tool: you run it from your terminal with the username or usernames you want to look up. There is no GUI.
pipx, Docker or a distro package — what is the best way to install it?pipx install sherlock-project is the primary method (pip or uv also work), 'docker run -it --rm sherlock/sherlock' needs no install, and Fedora has dnf install sherlock-project.
Are there any packages I should steer clear of?Yes: third-party packages for ParrotOS and Ubuntu 24.04 are currently broken, so users of those systems should stick to uv, pipx, pip or Docker.
Does it run on macOS and Windows, or is it Linux-only?It is a Python CLI with an official Docker image, so it works on all three; the README also lists community packages for Homebrew (macOS), Debian, Ubuntu, Kali and BlackArch.
Where do the results of a hunt end up?Accounts found are saved to an individual text file named after the searched username, so each lookup leaves its own results file behind.
What are similar projects?maigret, theHarvester, social-analyzer, awesome-osint, spiderfoot, Photon, httpx, user-scanner
Which topics is it in?osint-tools, information-gathering, redteam, forensics, reconnaissance, tools, infosec, social-media, osint, python3, pentesting, cybersecurity
Creator
sherlock-project
Size
18.6 MB
Stars
94.3K
Updated
CommitSep 26Releasev0.16.2Sep 08
Age
7y
Commits · 90 Days