Scout - CLI Recon Tool
A lightweight Linux-native CLI recon tool for passive and active reconnaissance on domains or IPs.
Project Details
Scout performs quick passive and active reconnaissance on domains or IPs.
Scout is written entirely in Python and coded on Linux in VS Code, using only subprocess.run to interface with native tools like dig, whois, ping, and traceroute. It uses argparse for input parsing and runs straight from the CLI.
I was rusty with Python, but I got concurrency working with threads to avoid blocking on slower calls like ping or traceroute which brought the average runtime down from about 8 seconds to 2. By default, Scout pulls A and PTR records, but you can toggle DNS modes to fetch MX, TXT, SPF, SOA, CNAME, and AAAA.
The toughest part was normalizing WHOIS output since it’s inconsistent across registrars. I built a parser that scans each line, checks for keys like “registrant”, “created”, “expires”, or “registrar”, and builds a summary and JSON object. It catches junk returns, handles blank lines, and even formats dates consistently. I built this tool because I actually needed something lightweight and reliable for my IT use cases. One easy advantage of developing a tool I actually use is that I'll organically resolve bugs and add features as I go along.
Features:
•DNS records (A, NS, MX, TXT, SPF, SOA, CNAME, AAAA)
•WHOIS information
•Common port scanning
•HTTP headers analysis
•Ping statistics
•Traceroute mapping
•Parallel execution
Usage:
•python3 scout.py -t example.com
•python3 scout.py -t 8.8.8.8 --ports
•python3 scout.py -t example.com -a
•python3 scout.py -t domain.com -o results
•python3 scout.py -t example.com --json
Options:
•-t, --target: Target domain/IP (required)
•--passive: Passive checks only
•--dns-info: All DNS records
•--headers: HTTP headers
•--ports: Scan common ports
•--trace: Run traceroute
•-a, --all: Run all checks
•--profile: Scan profile (quick, passive, full)
•-v, --verbose: Verbose output
•--timeout: Timeout in seconds (default: 5)
•--threads: Max threads (default: 10)
Requirements:
•Python 3.6+
•Standard Unix tools: dig, whois, ping, traceroute
Installation:
•git clone https://github.com/Tecttano/scout.git
•cd scout
•chmod +x scout.py