🧑‍💻 Developer Notes

This page provides guidance for developers contributing to NetSentinel, including code style, logging standards, dependency practices, and a forward-looking roadmap.

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🧱 Code Style & Logging Standards

Python Style Guide

NetSentinel follows a strict and uniform Python coding standard for consistency and maintainability:

Area	Style Guide
Indentation	4 spaces (no tabs)
Line length	100 characters max
Function names	snake_case
Class names	PascalCase
Constant names	ALL_CAPS
Comments	Use full sentences, capitalize & punctuate
Docstrings	Use """Triple-quoted""" for public methods & classes
Imports	Grouped: stdlib, third-party, internal

⚠️ No magic numbers. Constants should be declared or loaded from config modules.

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Logging Standards

All output must go through the Logger class in utils/logger.py.

logger = Logger()
logger.info("This is informational.")
logger.warn("This is a warning.")
logger.error("Something went wrong.")
logger.success("Operation completed successfully.")
logger.debug("Detailed technical info.")

Logging format:

[2025-06-20 14:23:01] [INFO] Starting SMB enumeration

Colorized output is reserved for CLI; future support for non-TTY output is under consideration.

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📦 Dependency Management

NetSentinel uses a minimalist dependency set to keep the tool portable and easily auditable.

Required Libraries

scapy
colorama
impacket

All dependencies are pinned in requirements.txt to specific versions where necessary.

Managing Dependencies

• Install using:

  pip install -r requirements.txt
  

• Use [venv] for isolation:

  python3 -m venv .venv
  source .venv/bin/activate
  

• When adding a new module, document external imports at the top and update requirements.txt if new packages are introduced.

• Avoid bloated frameworks or transitive dependencies unless explicitly required.

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🚀 Roadmap & TODOs

This is a working list of planned improvements and in-progress development goals.

✅ Short-Term Roadmap (v1.1.x)

• Modular recon architecture (core/)
• JSON-based export
• Environment-based config override
• GitHub release and README polish
• Documentation and wiki launch

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🧪 Mid-Term Enhancements (v1.2+)

• Add --snmp-enum module
• Add NetBIOS name resolution module
• Introduce configurable thread pool for faster scanning
• Support authenticated SMB enumeration
• Optional port range flag (override ports.py)
• JSON schema validation for output file
• Add verbosity flag for debug output (--debug)

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🔒 Long-Term Features (v1.5+)

• Plugin system for loading external modules
• TLS service banner extraction
• Host OS fingerprinting based on TTL and banners
• File-based logging support (--log-file)
• Optional SQLite export mode
• Add detection signature research (simulate beaconing tools)

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⚠️ Potential Refactors

• Refactor recon.py for better testability and decoupled scan logic
• Abstract main.py CLI parsing into reusable function (cli.py)
• Modularize credentials handling and encryption support

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💡 Contribution Tips

• Always branch from dev (or your feature branch) — not main
• Name branches clearly: feature/snmp-enum, fix/kerberos-timeout
• Write clear, actionable commit messages
• Maintain testability: write isolated functions/methods with no global state

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🛡 Security Practices

• Do not commit credentials or .json config files
• Add test coverage to sensitive modules (kerberos_enum, etc.)
• Validate all input and fail gracefully with informative logging

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📞 Questions or Feature Ideas?

• Use GitHub Issues to track bugs or feature requests
• PRs are welcome and should follow the guidelines above
• Tag with enhancement, bug, or security when relevant

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This project showcases real-world red team tool engineering with an emphasis on stealth, maintainability, and extensibility.