Author: poppopjmp

Welcome to SpiderFoot! This guide will help you set up, configure, and run your first scan, whether you are a new user or an experienced security professional. Follow these steps to get SpiderFoot up and running quickly.

See the Installation Guide for detailed steps. In summary:

• Clone the repository:

  git clone https://github.com/poppopjmp/spiderfoot.git
  cd spiderfoot

cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env — change passwords, uncomment profile sections as needed

# Core only (5 services)
docker compose -f docker-compose.yml up --build -d

# Or full stack (all services except SSO)
docker compose -f docker-compose.yml --profile full up --build -d

Access the UI at http://localhost:3000 (core) or https://localhost (with proxy profile).

pip install -r requirements.txt
python sf.py -l 127.0.0.1:5001

Access at http://127.0.0.1:5001.

Open your browser and navigate to the SpiderFoot URL. Log in with the default credentials (admin / admin) or your configured admin account.

The Dashboard provides at-a-glance statistics — active scans, total events, risk distribution, and recent scan activity.

• Click New Scan from the sidebar or dashboard.
• Enter a target (e.g., example.com).
• Select the target type and choose module categories.
• Click Run Scan.

Results appear in real time. Click any scan to open the Scan Detail view with 8 tabs: Summary, Browse, Correlations, Graph, GeoMap, AI Report, Scan Settings, and Log.

For a basic scan:

python sf.py -s example.com -t DOMAIN_NAME -m sfp_dnsresolve,sfp_ssl,sfp_whois

• Use python sf.py -M to list all available modules.
• Use python sf.py -M <module> for help on a specific module.

Organize related scans into Workspaces for multi-target campaigns, recurring assessments, or team collaboration. Each workspace groups scans, tracks notes, and provides workspace-level analytics and AI-generated reports.

• Configure API keys for modules in the web UI under Settings → Module Settings.
• Advanced options can be set in the config file or via environment variables. See the Configuration Guide.

For production deployments, configure security features:

# Set strong secret keys
export SPIDERFOOT_CSRF_SECRET=$(openssl rand -hex 32)
export SPIDERFOOT_JWT_SECRET=$(openssl rand -hex 32)

# Enable security logging
export SPIDERFOOT_SECURITY_LOG_FILE=/var/log/spiderfoot/security.log

Or via configuration file:

[security]
csrf_enabled = True
csrf_secret_key = your-strong-secret-key
rate_limiting_enabled = True
input_validation_enabled = True
session_security_enabled = True
api_security_enabled = True
security_logging_enabled = True

Validate your security setup:

cd spiderfoot
python security_validator.py .

• If you have issues, check the Troubleshooting Guide.
• Ensure all dependencies are installed and ports are open.
• For Docker, check container logs with docker logs <container_id>.
• For module errors, verify API keys and settings.

Continue to the Quick Start or User Guide for more advanced usage, tips, and best practices.