Wireshark
Professional network analysis with tshark. Security audits, deep-dives, and threat detection.
Runs on your machine from its package; the steps are below.
What it does
- Reads
- Writes
- High impact
At most: creates or changes data: records, files, settings.
What it costs
FreeOdel charges nothing per call. The publisher may charge for its own service.
Runs locally over stdio
This server isn't hosted — your MCP client launches it from a package registry. Use one of the commands below, or drop the config into your client (e.g. Claude Desktop).
Run
uvx wireshark-mcp
MCP client config
{
"mcpServers": {
"wireshark": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"wireshark-mcp"
]
}
}
}
Wireshark MCP
Give your AI assistant a packet analyzer.
Drop a .pcap file, ask questions in plain English — get answers backed by real tshark data.
What is this?
An MCP server that wraps tshark (and optional Wireshark suite tools) into a structured analysis interface. Works with Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, and 18+ other MCP clients.
You: "Find all DNS queries going to suspicious domains in this capture."
Claude: [calls wireshark_extract_dns_queries → wireshark_detect_dns_tunnel]
"Found repeated high-entropy DNS queries consistent with tunneling: ..."
Install
Claude Code / Codex plugin route
Prerequisites: uv and Wireshark CLI (tshark). The plugin includes this project and both skills; the client runs the locked Python project through uv over stdio. It does not install Wireshark or capture drivers.
From a checkout containing these plugin manifests, choose your client:
# Codex
codex plugin marketplace add .
codex plugin add wireshark-mcp@wireshark-mcp
# Claude Code
claude plugin marketplace add .
claude plugin install wireshark-mcp@wireshark-mcp
See plugin distribution for local installation, old-version refresh, environment settings and the GitHub entrypoint after publication. Choose this route or the traditional registration route below, not both.
Traditional Python package route
Prerequisites: Python 3.10+ and Wireshark with tshark on PATH.
Wireshark MCP 3.0 uses the stable MCP Python SDK 2.x line (mcp>=2.1.1,<3).
pip install wireshark-mcp
wireshark-mcp install # choose from detected MCP clients
For scripts/non-interactive terminals, select clients explicitly. Preview before installing into the current project:
wireshark-mcp install --client codex --scope project --dry-run
wireshark-mcp install --client codex --scope project
The default scope is global. Repeat --client or explicitly use --client all. Restart the client to load configuration. See the installation guide for updates, removal, backups and exit codes.
The project also ships MCP and full TShark CLI analysis skills; see skill discovery and usage.
Run wireshark-mcp doctor if anything looks off. See docs/manual-configuration.md for manual setup or platform-specific notes.
Quick Start
Point your AI client at a .pcap file and try:
Analyze capture.pcap using the Wireshark MCP tools.
Start with wireshark_open_file, then run wireshark_quick_analysis.
Use wireshark_aggregate for any capture-wide count or distribution.
Write findings to report.md.
Tools
54 tools, each backed by real tshark output — organized into categories:
| Category | Highlights | Count |
|---|---|---|
| Entry & Workflow | wireshark_open_file, wireshark_quick_analysis, wireshark_case (persistent investigation case files) | 3 |
| Packet Analysis | Packet list, details, bytes, context, stream follow, search, file info | 8 |
| Data Extraction | HTTP requests, DNS queries, arbitrary fields, object export | 4 |
| Statistics | Aggregate/group/distinct/top-k/time buckets, protocol hierarchy, endpoints, conversations, I/O graph, expert info, service response time, flow graph | 8 |
| Security & Anomaly | Credential scan, port scan, DNS tunnel, DoS, beaconing, exfiltration, protocol anomalies, YARA | 8 |
| Protocol Analysis | wireshark_analyze_protocol (25 protocols incl. BLE pairing, scanner detection, GATT timeline with handle labels, connection lifecycle), TCP health, ARP spoofing | 3 |
| Decrypt & Dissection | TLS/WPA decrypt, decryption check, decode-as, protocol preferences | 5 |
| Forensics & Enrichment | TLS fingerprints, file signature scan, GeoIP | 3 |
| File Ops, Capture & Suite | Live capture, interfaces, merge, filter-save, editcap trim/split/dedup/time-shift, frame extract, text2pcap, capabilities | 11 |
Capture Index (optional [index] extra) | wireshark_index: one tshark pass into a local DuckDB file; wireshark_aggregate reuses it, plus read-only SQL over packets and flows | 1 |
One tool covers 25 protocols rather than 25 tools covering one each: wireshark_analyze_protocol takes a protocol argument (tls_handshakes, mqtt, modbus, s7comm, zigbee, wifi, rtp, kerberos, …) and applies the right fields and display filter for it. The field names are the point — s7comm.param.item.dbnum is not something a caller should have to guess, and a wrong guess returns an empty result that reads like a clean capture.
The server starts with only tshark required. Optional tools (capinfos, mergecap, editcap, dumpcap, text2pcap) are auto-detected and enable extra features when present.
Context cost
The tool list travels in the prompt prefix of every request your client sends, so its size is a fixed per-request cost. The default surface is ~23 KB — about 9 KB of parameter schema, 5 KB of descriptions, and 3 KB of read/write annotations — and it is byte-identical across restarts so clients can cache the prefix rather than re-reading it each session.
If your client never captures live traffic or writes pcaps, --profile advertises less:
| Profile | Tools | Payload | Drops |
|---|---|---|---|
full (default) | 54 | ~23 KB | nothing |
analysis | 42 | ~18 KB | live capture, interface listing, all caller-directed file-writing tools |
core | 34 | ~15 KB | the above, plus decryption, dissection overrides, and low-level views |
wireshark-mcp serve --profile core
Runtime prompts and protocol recommendations respect the selected profile. Static guides may describe full-only workflows, but the server never recommends an excluded tool during capture discovery.
Tool results are bounded too, since a result stays in the conversation for the rest of the session. Output over 8000 characters is truncated head-and-tail with a marker, and the tool's offset / limit / display_filter parameters are the way to page through the rest. Raise or lower the ceiling with:
export WIRESHARK_MCP_MAX_RESULT_CHARS=16000
Every tool also declares whether it reads or writes, so clients can auto-approve the 41 read-only analysis tools and still prompt for the 12 that create files (live capture, merge, filter-save, editcap, text2pcap, frame extract, object export, case files). wireshark_index is marked non-destructive: it writes only the server's own index cache.
Since 3.0, those tools fail closed until WIRESHARK_MCP_ALLOWED_DIRS names existing directories. Remote HTTP/SSE binding also stays loopback-only unless --allow-insecure-http is explicitly supplied behind a trusted authenticated TLS proxy. See the 3.0 security migration guide.
Documentation
| Topic | Link |
|---|---|
| Documentation index | docs/README.md |
| Capture-wide aggregation | docs/aggregation.md |
| Platform setup (macOS/Linux/Windows) | docs/platform-validation.md |
| Manual client configuration | docs/manual-configuration.md |
| Deployment scenarios | docs/deployment-scenarios.md |
| 3.0 security migration | docs/security-hardening-v3.md |
| Prompt templates | docs/prompt-engineering.md |
| Architecture | docs/architecture.md |
| Release checklist | docs/release-checklist.md |
| Contributing | CONTRIBUTING.md |
| Changelog | CHANGELOG.md |
| Feature roadmap | ROADMAP.md |
| Security policy | SECURITY.md |
Development
pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest tests/ -v
ruff check src/ tests/
See CONTRIBUTING.md for the full guide.
