osint-mcp — Free OSINT Tools as MCP Tools for AI Agents

One command. 26 free OSINT tools. Any AI agent.

uvx osint-mcp   # installs everything and starts the MCP server

What is osint-mcp?

osint-mcp is a Python package that wraps 26 free OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) tools as MCP (Model Context Protocol) tools, giving AI agents like Claude, GPT-4, and any MCP-compatible agent the ability to perform real OSINT investigations directly from a conversation.

The problem it solves: Running OSINT tools traditionally requires installing a dozen separate binaries, writing glue scripts, and manually parsing outputs. osint-mcp automates the entire setup — it detects your OS, installs all tools via Homebrew / apt / Go / pip, and exposes them to your AI agent through a single MCP server.

Who it is for:

• Security researchers and penetration testers who want AI-assisted reconnaissance
• Developers building AI agents with security investigation capabilities
• Bug bounty hunters automating initial footprinting
• Threat intelligence analysts enriching IOCs (Indicators of Compromise)
• Students learning OSINT with AI guidance

Key Features

• 26 free OSINT tools spanning network, domain, social media, email, web, phone, and secrets scanning
• Single-command setup — uvx osint-mcp auto-installs all underlying tools on first run
• MCP-native — works out of the box with Claude Desktop, any MCP client, or the Anthropic SDK
• Zero-config for most tools — 15 tools work with no API key at all
• Graceful degradation — tools with optional free API keys (Shodan, VirusTotal) work in reduced mode without them and tell you exactly how to enable full access
• macOS + Linux support (Homebrew, apt, yum, Go, pip — all detected automatically)
• Safe by default — passive recon only unless you explicitly call a port-scan or secrets-scan tool

One-Command Setup (Recommended)

uvx is the Python equivalent of npx — it installs the package in an isolated environment and runs it immediately. No pip install, no virtual environment setup needed.

uvx osint-mcp

On first run, this automatically:

1. Installs osint-mcp in an isolated Python environment
2. Detects your OS (macOS or Linux)
3. Installs all 26 OSINT tool binaries via Homebrew / apt / Go / uv pip
4. Starts the MCP server on stdio (ready for Claude Desktop or any MCP client)

On subsequent runs, it boots in under a second — tools are already installed.

Connect to Claude Desktop

Add one entry to your Claude Desktop config and you are done.

macOS — ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Linux — ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "osint": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["osint-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. You will see 26 new OSINT tools available in the tool list.

Alternative: Traditional pip Install

If you prefer managing your own environment:

pip install osint-mcp

# Install all OSINT tool binaries
osint-mcp install

# Check what is available
osint-mcp status

# Start the MCP server
osint-mcp serve

How It Works

Claude Desktop / AI Agent
        │
        │  MCP (stdio)
        ▼
  osint-mcp server
        │
        ├── osint_whois        →  python-whois library
        ├── osint_port_scan    →  nmap binary (subprocess)
        ├── osint_subdomain_enum → subfinder binary
        ├── osint_cert_transparency → crt.sh public API (HTTP)
        ├── osint_shodan_host  →  Shodan REST API (optional key)
        ├── osint_virustotal   →  VirusTotal REST API (optional key)
        └── ... 20 more tools

Each tool is a BaseTool subclass. The registry auto-discovers all subclasses at startup and registers them with FastMCP. If a tool's binary is not installed, it returns a clear "not installed — run osint-mcp install" message instead of crashing.

Complete Tool Reference (26 Tools)

Network Intelligence

Domain & DNS Intelligence

Social Media & Username OSINT

Email Intelligence

Web & Threat Intelligence

Phone Number OSINT

Secrets & Code Scanning

Meta / Utility

Optional Free API Keys

These tools work without a key but unlock significantly more data with one. All are free to register.

# Set a key via CLI
osint-mcp config set shodan_key=YOUR_KEY

# Or let your AI agent set it during a conversation (via osint_config_set tool)

Example AI Agent Conversations

Once connected to Claude Desktop, you can ask questions like:

"Investigate the domain example.com — find subdomains, check for data breaches on contact emails, and look it up on Shodan."

"Scan the GitHub repo github.com/org/repo for exposed secrets and API keys."

"Find all social media accounts associated with the username johndoe123."

"Check if the IP 1.2.3.4 is listed on Shodan and what ports are open."

"Look up the phone number +14155552671 and find what carrier and country it's registered to."

The agent automatically chains multiple tools, interprets the results, and presents a coherent investigation summary — no manual tool orchestration needed.

CLI Reference