Installation

theHarvester requires Python 3.12 or newer. Choose one installation lane and finish with its verification step.

Kali Linux package

Kali packages theHarvester directly:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install theharvester
theHarvester -h

If the installed command or available sources differ from the repository, update Kali first and check the packaged version. Package releases can lag behind the current master or dev branch.

Source installation with uv

Install uv, clone the repository, and install the locked runtime dependencies:

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
git clone https://github.com/laramies/theHarvester.git
cd theHarvester
uv sync
uv run theHarvester -h

Contributors should install the development groups instead:

uv sync --all-groups
uv run pytest

The supported console commands are theHarvester and restfulHarvest. There is no root theHarvester.py launcher.

Screenshot support

The screenshot option requires a Playwright-compatible Chromium browser:

uv run playwright install chromium

On Linux, Playwright may report missing system libraries. Follow the host-specific dependency instructions printed by Playwright, then rerun the browser installation.

Docker Compose API service

The Docker image starts restfulHarvest; it does not open an interactive theHarvester CLI:

git clone https://github.com/laramies/theHarvester.git
cd theHarvester
docker compose up --build

Open http://127.0.0.1:5000/docs after the service starts.

The supplied Compose mapping publishes port 5000 on every host interface. For a local-only service, change it to:

ports:
  - "127.0.0.1:5000:80"

Do not expose the service directly to an untrusted network. Core query routes are not authenticated.

Next step

Continue with the Quick Start. Configure provider credentials only when needed; see Configuration and API Keys.