ReconPilot v0 — Passive-first Recon Autopilot (Safety-First)

Purpose: Turn mundane recon into a safe, repeatable, passive-first workflow that produces a clean casefile.md with clear next steps.
Ethics: For authorized use only. Scope is strictly enforced by scope.yaml.

Features (v0)

• Scope guard: refuses out-of-scope targets.
• Passive modules: CT logs (crt.sh), DNS (A/AAAA/CNAME/MX/TXT/NS) lookups.
• Explainable findings: each item includes why it matters and suggested, approval-gated next steps.
• Evidence pack: JSON artifacts + Markdown report.
• Changefeed: simple diff between runs.

Quickstart

# 1) Create and activate a venv (recommended)
python3 -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate

# 2) Install
pip install -e .

# 3) Copy & edit scope
cp fixtures/scope.example.yaml scope.yaml
# -> edit org/domains, notes; keep it authorized!

# 4) Run (passive-only)
recon-pilot run --scope scope.yaml --out runs

# 5) Open your casefile
ls runs/*/casefile.md

New Opt-In Flags (Speed & Visibility)

These are additive features; defaults remain conservative (full DNS set, serial lookups). The CLI will print a hint, but you must opt in.

• Verbose progress: -v, --verbose
  Shows a live spinner and periodic progress (heartbeats) during CT/DNS so you can see that the run is healthy.

• DNS fast path: --dns-fast
  Resolves and stores only A/AAAA records. This reduces I/O and render time for large scopes. Use when you want quicker casefiles and don’t need MX/TXT/NS on first pass.

• Skip internal-looking hosts: --skip-internal
  Excludes names that look internal (e.g., *.corp.*, .internal, .local, .lan). Good for public-exposure sweeps. (You can run a full pass later.)

• Parallel DNS workers: --dns-workers N
  Runs DNS lookups in parallel (e.g., 10–50). Start with 20 and tune for your network/ISP. Default is 0 (serial), which is slow but maximally conservative.

Tip: Combine --dns-fast + --dns-workers for big speedups; add --skip-internal for the fastest public-only sweep.

Ready-Made Recipes

• Baseline (comprehensive, default behavior)

  ./recon run -i --out runs --tag normal
  
  
  

Safety & Ethics

• Passive-first: v0 only queries public data sources and DNS. No active scanning.
• Scope.yaml is the law: domains outside scope are ignored.
• Logs/artifacts are stored locally by default. You own your data.

Roadmap

• Weekly scheduled runs + diffs
• Optional active checks with explicit --allow-active flag and rate limits
• HTTP header/tech fingerprint module
• Integrations: Amass, Nuclei, Shodan/Censys (with user-provided keys)
• HTML/PDF export and SARIF/STIX emitters

Disclaimer

This project is a passive-first reconnaissance helper intended for lawful security testing, research, and education.

• Authorized use only. Run this tool only against systems/domains you own or where you have explicit written permission from the owner.
• You are responsible for your use. Misuse may violate laws (e.g., computer misuse / anti-hacking statutes), contracts, or company policies.
• No warranty. This software is provided “AS IS” under the MIT License, without warranties of any kind. The maintainers and contributors are not liable for misuse, data loss, or damage resulting from use of this software.
• Compliance. You agree to comply with all applicable laws, regulations, and organizational policies. Consult your legal counsel for guidance—this is not legal advice.
• Safety defaults. v0 is passive-only (CT + DNS). Any future active features will be opt-in and require explicit approval; you must confirm authorization before enabling them.
• Evidence handling. Artifacts are stored locally by default. You are responsible for protecting any collected data and removing it when no longer authorized.

By using this project, you acknowledge and agree to the above.

➡️ Read the full DISCLAIMER & Acceptable Use.

Community Note from the Maintainer

I’m not a professional programmer or penetration tester—I’m a security-conscious enthusiast who cares about building safer systems. I develop and test ReconPilot in my own lab on self-hosted, containerized environments, and I do my best to follow sound security practices. v0 is intentionally passive-only by default.

This project is an active work-in-progress. I’m sharing it in good faith with the community and I welcome feedback, issues, and PRs. If you spot risks, design flaws, or ways to improve signal-to-noise, please open an issue or propose a change. Let’s build something genuinely useful and safe together.