Tracer

🌊 Launch Tracer Web UI — search directly from your browser, no install needed.

A Node.js-based identity search tool that automates multi-source discovery for names, usernames, and aliases. It replaces manual workflows (Google dorks, multiple engines, archive checks) with a single orchestrated pipeline.

Features

• Generates multiple query variants (site-specific, archive, username formats)
• Searches via Brave, SerpAPI, and Mojeek (API keys required)
• Always checks Wayback Machine and common social platforms (namechk)
• Deduplicates and scores results by relevance
• Exports to JSON and HTML report

Install

npm install

Usage

API keys are loaded from environment variables or a JSON config file. Never pass keys as CLI arguments — they would be visible in ps, /proc, and shell history.

# Set keys via environment
export TRACER_BRAVE_KEY=your_key
export TRACER_SERPAPI_KEY=your_key

node src/index.js "john smith" \
  --mode normal \
  --output results.json \
  --html report.html

Or use a config file:

node src/index.js "john smith" --config keys.json --output results.json

Options

Flag	Description
--mode	normal (3 queries) or aggressive (all queries)
--config	Path to JSON file with API keys
--output	Path to save JSON results
--html	Path to save HTML report
--fossils	Enable fossil hunting
--avatars	Enable avatar clustering
--time-slice	Enable time-slice search
--documents	Enable document search

Environment Variables

Variable	Description
TRACER_BRAVE_KEY	Brave Search API key
TRACER_KAGI_KEY	Kagi API key
TRACER_BING_KEY	Bing Search API key
TRACER_GOOGLE_KEY	Google Custom Search key
TRACER_GOOGLE_CX	Google Custom Search CX
TRACER_SERPAPI_KEY	SerpAPI key
TRACER_MOJEEK_KEY	Mojeek API key
TRACER_EXA_KEY	Exa AI API key
TRACER_PERPLEXITY_KEY	Perplexity AI API key
TRACER_SHODAN_KEY	Shodan API key
TRACER_CENSYS_ID	Censys API ID
TRACER_CENSYS_SECRET	Censys API secret
TRACER_HUNTER_KEY	Hunter.io API key
TRACER_INTELX_KEY	IntelX API key
TRACER_PUBLICWWW_KEY	PublicWWW API key
TRACER_TINEYE_KEY	TinEye API key
TRACER_DEHASHED_KEY	DeHashed API key
TRACER_HIBP_KEY	Have I Been Pwned API key
TRACER_GREYNOISE_KEY	GreyNoise API key
TRACER_YANDEX_KEY	Yandex XML user:key
TRACER_NAVER_CLIENT_ID	Naver client ID
TRACER_NAVER_CLIENT_SECRET	Naver client secret
TRACER_METAGER_KEY	MetaGer API key
TRACER_SWISSCOWS_KEY	Swisscows API key
TRACER_LISTENNOTES_KEY	ListenNotes API key
TRACER_SEARXNG_URL	SearXNG instance URL
TRACER_WOLFRAMALPHA_KEY	Wolfram Alpha API key
TRACER_NETLAS_KEY	Netlas API key

Web UI

npm run serve
# Open http://localhost:3000

Portable / external-drive use

• One true double-click entrypoint: open the repo root index.html. It redirects into the full UI and works as the easiest portable standalone mode entrypoint from a copied folder or external drive.
• Easiest full local-server option: use the launcher in the repo root:
  • Windows: Start Tracer.bat
  • macOS: Start Tracer.command
  • Linux: Start Tracer.sh
• The launchers try to:
  1. use your local Node.js install if it exists,
  2. run npm install automatically the first time,
  3. start the local server,
  4. open http://localhost:3000 in your browser,
  5. fall back to the repo root index.html if Node.js is missing or the server does not come up.
• Quick start choices:
  • Use now with built-in APIs: double-click index.html.
  • Use the full 550+ engine mode: double-click the launcher for your OS.
• For the full local-server experience on a new machine, install Node.js 18+ once. After that, people can just double-click the launcher from the external drive.

Tests

npm test