spiderfoot_start_scan

Launch a new OSINT reconnaissance scan against a target to gather intelligence, investigate threats, or perform footprinting using SpiderFoot modules.

Instructions

Start a new scan against a target.

Input Schema

TableJSON Schema

Name	Required	Description	Default
`scanname`	Yes
`scantarget`	Yes
`modulelist`	No
`typelist`	No
`usecase`	No

Implementation Reference

src/index.ts:15-21 (schema)

Zod input schema (StartScanSchema) for the spiderfoot_start_scan tool, defining parameters: scanname, scantarget (required), modulelist, typelist, usecase (optional). Used in both server registrations.

const StartScanSchema = z.object({
  scanname: z.string().min(1),
  scantarget: z.string().min(1),
  modulelist: z.string().optional(),
  typelist: z.string().optional(),
  usecase: z.enum(['all', 'investigate', 'passive', 'footprint']).optional(),
});

src/index.ts:70-81 (registration)

Registration of spiderfoot_start_scan MCP tool in stdio server (index.ts), includes input schema reference, inline handler logic (env check + sf.startScan call), and output formatting.

  'spiderfoot_start_scan',
  { title: 'Start Scan', description: 'Start a new scan against a target.', inputSchema: StartScanSchema.shape },
  async (input) => {
    const allow = (process.env.ALLOW_START_SCAN ?? 'true').toLowerCase();
    if (!(allow === 'true' || allow === '1' || allow === 'yes')) {
      return { content: [{ type: 'text', text: 'Starting scans is disabled by configuration (ALLOW_START_SCAN=false).' }], isError: true };
    }
    const res = await sf.startScan(input as any);
    return { content: [{ type: 'text', text: JSON.stringify(res) }] };
  }
);

src/index-http.ts:53-64 (registration)

Registration of spiderfoot_start_scan MCP tool in HTTP server (index-http.ts), identical to stdio version: schema ref, inline handler with env check and sf.startScan delegation.

server.registerTool(
  'spiderfoot_start_scan',
  { title: 'Start Scan', description: 'Start a new scan against a target.', inputSchema: StartScanSchema.shape },
  async (input) => {
    const allow = (process.env.ALLOW_START_SCAN ?? 'true').toLowerCase();
    if (!(allow === 'true' || allow === '1' || allow === 'yes')) {
      return { content: [{ type: 'text', text: 'Starting scans is disabled by configuration (ALLOW_START_SCAN=false).' }], isError: true };
    }
    const res = await sf.startScan(input as any);
    return { content: [{ type: 'text', text: JSON.stringify(res) }] };
  }
);

src/spiderfootClient.ts:49-58 (helper)

Core helper implementation: startScan method in SpiderfootClient HTTP wrapper. Performs POST /startscan to underlying Spiderfoot server with provided args and returns response.

async startScan(args: {
  scanname: string;
  scantarget: string;
  modulelist?: string; // comma separated module names
  typelist?: string;   // comma separated event types
  usecase?: string;    // all|investigate|passive|footprint
}) {
  const { data } = await this.http.post('/startscan', args);
  return data;
}

SpiderFoot MCP Server