Sounding

Network Diagnostics MCP Server

License: MIT

Probing what lies beneath the surface -- network diagnostics for AI tools.

What It Does

Sounding is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that gives AI assistants 14 network diagnostic tools. It handles the things you'd normally reach for ping, dig, nmap, or openssl to do -- but exposed as structured, validated MCP tool calls.

Tools

Tool	Description	Key Parameters
`health`	Server version and status check	--
`ping`	TCP connect ping (port 80) with latency stats	`host`, `count` (1--100), `timeout`
`traceroute`	Trace network route to a host	`host`, `max_hops` (1--64)
`dns_lookup`	Resolve DNS records (A, AAAA, MX, CNAME, TXT, NS)	`domain`, `record_type`, `nameserver`
`reverse_dns`	Reverse DNS lookup for an IP address	`ip`
`port_check`	Check if a single TCP port is open	`host`, `port`, `timeout`
`port_scan`	Scan common TCP ports (rate-limited, max 100)	`host`, `ports`
`check_ssl_cert`	Inspect SSL/TLS certificate details and expiry	`host`, `port`
`whois_lookup`	WHOIS domain registration lookup	`domain`
`http_check`	HTTP request with status, timing, headers, size	`url`
`subnet_scan`	Discover live hosts on a local subnet (RFC 1918 only)	`subnet` (CIDR, max /20)
`get_public_ip`	Get the machine's public IP address	--
`speed_test`	Measure download speed (Mbps) and latency	--
`dns_propagation`	Check DNS propagation across public resolvers	`domain`, `record_type`

Installation

From PyPI:

pip install sounding-mcp

Or isolated with pipx:

pipx install sounding-mcp

Usage

Run the server directly (stdio transport):

sounding

Claude Code

Register as a local MCP server:

claude mcp add sounding -- sounding

Claude Desktop

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sounding": {
      "command": "sounding",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

If installed in a virtual environment, use the full path to the binary:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sounding": {
      "command": "/path/to/.venv/bin/sounding",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

Security

Sounding is designed to be safe for AI-driven use:

SSRF protection -- http_check resolves hostnames and blocks requests to internal, private, loopback, and link-local IP addresses (including IPv4-mapped IPv6). Cloud metadata endpoints (169.254.x.x) are blocked.
Input validation -- All inputs pass through validators that reject shell metacharacters, malformed hostnames, and invalid ports before reaching any network call or subprocess.
Rate limiting -- port_scan enforces a minimum 1-second interval between scans to prevent abuse.
Subnet restriction -- subnet_scan only allows RFC 1918 private subnets and caps at /20 (4096 addresses) with concurrency limiting.
No shell injection -- Subprocess calls (traceroute, whois) use exec-style invocation, never shell interpolation.

Development

git clone https://github.com/seayniclabs/sounding.git
cd sounding
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[test]"
python -m pytest tests/ -q