Installation

theHarvester requires Python 3.12 or newer. Choose one installation lane and finish with its verification step. The README lists the current distribution package versions.

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. Distribution packages can lag behind the current stable release or dev branch.

Source checkout

Clone the repository and install the locked runtime dependencies:

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 harvestview. There is no root theHarvester.py launcher.

Self-host Tabulator

HarvestView loads Tabulator 6.5.2 from CDNjs by default. For an isolated deployment, download the same pinned files in a connected environment and copy them into theHarvester/lib/api/static/harvestview/:

File	CDNjs source	SRI
`tabulator.min.css`	`https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/tabulator-tables/6.5.2/css/tabulator.min.css`	`sha512-t8I/asqzdu/MRgVLxVanQ/c5bhUA1qZ/zA432a/3nUh0kkd7P8Qch35wQvTODivf9D6Xv3h7F8p7ezcUyBOQrQ==`
`tabulator.min.js`	`https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/tabulator-tables/6.5.2/js/tabulator.min.js`	`sha512-AF0YMSgc0Ui4IJPb4hJNSi16wFidZEQa6ZTCAeguF3h5glVnAPuz/JT2ai9ypKhsc9n6CEXBB+tMdxsv1q+rxg==`

Then replace the two CDNjs tags in theHarvester/lib/api/static/harvestview/index.html with same-origin references:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="/static/harvestview/tabulator.min.css?v=6.5.2">
<script src="/static/harvestview/tabulator.min.js?v=6.5.2"></script>

Remove the CDN-only integrity, crossorigin, and referrerpolicy attributes from those local tags. Rebuild the package or container after copying the assets.

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 HarvestView service

The Docker image starts harvestview; it does not open an interactive theHarvester CLI. Create the operator-key secret before the first start:

git clone https://github.com/laramies/theHarvester.git
cd theHarvester
install -d -m 0700 .secrets
openssl rand -hex 32 > .secrets/operator-api-key
chmod 0444 .secrets/operator-api-key
docker compose up --build -d
docker compose ps

The 0700 directory protects the secret on the host, while the read-only 0444 file lets the unprivileged container process read its bind-mounted copy. Open HarvestView after the service starts. Swagger remains available at http://127.0.0.1:5000/docs.

The supplied configuration publishes container port 8000 only on host 127.0.0.1:5000, runs as an unprivileged user with a read-only root filesystem, and stores run records in the theharvester-data volume. The image includes Chromium for optional screenshot capture.

docker compose logs -f theharvester.svc.local
docker compose down

Every /api/v1/* route is authenticated. Do not change the loopback port mapping or expose the service directly to an untrusted network without adding TLS and network access controls.

Next step

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

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