GoTracer is a network analysis and inspection tool inspired by Wireshark, designed to run with a web-based UI while performing low-level network operations in Golang.
The backend communicates with the frontend via WebSocket, enabling real-time packet streaming, statistics, and analysis directly in the browser.
GoTracer focuses on deep network visibility and real-time inspection, making it suitable for developers, network engineers, and security learners who want to understand how data flows through a system.
Key goals:
- Real-time packet tracing
- Clear visualization of incoming and outgoing traffic
- Layer-by-layer protocol inspection
- Network scanning and diagnostics
- Browser-based usability without native GUI dependencies
- Real-time packet capture using raw sockets
- Live streaming of packets to the browser via WebSocket
- Direction detection (Incoming / Outgoing)
- Timestamped packet logs
- Interface-based capture
- Link Layer (Ethernet)
- Network Layer (IPv4)
- Transport Layer (TCP / UDP)
- Application Layer (DNS, HTTP, Raw payload)
- Basic encryption awareness (TLS traffic detection)
This allows inspection of almost all 5 layers of the TCP/IP model.
- Monitor background traffic without interrupting applications
- Identify encrypted vs unencrypted payloads
- Track packet sizes and directions
- Live bandwidth usage (bytes in / bytes out)
- Filter traffic by:
- Interface
- Direction
- IP address
- Port / service
Features under development:
- Discover devices on the same local network
- Detect IP and MAC addresses
- Identify device vendors (via MAC OUI)
- Scan open TCP ports
- Test reachability of discovered devices
- Display results in real-time in the web UI
Planned techniques:
- ARP scanning
- ICMP probing
- TCP connect scanning
Planned functionality:
- Analyze nearby WiFi networks
- Display SSID, signal strength, channel usage
- Detect currently connected WiFi network
- Identify channel congestion
- Basic WiFi security checks (encryption type visibility)
This module aims to provide visibility similar to desktop WiFi analyzer tools, but inside a web interface.
GoTracer will integrate commonly used network tools into the web UI:
- Port scanning (similar to nmap)
- Host discovery
- Traceroute visualization
- Service detection
- Latency and reachability testing
All tools will:
- Run on the Go backend
- Stream results live via WebSocket
- Be controllable from the browser
-
Backend: Golang
- Packet capture (pcap / raw sockets)
- Network scanning
- Protocol parsing
- WebSocket server
-
Frontend: Web (React)
- Live packet visualization
- Filters and controls
- Graphs and statistics
- Interactive network tools
- Learning how network protocols work
- Debugging encrypted vs plaintext traffic
- Monitoring background network activity
- Inspecting LAN devices and services
- Lightweight alternative to desktop packet analyzers
- Educational network security experimentation
- Packet capture: implemented
- WebSocket streaming: implemented
- UI visualization: active development
- LAN discovery: in progress
- WiFi analyzer: in progress
- Network utilities: planned
GoTracer aims to bring powerful network inspection tools traditionally limited to desktop applications into a browser-first experience, while keeping performance and low-level access through Go.