quartz/content/10-19 LIFE/13 TECH SETUP/13.11 APPS/whosthere.md

publish, permalink, title, created, modified, tags, cssclasses

publish	permalink	title	created	modified	tags	cssclasses
true	/apps/whosthere	whosthere	2026-02-05T08:46:27.958-07:00	2026-02-05T12:16:30.769-07:00	network lan discovery

whosthere is a LAN discovery tool with a modern TUI. It discovers devices on your network using mDNS, SSDP, and ARP scanning—all without requiring root privileges.

Installation

Arch Linux (via AUR):

yay -S whosthere-bin

Homebrew:

brew install whosthere

Go:

go install github.com/ramonvermeulen/whosthere@latest

Usage

Interactive TUI

whosthere

Navigate with arrow keys or vim bindings:

• j/k - Move up/down
• Enter - Select/expand
• q - Quit
• r - Refresh scan
• p - Port scan selected device

Daemon Mode

Run as a background service with HTTP API:

whosthere daemon

Query via API:

curl http://localhost:8080/devices

CLI Output

# JSON output
whosthere --json

# One-shot scan (no TUI)
whosthere --once

Features

• mDNS discovery - Finds devices advertising services
• SSDP scanning - Discovers UPnP devices
• ARP cache reading - Catches everything else
• OUI lookup - Shows manufacturer from MAC address
• Port scanning - Optional service discovery on found hosts

Configuration

~/.config/whosthere/config.yaml:

# Theme customization
theme:
  primary: "#7aa2f7"
  secondary: "#bb9af7"
  
# Scan settings
scan:
  timeout: 5s
  ports: [22, 80, 443, 8080]
  
# Daemon settings  
daemon:
  port: 8080
  refresh_interval: 60s

Tips

• No root required—uses unprivileged scanning techniques
• Port scanning requires explicit action; only scan devices you own
• Great for finding that Raspberry Pi you forgot the IP of
• Combine with --json for scripting and automation

See Also

• GitHub: https://github.com/ramonvermeulen/whosthere