MCP server that lets AI assistants drive a self-hosted Sn1per install, running scoped, audited scans and returning findings, ports, subdomains and technologies as structured data.
Drive your self-hosted Sn1per from your AI assistant: scoped, audited, for authorized testing.
For authorized security testing only. Use the Sn1per MCP Server only against systems you own or are explicitly permitted, in writing, to test, and within the scope of that permission.
Status: beta (0.9.x). Tool names, parameters and output fields follow the compatibility promise for 0.x releases.
Sn1per MCP Server connects the AI assistant you already use to the Sn1per installation on your own Linux host. It runs locally over stdio beside Sn1per, refuses scan requests for targets outside the scope you configure (see the limits), records every scan, cancel, delete and export request it acts on in a local audit log, and returns Sn1per's findings, open ports, subdomains and technologies as structured data with secrets redacted by default. It supports Sn1per Community Edition 9.x and the 11.x engine used by SE, Professional and Enterprise; the edition matrix lists what has been verified. It is free and open source under the Apache-2.0 license, and is intended for authorized security testing only.
The server runs beside Sn1per on your host: loot stays there, and tool results leave the host only through your MCP client and the model service it uses. Read Data handling and privacy for what does leave the host.
Sn1per does the scanning. The Sn1per MCP Server lets the AI assistant you already use drive it. Generic tool-runner MCP servers expose individual commands. The Sn1per MCP Server drives Sn1per's orchestrated scan modes and returns its structured results, with scope enforcement and an audit log.
Replace <user> with the user who runs your MCP client. The env file is the canonical configuration, so --check sees exactly what the client will run.
Install pipx, then install the server as that user (never run pipx with sudo):
sudo apt install pipx
pipx ensurepath
# open a new shell, then:
pipx install sn1per-mcp==0.9.0
Create the env file /home/<user>/.config/sn1per-mcp/env with mode 0600:
mkdir -p /home/<user>/.config/sn1per-mcp
install -m 0600 /dev/null /home/<user>/.config/sn1per-mcp/env
Put this line in it, then replace the placeholder with the targets you are authorized to test. The placeholder itself is refused (scope_invalid), so nothing is scanned until you do.
SNIPER_MCP_SCOPE=<authorized-targets>
Check the configuration. The output includes the realpath of the Sn1per CLI that the sudo rule must name:
/home/<user>/.local/bin/sn1per-mcp --env-file /home/<user>/.config/sn1per-mcp/env --check
Add the sudoers drop-in with that realpath (/usr/share/sniper/sniper on a standard install). Skip this step if the client runs as root. Full steps: docs/install.md.
sudo visudo -f /etc/sudoers.d/sn1per-mcp
<user> ALL=(root) NOPASSWD: /usr/share/sniper/sniper
Register the server with Claude Code (other clients: docs/clients.md):
claude mcp add sn1per -s user -- /home/<user>/.local/bin/sn1per-mcp --env-file /home/<user>/.config/sn1per-mcp/env
Start a new client session and ask: "Run sniper_status".
Only clients that passed the 0.9.0 client tests (2026-10-12) are listed. Configuration paths, approval settings and per-client notes are in docs/clients.md.
| Client | Status | Delete and export tools (need MCP elicitation) |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Code (2.1.284) | verified | yes, in interactive sessions; claude -p without an SDK host cancels the confirmation, so nothing is deleted or exported |
| Codex CLI (0.125.0) | verified in codex exec only | no in codex exec, which declines the confirmation; the interactive Codex interface is not yet tested |
| Web, mobile and remote-connector clients | not supported in 0.9.0 (stdio only) | not applicable |
Claude Code: the one-line command in the quick start (step 5). Codex CLI: the config.toml entry, and the approval setting that export_workspace needs there, are in docs/clients.md. Other clients that start local stdio servers are not yet tested with 0.9.0.
Is Sn1per on another machine, or is your client on macOS or Windows? See docs/remote.md for the SSH recipe (verified with a Linux OpenSSH client; Windows and macOS clients documented, unverified), WSL2 (documented, unverified) and the Docker recipes (documented, unverified).
The server detects the edition and engine from the Sn1per CLI on the host. "Verified" means exercised by the 0.9.0 verification run on 2026-10-12; "expected" means no known blocker, but not exercised. The per-tool results, the scan modes that were run and the fixes made after the run are in docs/editions.md, together with the mode tables and per-edition notes.
| Edition | Engine dialect | Status |
|---|---|---|
Sn1per Community Edition 9.2 (repository master at a5450bc) | 9.x | verified 2026-10-12, with the server running as root |
| Later Sn1per Community Edition 9.x releases | 9.x | expected |
| Sn1per SE 11.0 and 11.1 | 11.x | verified 2026-10-12 (11.0 as root and as a normal user through sudo, 11.1 as root) |
| Sn1per Enterprise, 11.3 development build | 11.x | verified 2026-10-12, as a normal user through sudo |
| Other 11.x releases, including 11.2 | 11.x | expected |
| Sn1per Professional 2026 | 11.x | uses the same 11.x engine as SE and Enterprise; not yet run on a Professional install |
| Sn1per Community Edition below 9.2 | - | not supported |