# google/gopacket

Provides packet processing capabilities for Go

Repository: https://github.com/google/gopacket
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/gopacket
Language: Go
License: BSD-3-Clause
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2025-03-19T23:47:36+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 38/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 12, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4188, "days_push": 532, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 6795, forks 1157 (observed 2026-08-28T04:09:48.673198+00:00)

## What it is
GoPacket is a Go library that provides packet decoding and processing capabilities, originally forked from the gopcap project. It enables Go programs to parse, decode, and analyze network packets across many protocols.

## Use cases
- decode network packets in Go
- parse pcap capture files
- build a network traffic analyzer
- inspect TCP/IP packet layers
- sniff packets on a network interface
- extract protocol fields from raw packet bytes

## When to choose
- you need low-level packet decoding in a Go program
- you're building network monitoring, IDS, or traffic analysis tools
- you need to read or write pcap files

## When to avoid
- you need high-level HTTP client/server functionality rather than raw packet handling
- you need guaranteed active development - the project is largely in maintenance mode
- you're working outside Go

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: maintenance
- function: parser, networking, developer-tools
- domain: networking, security, developer-tools
- platform: windows, bsd, go, cross-platform
- tags: packet-capture, pcap, packet-decoding, network-analysis, tcp-ip, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- google/gopacket (main) score 38

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:48.673198+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:42:06.425255+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/google/gopacket (fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:48.673198+00:00, sha 9a6d697bfec0)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.