# the-tcpdump-group/tcpdump

the TCPdump network dissector

Repository: https://github.com/the-tcpdump-group/tcpdump
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/tcpdump
Homepage: https://www.tcpdump.org/
Language: C
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Topics: pcap, pcapng, packet-capture, sniffer, tcpdump, libpcap, berkeley-packet-filter, bsd-packet-filter, bpf, auditing, security, troubleshooting
Last push: 2026-08-24T21:20:04+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 77/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4889, "days_push": 9, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3232, forks 932 (observed 2026-08-28T04:07:50.189826+00:00)

## What it is
tcpdump is a powerful command-line packet analyzer that captures and dissects network traffic using libpcap, with BPF-based filtering and support for pcap/pcapng files. It runs on a wide range of Unix-like systems and Windows, and is widely used for network monitoring, debugging, and security auditing.

## Use cases
- capture and inspect network packets from a network interface
- troubleshoot network connectivity issues by analyzing traffic
- filter traffic with BPF expressions to isolate specific protocols or hosts
- save packet captures to pcap files for later analysis
- audit network traffic for security investigations
- decode protocol details of captured packets

## When to choose
- you need a battle-tested, scriptable CLI packet sniffer on servers or Unix systems
- you want deep protocol dissection of captured traffic
- you need to read or filter pcap/pcapng capture files
- you are doing network troubleshooting, auditing, or security analysis from the terminal

## When to avoid
- you need a GUI for interactive packet exploration (use Wireshark instead)
- you need programmatic packet capture APIs in your own application (use libpcap directly)
- you need wireless-specific analysis like WiFi channel hopping or decryption

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: networking, security, developer-tools, parser
- domain: networking, security, developer-tools
- platform: windows, bsd, cli, cross-platform
- tags: packet-capture, packet-analyzer, pcap, pcapng, bpf, sniffer, protocol-dissector, network-troubleshooting, libpcap, command-line, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- the-tcpdump-group/tcpdump (main) score 77

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:50.189826+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 2026-08-30T07:24:38.269092+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/the-tcpdump-group/tcpdump (fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:50.189826+00:00, sha 3140ae187be1)
  - homepage: https://www.tcpdump.org/ (fetched 2026-08-29T09:37:36.198161+00:00, sha 0cd4060557e1)
  - site_page: https://www.tcpdump.org/faq.html (fetched 2026-08-29T09:37:36.208050+00:00, sha 3380ae008663)
  - site_page: https://www.tcpdump.org/old_releases.html (fetched 2026-08-29T09:37:36.572800+00:00, sha 24ccb5855286)
  - site_page: https://www.tcpdump.org/index.html (fetched 2026-08-29T09:37:36.606613+00:00, sha 0cd4060557e1)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.