# VirusTotal/vt-cli

VirusTotal Command Line Interface

Repository: https://github.com/VirusTotal/vt-cli
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/vt-cli
Homepage: https://virustotal.github.io/vt-cli/
Language: Go
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-07-07T16:50:42+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 82/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 91, release rhythm 60, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3032, "days_push": 57, "days_rel": 106, "gap_med": 103.5, "n_releases_24m": 5}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1464, forks 147 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:47.833987+00:00)

## What it is
The official VirusTotal command-line interface, written in Go, that lets users interact with VirusTotal's API from the terminal. It supports retrieving file, URL, domain, and IP reports, searching with VirusTotal Intelligence syntax, downloading files, and managing YARA hunting rules and Retrohunt jobs.

## Use cases
- look up a file hash on virustotal from the command line
- search virustotal intelligence queries from terminal
- download malware samples via virustotal api
- manage yara livehunt rules from cli
- check if a url or domain is flagged as malicious
- run retrohunt jobs and fetch matches

## When to choose
- you want scriptable access to VirusTotal data without writing API code
- you need to automate threat intelligence lookups in shell pipelines
- you manage YARA hunting rulesets or retrohunt jobs regularly

## When to avoid
- you only need occasional web-based lookups without an API key
- you need premium features like Intelligence search or file downloads with only a free API key
- you need a GUI-based malware analysis workflow

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: cli, http-client, search-engine, security
- domain: security, developer-tools, apis
- platform: windows, go, cli
- tags: virustotal, threat-intelligence, malware-analysis, yara, api-client, command-line, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- VirusTotal/vt-cli (main) score 82

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:47.833987+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 2026-08-30T04:35:09.044750+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/VirusTotal/vt-cli (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:47.833987+00:00, sha f1dd58fc20c5)
  - homepage: https://virustotal.github.io/vt-cli/ (fetched 2026-08-29T11:43:29.372295+00:00, sha eb1bf5b7b9a0)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.