Get Wireshark into your AI agent

Wireshark MCP lets Cursor, Claude, VS Code, and other MCP hosts capture and analyze packets with TShark.

You only need three things: Python 3.10+, TShark, and this package.

Do this first (5 minutes)

git clone https://github.com/A-G-U-P-T-A/wireshark-mcp
cd wireshark-mcp
python -m venv .venv

# Windows:  .venv\Scripts\activate
# macOS/Linux: source .venv/bin/activate

python -m pip install -e .
python -m wireshark_mcp doctor
python -m wireshark_mcp setup

doctor must exit 0. setup prints or writes a mcpServers block with absolute paths.

Then reload MCP in your host and ask the agent to call check_environment or list_interfaces.

Install TShark if doctor fails

OS	Command
Windows	`winget install --id WiresharkFoundation.Wireshark -e` (+ Npcap for live capture)
macOS	`brew install wireshark`
Linux	`sudo apt-get install -y tshark`

Pick your host

Host	Config location	Shortcut
Cursor	`.cursor/mcp.json`	`setup --client cursor`
Claude Desktop	`claude_desktop_config.json`	`setup --client claude-desktop`
Claude Code	`~/.claude.json` or `.mcp.json`	`setup --client claude-code-user`
VS Code / Copilot	`.vscode/mcp.json`	`setup --client vscode`
Anything else	paste JSON from setup	`setup --client print`

Config shape (any host)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "wireshark": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/.venv/bin/python",
      "args": ["-m", "wireshark_mcp"],
      "env": {
        "TSHARK_PATH": "/absolute/path/to/tshark"
      }
    }
  }
}

Windows example: ...\Scripts\python.exe and C:\Program Files\Wireshark\tshark.exe.

What you can do after it is online

Goal	Tool
Confirm deps	`check_environment`
List NICs	`list_interfaces`
Short live sample	`quick_capture`
Read a pcap	`read_pcap_file`
DNS / HTTP	`analyze_dns_traffic`, `analyze_http_traffic_tabular`

Guides

Full setup — step-by-step with Npcap and venv details
MCP clients — exact file paths per product
Troubleshooting — offline/red server, PATH, live capture
Security — authorization and hardening

Repo: A-G-U-P-T-A/wireshark-mcp · Release: v0.2.2