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Social Engineering
Username checks across social networks with optional CSV export.
overview
sherlock takes one or more usernames and checks them across many social networks by requesting each profile URL. Hits show where the handle is registered.
Scope platforms with --site. Export with --csv or --xlsx. Keep only finds via --print-found. Route traffic with --proxy and bound waits with --timeout.
Trickest runs sherlock as a managed Social Engineering node that writes FILE and FOLDER. Start identity OSINT here, then hand profiles to correlation or manual review. Prefer socialscan for availability checks.
use cases
Check a username across hundreds of networks to find every platform where the handle is registered, the starting point for an OSINT investigation.
Write CSV or XLSX output so found accounts land in a structured file ready for review, correlation, or reporting.
Limit analysis with --site to a chosen list of networks when an investigation only cares about a handful, cutting run time and noise.
Send requests over a SOCKS or HTTP proxy with --proxy to mask origin or work around rate limits while enumerating accounts.
reference
| Name | Type | Flag | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| usernames | STRING | · | One or more usernames to check across social networks. |
| limit-analysis-to-sites | STRING | --site | Limit analysis to only the listed sites. |
| csv | BOOLEAN | --csv | Write results to a comma-separated values (CSV) file. |
| xlsx | BOOLEAN | --xlsx | Write results to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet (xlsx). |
| print-found | BOOLEAN | --print-found | Output only the sites where the username was found. |
| proxy-url | STRING | --proxy | Make requests over a proxy, e.g. socks5://127.0.0.1:1080. |
| time-to-wait-for-response | STRING | --timeout | Seconds to wait for a response before moving on (default 60). |
| load-data-from-json | FILE | --json | Load the site list from a local or online JSON file. |
Showing key inputs. sherlock exposes 11 inputs in total.
| Name | Type | Flag | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| usernames | STRING | · | One or more usernames to check across social networks. |
| csv | BOOLEAN | --csv | Create a comma-separated values (CSV) file of results. |
| xlsx | BOOLEAN | --xlsx | Create a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet (xlsx) of results. |
| print-found | BOOLEAN | --print-found | Output only the sites where the username was found. |
| print-all | BOOLEAN | --print-all | Output sites where the username was not found as well. |
| limit-analysis-to-sites | STRING | --site | Limit analysis to only the listed sites. |
| proxy-url | STRING | --proxy | Make requests over a proxy, e.g. socks5://127.0.0.1:1080. |
| time-to-wait-for-response | STRING | --timeout | Time in seconds to wait for a response to requests (default 60). |
| load-data-from-json | FILE | --json | Load site data from a local or online, valid JSON file. |
| nsfw | BOOLEAN | --nsfw | Include NSFW sites from the default list in the check. |
| no-color-output | BOOLEAN | --no-color | Do not color the terminal output. |
example
# find where a handle exists and export the hits to CSVsherlock ksokolov --print-found --csv --timeout 30[*] Checking username ksokolov on:[+] GitHub: https://www.github.com/ksokolov[+] GitLab: https://gitlab.com/ksokolov[+] Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/ksokolov[+] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ksokolov[+] Twitter: https://twitter.com/ksokolov[+] Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ksokolov[+] TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ksokolovguidance
Use to map where a username already exists across social networks. It checks handles, not emails. Prefer socialscan for email or username availability. Prefer socialhunter for broken social links on a site.
Checks whether an email or username is available, taken, or invalid. Sherlock finds where a handle already exists.
Crawls a site for hijackable broken social links rather than enumerating one identity's accounts.
Device and service intel. A different OSINT axis from social identity.
faq
related
A username feeds sherlock, which checks it across hundreds of networks and writes the found accounts as a queryable output.
Facts on this page come from the live Trickest tool library.