> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://darkwebinformer.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Photon: Incredibly Fast Crawler Designed for OSINT
- URL: https://darkwebinformer.com/photon-incredibly-fast-crawler-designed-for-osint/
- Published: 2024-08-23T22:28:54.000Z
- Updated: 2025-09-04T22:27:19.000Z
- Author: Dark Web Informer
- Tags: OSINT, Tools

Direct Link: <https://github.com/s0md3v/Photon>

[Photon Wiki](https://github.com/s0md3v/Photon/wiki) • [How To Use](https://github.com/s0md3v/Photon/wiki/Usage) • [Compatibility](https://github.com/s0md3v/Photon/wiki/Compatibility-&-Dependencies) • [Photon Library](https://github.com/s0md3v/Photon/wiki/Photon-Library) • [Contribution](https://github.com/s0md3v/Photon#contribution--license) • [Roadmap](https://github.com/s0md3v/Photon/projects/1)

### Key Features

[](https://github.com/s0md3v/Photon#key-features)

#### Data Extraction

[](https://github.com/s0md3v/Photon#data-extraction)

Photon can extract the following data while crawling:

- URLs (in-scope & out-of-scope)
- URLs with parameters (`example.com/gallery.php?id=2`)
- Intel (emails, social media accounts, amazon buckets etc.)
- Files (pdf, png, xml etc.)
- Secret keys (auth/API keys & hashes)
- JavaScript files & Endpoints present in them
- Strings matching custom regex pattern
- Subdomains & DNS related data

The extracted information is saved in an organized manner or can be [exported as json](https://github.com/s0md3v/Photon/wiki/Usage#export-formatted-result).

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6b/16/6b16ac9c-cd67-432f-b0f3-bbec941084ff/content/images/2024/08/456234245.png)

#### Flexible

[](https://github.com/s0md3v/Photon#flexible)

Control timeout, delay, add seeds, exclude URLs matching a regex pattern and other cool stuff. The extensive range of [options](https://github.com/s0md3v/Photon/wiki/Usage) provided by Photon lets you crawl the web exactly the way you want.

#### Genius

[](https://github.com/s0md3v/Photon#genius)

Photon's smart thread management & refined logic gives you top notch performance.

Still, crawling can be resource intensive but Photon has some tricks up it's sleeves. You can fetch URLs archived by [archive.org](https://archive.org/) to be used as seeds by using `--wayback` option.

#### Plugins

[](https://github.com/s0md3v/Photon#plugins)

- [**wayback**](https://github.com/s0md3v/Photon/wiki/Usage#use-urls-from-archiveorg-as-seeds)
- [**dnsdumpster**](https://github.com/s0md3v/Photon/wiki/Usage#dumping-dns-data)
- [**Exporter**](https://github.com/s0md3v/Photon/wiki/Usage#export-formatted-result)

#### Docker

[](https://github.com/s0md3v/Photon#docker)

Photon can be launched using a lightweight Python-Alpine (103 MB) Docker image.

$ git clone https://github.com/s0md3v/Photon.git  
$ cd Photon  
$ docker build -t photon .  
$ docker run -it --name photon photon:latest -u google.com

To view results, you can either head over to the local docker volume, which you can find by running `docker inspect photon` or by mounting the target loot folder:

$ docker run -it --name photon -v "$PWD:/Photon/google.com" photon:latest -u google.com

#### Frequent & Seamless Updates

[](https://github.com/s0md3v/Photon#frequent--seamless-updates)

Photon is under heavy development and updates for fixing bugs. optimizing performance & new features are being rolled regularly.

If you would like to see features and issues that are being worked on, you can do that on [Development](https://github.com/s0md3v/Photon/projects/1) project board.

Updates can be installed & checked for with the `--update` option. Photon has seamless update capabilities which means you can update Photon without losing any of your saved data.

### Contribution & License

[](https://github.com/s0md3v/Photon#contribution--license)

You can contribute in following ways:

- Report bugs
- Develop plugins
- Add more "APIs" for ninja mode
- Give suggestions to make it better
- Fix issues & submit a pull request

Please read the [guidelines](https://github.com/s0md3v/Photon/wiki/Guidelines) before submitting a pull request or issue.

Do you want to have a conversation in private? Hit me up on my [twitter](https://twitter.com/s0md3v/), inbox is open :)

**Photon** is licensed under [GPL v3.0 license](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.en.html)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6b/16/6b16ac9c-cd67-432f-b0f3-bbec941084ff/content/images/2024/08/958908-1.png)