> ## 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.

# urlhunter: A recon tool that allows searching on URLs that are exposed via shortener services
- URL: https://darkwebinformer.com/urlhunter-a-recon-tool-that-allows-searching-on-urls-that-are-exposed-via-shortener-services/
- Published: 2025-07-30T18:07:26.000Z
- Updated: 2025-09-04T22:20:50.000Z
- Author: Dark Web Informer
- Tags: OSINT, Tools

---

**GitHub:** <https://github.com/utkusen/urlhunter>

---

```
				o  	  Utku Sen's
				 \_/\o   
				( Oo)                    \|/
				(_=-)  .===O-  ~~U~R~L~~ -O-
				/   \_/U'        hunter  /|\
				||  |_/
				\\  |    utkusen.com
				|K ||	twitter.com/utkusen_en

```

urlhunter is a recon tool that allows searching on URLs that are exposed via shortener services such as bit.ly and goo.gl. The project is written in Go.

### How?

[](https://github.com/utkusen/urlhunter?tab=readme-ov-file#how)

A group named [URLTeam](https://archiveteam.org/index.php?title=URLTeam) (kudos to them) are brute forcing the URL shortener services and publishing matched results on a daily basis. urlhunter downloads their [collections](https://archive.org/details/UrlteamWebCrawls) and lets you analyze them.

# Installation

[](https://github.com/utkusen/urlhunter?tab=readme-ov-file#installation)

## From Binary

[](https://github.com/utkusen/urlhunter?tab=readme-ov-file#from-binary)

You can download the pre-built binaries from the [releases](https://github.com/utkusen/urlhunter/releases/latest) page and run. For example:

`tar xzvf urlhunter_0.1.0_Linux_amd64.tar.gz`

`./urlhunter --help`

## From Source

[](https://github.com/utkusen/urlhunter?tab=readme-ov-file#from-source)

1. Install Go on your system
2. Run: `go install github.com/utkusen/urlhunter@latest`

**Note For The Windows Users:** urlhunter uses `XZ Utils` which is pre-installed on Linux and macOS systems. For Windows systems, you need to download it from <https://tukaani.org/xz/>

# Usage

[](https://github.com/utkusen/urlhunter?tab=readme-ov-file#usage)

urlhunter requires 3 parameters to run: `-keywords`, `-date`.

For example: `urlhunter --keywords keywords.txt --date 2020-11-20`

### \--keywords

[](https://github.com/utkusen/urlhunter?tab=readme-ov-file#--keywords)

You need to specify the txt file that contains keywords to search on URLs. Keywords must be written line by line. You have three different ways to specify keywords:

**Single Keyword:** urlhunter will search the given keyword as a substring. For example:

`acme.com` keyword will both match `https://acme.com/blabla` and `https://another.com/?referrer=acme.com`

**Multiple Keywords:** urlhunter will search the given keywords with an `AND` logic. Which means, a URL must include all the provided keywords. Keywords must be separated with `,` character. For example:

`acme.com,admin` will match `https://acme.com/secret/adminpanel` but ***won't*** match `https://acme.com/somethingelse`

**Regex Values:** urlhunter will search for the given regex value. In the keyword file, the line that contains a regular expression formula must start with `regex ` string. The format is: `regex REGEXFORMULA`. For example:

`regex 1\d{10}` will match `https://example.com/index.php?id=12938454312` but ***won't*** match `https://example.com/index.php?id=abc223`

### \--date

[](https://github.com/utkusen/urlhunter?tab=readme-ov-file#--date)

urlhunter downloads the archive files of the given date(s). You have three different ways to specify the date:

**Latest:** urlhunter will download the latest archive. `-date latest`

**Single Date:** urlhunter will download the archive of the given date. Date format is YYYY-MM-DD.

For example: `-date 2020-11-20`

**Year:** urlhunter will download the archive of the given year. Year format is YYYY.

For example: `-date 2024`

**Date Range:** urlhunter will download all the archives between given start and end dates.

For example: `-date 2020-11-10:2020-11-20`

### \--output

[](https://github.com/utkusen/urlhunter?tab=readme-ov-file#--output)

You can specify the output file with `-o` parameter. For example `-o out.txt`

### \--rm

[](https://github.com/utkusen/urlhunter?tab=readme-ov-file#--rm)

You can specify the `-rm` parameter to remove the downloaded archive folders after processing. This is useful to save disk space.

### Demonstration Video

[](https://github.com/utkusen/urlhunter?tab=readme-ov-file#demonstration-video)

## The Speed Problem

[](https://github.com/utkusen/urlhunter?tab=readme-ov-file#the-speed-problem)

Archive.org throttles the speed when downloading files. Therefore, downloading an archive takes more time than usual. As a workaround, you can download the archives via Torrent and put them under the `archive/` folder which is located in the same directory with the urlhunter's binary. The directory tree will look like:

```
|-urlhunter
|---urlhunter(binary)
|---archive
|-----urlteam_2020-11-20-11-17-04
|-----urlteam_2020-11-17-11-17-04

```

## Example Use Cases

[](https://github.com/utkusen/urlhunter?tab=readme-ov-file#example-use-cases)

urlhunter might be useful for cyber intelligence and bug bounty purposes. For example:

`docs.google.com/a/acme.com` `drive.google.com/a/acme.com` keywords allow you to find public Google Docs&Drive share links of Acme company.

`acme.com,password_reset_token` keyword may allow you to find the working password reset tokens of acme.com

`trello.com` allows you to find public Trello addresses.

## Thanks

[](https://github.com/utkusen/urlhunter?tab=readme-ov-file#thanks)

Special thanks to Samet Bekmezci([@sametbekmezci](https://twitter.com/sametbekmezci)) who gave me the idea of this tool.