Katana
Crawler designed for security testing that discovers endpoints and sensitive data on websites.
External Tool
This open-source tool is maintained externally. View the source on GitHub to learn more or run it yourself.
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Use it free
Open the official tool or demo — no account needed.
Self-host it
Run the open-source version on your own infrastructure.
What is Katana?
Katana is an open-source web crawling and spidering framework designed to efficiently scrape and analyze websites, with a focus on handling modern web challenges like JavaScript-rendered content. Developed as a next-generation tool, it addresses limitations of traditional crawlers by supporting both standard and headless browser modes, enabling interaction with dynamic websites. The framework is widely used by security researchers, data analysts, and developers who need to extract structured data from the web while maintaining control over scope and output. Katana solves problems such as parsing JavaScript-heavy sites, automating form interactions, and filtering irrelevant content through customizable rules and machine learning models. Its modular design and extensibility make it suitable for both small-scale projects and large-scale data collection tasks.
How it works
Katana is a Go-based framework for web crawling and spidering, optimized for speed and flexibility. It allows users to scrape websites while managing JavaScript execution, form interactions, and content filtering through configurable rules. The tool is particularly valuable for tasks requiring deep site exploration, such as security audits, competitive intelligence, or data aggregation. Its headless mode enables interaction with dynamically generated content, making it suitable for modern single-page applications (SPAs). Katana supports standard crawling for static sites and headless mode for JavaScript-heavy pages, using tools like Puppeteer under the hood. It includes automated form filling for login or data submission, streamlining interactions with protected content. Scope control via regex or preconfigured fields ensures crawlers focus on relevant URLs, while a knowledge base with ML models classifies page types and forms without manual configuration.
How to use it
- 1Install Go 1.26+ and clone the Katana repository from GitHub. 2. Build the tool using 'go build' or run via Docker. 3. Execute Katana with command-line flags, such as specifying input URLs or forms to target. 4. Use output flags to define where crawled data is saved, like exporting to JSON files. Practical tips include using stdin for dynamic URL lists, leveraging regex filters to restrict crawling scope, and testing headless mode with verbose logging to debug JavaScript rendering issues.
What it can do
- web crawler
Use cases
Assumptions and limitations
Assumptions
- source: https://github.com/projectdiscovery/katana
- license: MIT — free to use
- privacy: Self-hosted — you control your data
Limitations
- Requires Go 1.26+ installation, limiting accessibility for non-Golang developers
- Complex JavaScript rendering in headless mode may fail with advanced frameworks
- Learning curve for configuring scope control and ML model integration
- Limited built-in support for handling CAPTCHAs or anti-scraping mechanisms
- Scalability challenges for extremely large websites without distributed processing
Understanding the result
Crawler designed for security testing that discovers endpoints and sensitive data on websites.
Tool details
- Clearly flagged when a network request is needed.
- No account, no sign-up, and no tracking of your content.
- Powered by (MIT).
- Built with
- (projectdiscovery/katana)
- License
- MIT
- Runs locally
- No — requires a network request
- Verification
- Not yet verified
- Input
- Query
- Output
- Text
Built with projectdiscovery/katana. OpenToolVault provides the discovery and browser interface while crediting the original project maintainers.
- Built with
- License
- MIT
Open-source project
OpenToolVault is an independent directory. We are not affiliated with or endorsed by this project.
References
- / — GitHub Repository
Upstream project · GitHub
- MIT License
Upstream project
Frequently asked
What is Katana and what problem does it solve?
Katana is a Go-based web crawling framework that solves the problem of efficiently scraping modern websites with JavaScript-rendered content. Traditional crawlers often fail to handle dynamic sites, but Katana's headless mode and JavaScript parsing capabilities allow it to interact with single-page applications and dynamically generated content. It also provides tools for form automation, scope filtering, and structured output, making it ideal for security research, data extraction, and site analysis.
How does Katana handle JavaScript-rendered content?
Katana uses headless browser technology (via Puppeteer) to execute JavaScript on target websites, enabling interaction with dynamic content. This allows it to render and scrape content that would otherwise be inaccessible to traditional crawlers. The framework also supports parsing JavaScript-generated URLs and handling AJAX requests, ensuring comprehensive site coverage. Users can configure headless mode settings to balance performance and resource usage.
How do I crawl a site with login-protected content?
To crawl login-protected sites, use Katana's automatic form filling feature. First, identify the login form's fields (e.g., username and password) and specify them in the configuration. Run the crawler with the form submission flag to automate the login process. Ensure the target URL is included in the initial crawl list, and use scope control rules to limit crawling to authorized sections of the site.
How does Katana compare to alternatives like Scrapy or Puppeteer?
Katana differs from Scrapy by integrating headless browser capabilities for JavaScript rendering, whereas Scrapy relies on external tools like Selenium. Compared to Puppeteer, Katana offers more advanced scope control and ML-based content classification. It also provides built-in form automation and output structuring, making it more suitable for complex scraping tasks. However, Puppeteer offers greater customization for specific browser interactions, while Scrapy excels in Python-based data extraction workflows.
How do I resolve installation errors with Go 1.26?
Ensure Go 1.26 is installed correctly by running 'go version' in the terminal. If issues persist, verify your GOPATH and environment variables are configured properly. Use the 'go mod tidy' command to resolve dependency conflicts. For Docker users, check the Dockerfile for specific Go version requirements. If problems continue, consult the Katana GitHub issues page for version-specific troubleshooting guidance.