Open-Source Security · ghostsecurity

reaper

Reaper is a man-in-the-middle HTTPS proxy tool designed for application security testing. It intercepts and logs web traffic to a local database, offering a CLI for searching and inspecting captured requests and responses, with built-in support for AI agent integration.

Talk to DEV.co Discuss Implementation

Source: GitHub — github.com/ghostsecurity/reaper

873

GitHub stars

Forks

Primary language

Apache-2.0

License (OSI-approved)

Key facts

Objective fields from the source. Values we can't verify are shown as “Unknown” rather than guessed.

Field	Value
Repository	ghostsecurity/reaper
Owner	ghostsecurity
Primary language	Go
License	Apache-2.0 — OSI-approved
Stars	873
Forks	92
Open issues	0
Latest release	v3.0.0 (2026-02-13)
Last updated	2026-03-24
Source	https://github.com/ghostsecurity/reaper

What reaper is

Go-based MITM proxy that captures in-scope HTTPS traffic, persists requests/responses to a local database, and provides CLI tooling for traffic inspection and search. Integrates with AI agents via the Ghost Security Skills framework for automated security testing workflows.

Quickstart

Get the reaper source

Clone the repository and explore it locally.

terminalbash

1git clone https://github.com/ghostsecurity/reaper.git2cd reaper3# follow the project's README for install & configuration

Need it deployed, integrated, or customized instead? DEV.co ships production installs.

Best use cases

Interactive Web App Security Testing

Security engineers and penetration testers use Reaper to intercept, inspect, and analyze live traffic during manual testing of web applications, enabling rapid identification of request/response patterns and potential vulnerabilities.

AI-Driven Vulnerability Assessment

AI agents leverage Reaper via Ghost Security Skills to autonomously probe web applications, capture traffic, search historical logs, and validate security findings without manual intervention.

Traffic Logging and Forensics

Teams capture and persist application traffic to a local database for audit trails, compliance documentation, and post-incident analysis of request/response sequences.

Implementation considerations

Requires HTTPS certificate installation on test clients to intercept encrypted traffic; plan for client configuration and trust store setup.
Stores all captured traffic in a local database; define retention policies and disk space requirements based on expected traffic volume and test duration.
CLI-driven interface expects user or agent familiarity with command-line tools; no built-in graphical UI mentioned in provided data.
Scoping of traffic (in-scope filtering) must be configured explicitly to avoid capturing unintended network activity.
Integration with AI agents requires Ghost Security Skills framework setup; verify compatibility with your intended agentic security tools.

When to avoid it — and what to weigh

Production Traffic Inspection Without Isolation — Reaper is a MITM proxy; deploying it in live production environments without network segmentation introduces risk of traffic exposure and potential performance impact on critical services.
High-Volume, Real-Time Traffic Analysis — If you require analytics-grade processing of millions of requests per hour with sub-millisecond latency, Reaper's local database approach may become a bottleneck; consider dedicated traffic analytics platforms.
No Native Cloud or Distributed Deployment — Reaper is designed for Linux and macOS with local database storage; if you need horizontal scaling, multi-region deployment, or cloud-native architecture, this tool is not architected for that.
Cross-Platform Windows Support Required — Official support is limited to Linux and macOS. If your testing environment is primarily Windows-based, you will need Docker or alternative tooling.

License & commercial use

Licensed under Apache License 2.0, a permissive open-source license that allows commercial use, modification, and distribution with attribution and liability disclaimers.

Apache 2.0 is permissive for commercial use. No license restrictions on using Reaper in commercial security testing services. However, verify that any bundling or redistribution of Reaper complies with Apache 2.0 attribution requirements, and confirm whether commercial support or indemnification is available from Ghost Security (not stated in provided data).

DEV.co evaluation signals

Editorial assessment — not user reviews. Directional, with an explicit confidence level.

Signal	Assessment
Maintenance	Active
Documentation	Adequate
License clarity	Clear
Deployment complexity	Moderate
DEV.co fit	Good
Assessment confidence	High

Security considerations

Reaper is a MITM proxy that decrypts and logs HTTPS traffic. Key considerations: (1) Trust and integrity of Reaper binary and source code; (2) confidentiality of captured secrets (credentials, tokens, keys) in local database; (3) physical/filesystem access controls to local database; (4) certificate pinning in target applications may prevent interception; (5) no claims about secure key management or encryption of stored traffic provided—assume plaintext unless verified. Use only in isolated test environments with non-production credentials.

Alternatives to consider

OWASP ZAP (Zed Attack Proxy)

Mature, widely-adopted open-source proxy with GUI, automated scanning, and extensive community support. More heavyweight but established baseline for web app security testing.

Burp Suite Community / Professional

Industry-standard commercial proxy for security testing with GUI, advanced features (intruder, repeater, scanner), and vendor support. Steeper learning curve and cost for professional edition.

mitmproxy

Lightweight, open-source Python-based MITM proxy with CLI and programmatic API. Simpler than Reaper for basic traffic inspection; less integrated with AI agent workflows.

Software development agency

Build on reaper with DEV.co software developers

Reaper integrates with AI agents for autonomous vulnerability discovery. Evaluate how it fits your testing workflow, security posture, and team tooling. Review certificate management and database isolation requirements before deployment.

Talk to DEV.co

Related open-source tools

Surfaced by semantic similarity across the DEV.co open-source index.

metabigor ai-gateway mortar

Related on DEV.co

Explore the category and the services that help you build with it.

Open-Source Security Application Development & Security Testing Web App Development & Testing API Development & Security Talk to DEV.co

reaper FAQ

Can Reaper decrypt HTTPS traffic?

Yes. Reaper is a MITM proxy that intercepts HTTPS by presenting its own certificate to clients. The client must trust Reaper's CA; this is configured manually in the test environment. Certificate pinning in target apps may prevent interception.

Where is captured traffic stored?

In a local database on the machine where Reaper runs. No cloud storage or remote persistence is mentioned. Disk space and retention policies must be managed manually.

Is there a graphical user interface?

Not mentioned in provided data. Reaper appears CLI-first. A web UI or GUI is unknown; requires verification on documentation site.

How do I integrate Reaper with an AI agent?

Via Ghost Security Skills framework, which provides APIs for agents to query captured traffic. Setup requires installing Skills and configuring agent-to-Reaper communication; exact details not provided in README excerpt.

Custom software development services

From first prototype to production, DEV.co delivers software development services around tools like reaper. Our software development agency staffs experienced software developers and web developers for custom software development, web development, integrations, and ongoing support across open-source security and beyond.

Ready to Automate Security Testing?

Talk to DEV.co Schedule a Consultation