Install ooniprobe with Homebrew

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• ooniprobe

Project history

OONI was presented at the 2012 USENIX FOCI workshop by Arturo Filasto and Jacob Appelbaum of the Tor Project as a global observation network using open methodologies and free/open-source software to measure network tampering. OONI's site describes the project as a global community measuring internet censorship since 2012.

The original Python ooniprobe implementation became a legacy repository, and OONI's modern CLI lives in ooni/probe-cli. That repository contains the ooniprobe command-line client, a test helper server, a mobile library, and the measurement-engine code, reflecting the project's split between CLI, mobile, desktop, and backend measurement components.

Adoption history

OONI Probe's adoption is both a package story and a public-interest data story. The CLI guide documents macOS, Debian/Ubuntu Linux, and Raspberry Pi usage, while OONI Explorer provides public access to measurements collected from around the world. The 2022 CLI guide reported more than 400 million measurements from 23,000 networks in 240 countries and territories since 2012.

OONI's data is used by researchers, journalists, advocates, and policy groups to corroborate blocking reports and study censorship techniques. A 2019 Committee to Protect Journalists interview described OONI Explorer as a public censorship archive that journalists can query to verify whether reported blocking appears in volunteer-collected measurements.

How it is used

Users run ooniprobe to test website blocking, instant-messaging app blocking, circumvention-tool blocking, middlebox presence, and network speed/performance. The CLI supports manual runs, automated autorun, local result inspection, upload, and command-specific workflows.

The project emphasizes risk awareness: OONI Probe is an investigatory measurement tool, not a privacy tool, and its docs warn that network observers may see that a person is running it. That warning is part of the package's operational history because the data model depends on informed volunteer measurements.

Why package nerds care

ooniprobe is significant because a CLI package feeds one of the major open datasets on internet censorship. It links package-manager installation, reproducible network tests, Go libraries, mobile bindings, helper infrastructure, and public data publishing into a single measurement ecosystem.

Timeline

• 2012-08: OONI was presented at USENIX FOCI as an open global observation network for network interference.
• 2016: The legacy Python README documented Homebrew, Debian/Ubuntu, and pip installation paths for ooniprobe.
• 2019-09-17: CPJ described OONI Explorer's relaunch and its role in helping journalists investigate censorship stories.
• 2022-08-29: OONI's CLI guide documented ooniprobe CLI 3.9.2 and the modern command set.
• 2026: The ooni/probe-cli repository hosts the Go implementation of the ooniprobe CLI and measurement engine.

Related projects

• Related projects and services include OONI Explorer, OONI Run, OONI Probe mobile and desktop apps, the legacy Python probe, Tor Project infrastructure, and network-measurement test helpers.

Sources

• https://cpj.org/2019/09/qa-ooni-explorer-team-unlock-the-webs-untold-censo/
• https://github.com/ooni/probe-cli
• https://github.com/ooni/probe-legacy
• https://ooni.org/
• https://ooni.org/support/ooni-probe-cli/
• https://www.usenix.org/conference/foci12/workshop-program/presentation/filast%C3%B2