Install whosthere with Homebrew, Nix, scoop

Project links

• Homepage
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• whosthere

Project history

The GitHub repository was created on August 20, 2025. The README describes Whosthere as a local area network discovery tool written in Go, designed to help users discover, explore, and understand their LAN from an interactive TUI.

In launch and show-and-tell posts, the author described building it as a way to learn Go and networking while making a TUI inspired by tools such as lazygit, k9s, and dive. That origin explains the project's shape: practical discovery methods wrapped in a keyboard-driven terminal interface.

Adoption history

Whosthere is much newer than WHOIS or whistle, but it found a visible niche among Go, homelab, and terminal-tool users. GitHub API metadata showed more than 2,300 stars and 60 forks on July 2, 2026.

Its adoption story is tied to the modern homelab and small-network inventory use case: users want a quick view of devices without privileged raw-socket scanning or a heavyweight network-management suite.

How it is used

Typical usage is to run `whosthere` and let it discover nearby devices through concurrent mDNS and SSDP scans plus ARP-cache population. The TUI lets users inspect devices, see manufacturer information from OUI lookup, and optionally run a port scan on a discovered host.

The README also documents daemon mode and configuration through YAML, making it useful both as an interactive tool and as a small local discovery service.

Why package nerds care

Whosthere is a package-nerd example of the current Go TUI wave: a single-purpose network utility that feels more like lazygit or k9s than classic line-oriented Unix networking commands.

Its practical hook is unprivileged discovery. It does not replace full scanners such as Nmap, but it gives Homebrew and terminal users a fast first look at a LAN with little setup.

Timeline

• 2025-08-20: The ramonvermeulen/whosthere GitHub repository was created.
• 2026: Show-and-tell posts described Whosthere as a Go TUI LAN discovery tool using mDNS, SSDP, ARP-cache reading, OUI lookup, optional port scanning, and daemon mode.
• 2026-05-21: The GitHub releases page listed v0.8.2 as the latest release in search-result metadata.
• 2026-07-02: GitHub API metadata showed the repository above 2,300 stars.

Related projects

• tview is the Go terminal UI library named in Whosthere's public launch posts.
• mDNS, SSDP, ARP, and OUI registries are the network-discovery mechanisms Whosthere combines.
• Nmap is the broader classic network scanner category that Whosthere complements rather than replaces.

Sources

• Go community show-and-tell post: https://www.reddit.com/r/golang/comments/1qknfeu/whosthere_a_lan_discovery_tool_with_a_modern_tui/
• Product Hunt maker page: https://www.producthunt.com/products/whosthere
• Show HN launch discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46731432
• Terminal Trove summary: https://terminaltrove.com/whosthere/
• Whosthere GitHub API metadata: https://api.github.com/repos/ramonvermeulen/whosthere
• Whosthere repository and README: https://github.com/ramonvermeulen/whosthere