Sherlock is a powerful open-source tool that helps ethical hackers, OSINT researchers, and digital investigators find usernames across hundreds of platforms. This cheatsheet provides key installation commands, usage syntax, and real-world tips to supercharge your recon workflow in seconds.
Sherlock Cheatsheet
Find usernames across social networks
Basic Sherlock Usage
Basic Search
python3 sherlock username
Search for a single username across all supported sites.
Multiple Usernames
python3 sherlock user1 user2 user3
Search for multiple usernames in one command.
Search from File
python3 sherlock --input-file users.txt
Search for usernames listed in a text file (one per line).
Install Sherlock
git clone https://github.com/sherlock-project/sherlock.git
cd sherlock
python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txt
Install Sherlock from source.
Update Sherlock
cd sherlock
git pull origin master
Update Sherlock to the latest version.
Search Options
Site Selection
python3 sherlock --site github username
Search only on specific sites (comma-separated).
Proxy Support
python3 sherlock --proxy socks5://127.0.0.1:9050 username
Use a proxy for requests (SOCKS or HTTP).
Timeout
python3 sherlock --timeout 20 username
Set timeout for requests in seconds (default: 60).
Print Not Found
python3 sherlock --print-not-found username
Print sites where username was not found.
Skip Errors
python3 sherlock --skip-errors username
Skip HTTP errors and continue searching.
Tor Network
python3 sherlock --tor username
Make requests over Tor (requires Tor to be running).
Unique Tor Circuit
python3 sherlock --unique-tor username
Use new Tor circuit after each request.
Exclude Sites
python3 sherlock --exclude "twitter,facebook" username
Exclude specific sites from search.
Output Options
JSON Output
python3 sherlock --json username
Output results in JSON format.
CSV Output
python3 sherlock --csv username
Output results in CSV format.
Output File
python3 sherlock --output results.txt username
Save results to a file.
Color Output
python3 sherlock --color username
Enable colored terminal output.
No Color
python3 sherlock --no-color username
Disable colored terminal output.
Browsers
python3 sherlock --browse username
Open found usernames in web browser.
Folder Output
python3 sherlock --folderoutput /path/to/folder username
Save results to a specific folder.
Advanced Options
Rate Limit
python3 sherlock --limit 10 username
Limit number of requests per second.
User Agent
python3 sherlock --user-agent "Custom User Agent" username
Set custom user agent for requests.
Cookies
python3 sherlock --cookies "cookie1=value1; cookie2=value2" username
Add cookies to requests.
Headers
python3 sherlock --headers "Header1: Value1\nHeader2: Value2" username
Add custom headers to requests.
Verbose Mode
python3 sherlock -v username
Enable verbose output.
Debug Mode
python3 sherlock -d username
Enable debug output.
List Sites
python3 sherlock --list-sites
List all available sites for searching.
Site Statistics
python3 sherlock --stats
Show statistics about site responses.
Practical Examples
Basic Search
python3 sherlock john_doe
Search for “john_doe” across all supported sites.
Search on Specific Sites
python3 sherlock --site github,twitter,instagram username
Search only on GitHub, Twitter, and Instagram.
Save Results to JSON
python3 sherlock --json --output results.json username
Save results in JSON format to a file.
Search with Tor
python3 sherlock --tor --unique-tor username
Search using Tor with a new circuit for each request.
Search Multiple Users
python3 sherlock --input-file users.txt --csv --output results.csv
Search for multiple usernames from a file and save as CSV.
Verbose Search
python3 sherlock -v --print-not-found username
Show detailed output including sites where username wasn’t found.
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