Note

Shannon 2.0 is officially here

Shannon - AI Pentester by Keygraph

Shannon is an autonomous, AI pentester for web applications and APIs.
It analyzes your source code, identifies attack paths, and executes real exploits to prove vulnerabilities before they reach production.

This repository is Shannon Open Source: the full agent, run locally from your command line.

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Tip

AI agents and LLMs: start with llms.txt for a concise map of this repository, or use llms-full.txt for the README and docs combined into one file.

Table of Contents

• What is Shannon?
• Shannon in Action
• Quick Start
• Key Capabilities
• Editions
• Architecture
• Documentation
• Continuous Integration
• Common Questions
• Safety, Scope, and Limitations
• License
• About Keygraph
• Community and Support

What is Shannon?

Shannon is an autonomous AI pentester developed by Keygraph. It performs security testing of web applications and their underlying APIs by combining source-code analysis with live exploitation.

Shannon analyzes your web application's source code to identify potential attack vectors, then uses browser automation and command-line tools to execute real exploits against the running application and its APIs. Only vulnerabilities with a working proof-of-concept are included in the final report.

Shannon is the agent. This repository is Shannon Open Source, the standalone pentester you run yourself. The same Shannon also powers the Keygraph platform, Keygraph's commercial pentesting product. See Editions for how the two compare.

Why Shannon Exists

Thanks to tools like Claude Code and Cursor, your team ships code non-stop. But your penetration test? That happens once a year. This creates a massive security gap. For the other 364 days, you could be unknowingly shipping vulnerabilities to production.

Shannon closes that gap by providing on-demand, automated penetration testing that can run against every build or release.

Shannon in Action

Sample penetration test reports from intentionally vulnerable applications, produced by Shannon Open Source:

Target	Summary	Report
OWASP Juice Shop	20+ vulnerabilities, including authentication bypass, SQL injection, IDOR, and SSRF.	View report
c{api}tal API	Approximately 15 critical and high-severity API findings, including command injection, auth bypass, and mass assignment.	View report
OWASP crAPI	15+ critical and high-severity findings across JWT, injection, SSRF, and API authorization paths.	View report

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Docker: required for the worker container.
• Node.js 18+: required for the recommended npx workflow.
• AI provider credentials: Shannon runs on Anthropic, OpenAI, xAI, AWS Bedrock, any other provider in the harness catalogue, and any endpoint that speaks the Anthropic Messages API or the OpenAI Chat Completions API through a custom base URL. You bring your own key, and Keygraph never proxies your model traffic. Shannon is provider-agnostic. See AI providers for suggested model IDs.
• Cyber safeguards cleared with your provider: Anthropic and OpenAI apply real-time safeguards to cyber-security workloads, which can interrupt a scan mid-run. Complete their guidance for legitimate security testers before your first run - see AI providers.

Run Shannon

Warning

Shannon actively executes exploits. Run it only against applications and environments you own or have explicit written authorization to test. Do not run Shannon against production systems.

# Configure credentials with the interactive wizard.
npx @keygraph/shannon setup

# Run a pentest against a source-available target.
npx @keygraph/shannon start -u https://your-app.com -r /path/to/your-repo

Shannon pulls the worker image from Docker Hub, starts the required local infrastructure, mounts the target repository read-only inside an ephemeral worker container, and writes results to a local workspace.

For source builds, authenticated scans, provider-specific setup, and platform notes, see Documentation.

Tip

Prefer to use a subscription instead of API credits?

• OpenAI Codex: The latest version of Shannon supports ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscriptions. Follow the OpenAI Codex subscription setup guide to get started.
• Claude Code: The latest version of Shannon does not support Claude Code subscriptions. Follow the Claude Code subscription setup guide to use version 1.9.0, which is the final release built on the Claude Agent SDK.

Key Capabilities

• Proof-by-exploitation reports: Shannon reports validated findings with reproducible proof-of-concept steps instead of speculative warnings.
• White-box attack planning: Shannon uses source-code analysis to guide dynamic testing and focus on realistic attack paths.
• Autonomous execution: Shannon launches reconnaissance, vulnerability analysis, exploitation, and report generation from a single command.
• Authenticated testing: configuration files can describe login flows, test credentials, TOTP, email-based login flows, focus areas, and rules of engagement.
• OWASP-focused coverage: Shannon targets exploitable Injection, XSS, SSRF, Broken Authentication, and Broken Authorization issues.
• Resumable workspaces: Shannon can resume interrupted runs without re-running completed agents.
• Machine-readable output: Shannon emits findings as structured JSON, and as SARIF 2.1.0 when you enable it in configuration. SARIF is the OASIS standard for static analysis results, so findings flow into any code scanning service, vulnerability management platform, security dashboard, or CI/CD pipeline that reads it.
• Headless CI/CD execution: Shannon runs fully headless and non-interactively, with environment-variable credentials and configuration-file support, so it fits ephemeral CI environments. This is included in Shannon Open Source and is not gated behind a commercial edition.
• Bring your own key, provider-agnostic: Shannon runs on Anthropic, OpenAI, xAI, AWS Bedrock, and any endpoint speaking the Anthropic Messages API or the OpenAI Chat Completions API, including self-hosted models served through Ollama, vLLM, or LM Studio and gateways such as OpenRouter and LiteLLM. You supply the credentials, so source code and model traffic stay inside your infrastructure.

Editions

Shannon ships in two ways: Shannon Open Source, the pentester you run yourself, and the Keygraph platform, the commercial pentesting product that runs Shannon continuously and closes the full AppSec lifecycle around it.

Shannon Open Source (this repository) is the standalone pentester: a CLI agent for white-box, proof-by-exploitation testing of web applications and APIs you own or are authorized to test. It reads your source, plans attacks, executes real exploits, and reports only what it can prove. It runs on demand and is complete in that lane. You point it at a target, it pentests, it reports.

The Keygraph platform is the enterprise-ready, continuous pentesting product powered by Shannon. In the Keygraph platform, an enhanced build of Shannon runs continuously in a hardened, orchestrated environment fed by Keygraph's full code-analysis stack. Around that engine, the platform closes the entire vulnerability lifecycle, from analysis to a verified fix:

• Analyze: Code Property Graph SAST, SCA with reachability, secrets, IaC, and container scanning. First-class detection in their own right, and context that sharpens Shannon's attacks.
• Prove: autonomous black-box and source-aware white-box pentests turn candidate findings into proven, exploited vulnerabilities rather than speculative alerts.
• Manage: one canonical record per vulnerability per repository, deduplicated across every source, with ownership, status, SLA tracking, dashboards, and bidirectional Jira sync.
• Remediate and verify: patches written automatically and re-tested against the patched code before delivery, landing in your existing review workflow rather than auto-applied.
• Deploy: self-hosted and air-gapped environments, strict bring-your-own-key model access, and customer-controlled LLM gateway patterns, so source, results, and model traffic stay inside your perimeter.

Shannon is the proof engine at the center of the Keygraph platform. Shannon Open Source gives you that engine to run yourself. The Keygraph platform surrounds Shannon with continuous analysis, finding management, remediation, verification, and enterprise deployment.

AppSec lifecycle stage	Shannon Open Source	Keygraph platform
Analyze	Basic LLM pass-through of source to plan attacks	Actual code-base parsing, plus Code Property Graph, SAST, SCA with reachability, secrets, IaC, and containers
Pentest and prove	White-box only, proof by exploitation	Enhanced white-box, plus black-box and grey-box modes, run continuously
Manage findings	Local Markdown report	Canonical findings system: deduplication across sources, ownership, SLA, dashboards, Jira sync, and professional pentest-grade PDF reports
Remediate and verify	Fix manually from the report, then re-run the full scan to verify	Automated remediation: opens a PR with the fix, verified by point re-test without re-running the full scan
Deploy and operate	Local CLI and Docker worker	Self-hosted, air-gapped, BYOK, continuous, enterprise integrations
License and support	AGPL-3.0, community	Commercial, supported

Learn more on the Keygraph website, read the Keygraph platform technical overview, start a free trial or book a demo, or contact shannon@keygraph.io.

Architecture

Shannon uses a multi-agent workflow that combines source-code analysis with live exploitation:

        ┌──────────────────────┐
        │   Pre-Reconnaissance │
        │   (source code scan) │
        └──────────┬───────────┘
                   │
                   ▼
        ┌──────────────────────┐
        │   Reconnaissance     │
        │  (attack surface     │
        │   mapping)           │
        └──────────┬───────────┘
                   │
                   ▼
        ┌──────────┴───────────┐
        │          │           │
        ▼          ▼           ▼
  ┌───────────┐ ┌───────────┐ ┌───────────┐
  │ Vuln      │ │ Vuln      │ │   ...     │
  │(Injection)│ │  (XSS)    │ │           │
  └─────┬─────┘ └─────┬─────┘ └─────┬─────┘
        │              │             │
        ▼              ▼             ▼
  ┌───────────┐ ┌───────────┐ ┌───────────┐
  │ Exploit   │ │ Exploit   │ │   ...     │
  │(Injection)│ │  (XSS)    │ │           │
  └─────┬─────┘ └─────┬─────┘ └─────┬─────┘
        │              │             │
        └──────┬───────┴─────────────┘
               │
               ▼
        ┌──────────────────────┐
        │      Reporting       │
        └──────────────────────┘

At a high level:

• Pre-reconnaissance identifies frameworks, entry points, data flows, and likely attack surfaces from the repository.
• Reconnaissance explores the live application and correlates runtime behavior with code-level context.
• Vulnerability analysis runs specialized agents for Injection, XSS, SSRF, Authentication, and Authorization.
• Exploitation attempts real proof-of-concept attacks and discards hypotheses that cannot be proven.
• Reporting compiles validated findings, evidence, and remediation guidance into a final Markdown report.

Each scan runs in an ephemeral Docker container with an isolated workspace and per-invocation orchestration.

Documentation

Use these guides for operational detail:

Guide	Use it for
Source build and CLI commands	Cloning, building, common commands, output paths, and local development.
Configuration	Authenticated testing, login flows, rules of engagement, and report filters.
AI providers	Selecting the model, the supported providers (Anthropic, OpenAI, xAI, AWS Bedrock, and any other Pi-supported provider), and custom gateways.
Platforms and networking	Windows/WSL2, Linux, macOS, Docker networking, local apps, and custom hostnames.
Workspaces and resuming	Naming workspaces, resuming interrupted scans, and workspace storage.
Safety and limitations	Authorized-use requirements, non-production guidance, mutative effects, cost, and model caveats.
Coverage and roadmap	Current vulnerability coverage and planned work.
CI/CD integration	Headless execution, SARIF output, artifact paths, and GitHub Actions examples.
Keygraph platform	The continuous, agentic pentesting platform: code analysis, black-box and white-box testing, finding management, remediation, verification, and enterprise deployment.

Continuous Integration

Shannon runs fully headless and non-interactively, so it fits ephemeral CI environments. Credentials are read from environment variables, so no interactive setup step is required. The example below uses GitHub Actions, but nothing about the run is GitHub-specific.

name: Shannon Pentest
on: [pull_request]

jobs:
  pentest:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Run Shannon
        run: |
          npx @keygraph/shannon start \
            -u ${{ vars.TARGET_URL }} \
            -r . \
            -w ci-${{ github.run_id }} \
            -o ./shannon-results

          # `start` launches the scan in the background. `logs` streams it and
          # returns once the scan reports COMPLETED or FAILED.
          npx @keygraph/shannon logs ci-${{ github.run_id }}
        env:
          ANTHROPIC_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY }}

      - name: Upload report
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: shannon-report
          path: ./shannon-results/

-o copies the run's deliverables, including the report and the structured findings in report.json, to a path the rest of your workflow can read.

Because Shannon reports only vulnerabilities it has actually exploited, what lands in your pipeline is proven rather than speculative. Set report.min_severity in a configuration file passed with -c to drop findings below a severity threshold, then gate merges on your own check over report.json.

See CI/CD integration for artifact paths, SARIF output, authenticated targets, and cost and runtime notes.

Common Questions

Is Shannon free?

Yes. Shannon Open Source is free and licensed under AGPL-3.0. You run it yourself from the command line. Your only cost is the AI provider credits you supply.

Can I self-host Shannon?

Yes. Shannon Open Source runs entirely on your own infrastructure in an ephemeral Docker container. Your source code is mounted read-only and never leaves your environment.

Does Shannon support bring your own key (BYOK)?

Yes, always. You supply your own AI provider credentials in every deployment, open source and commercial. Keygraph never proxies your model traffic.

Can Shannon run in CI/CD?

Yes. Shannon runs fully headless and non-interactively, with environment-variable credentials and configuration-file support. See Continuous Integration for a worked example, and CI/CD integration for SARIF output and artifact paths. This is part of Shannon Open Source.

Does Shannon output SARIF?

Yes. Shannon emits SARIF 2.1.0, the OASIS standard format for static analysis results, alongside structured JSON. Any SARIF consumer reads it: code scanning services, vulnerability management platforms, security dashboards, and CI/CD pipelines. Set report.sarif to "true" in your configuration file to enable the SARIF log.

Which AI providers does Shannon support?

Anthropic, OpenAI, xAI, and AWS Bedrock are built in and configured directly by provider ID. Beyond those, Shannon runs on any endpoint that implements the Anthropic Messages API or the OpenAI Chat Completions API, reached through a custom base URL. The rule is the API format, not the vendor. Shannon uses a single unified model setting throughout a pentest.

Can I run Shannon on a local or self-hosted model?

Yes. Shannon works with local models served through Ollama, vLLM, or LM Studio, which expose an OpenAI-compatible endpoint, as well as routers such as OpenRouter and gateways such as LiteLLM. Point Shannon at the endpoint with a custom base URL. See AI providers.

Does Shannon actually exploit vulnerabilities, or just scan?

Shannon executes real exploits. It reports a finding only when it has produced a working proof-of-concept, and discards hypotheses it cannot prove. It is a pentester, not a scanner.

Is Shannon free for startups and nonprofits?

Shannon Open Source is free for everyone. In addition, the Keygraph Community Program gives eligible nonprofits and early-stage startups free access to the commercial Keygraph platform. See keygraph.io.

Safety, Scope, and Limitations

Shannon is not a passive scanner. Its exploitation agents can create users, submit forms, mutate application state, trigger outbound requests, and otherwise affect the target system. Use sandboxed, staging, or local development environments with disposable data.

You are responsible for using Shannon legally and ethically. Do not point Shannon at systems, repositories, or applications you do not own or do not have explicit authorization to test.

Important limitations:

• Shannon Open Source focuses on actively exploitable issues such as Injection, XSS, SSRF, Broken Authentication, and Broken Authorization. Broader static-analysis coverage, including vulnerable dependencies and insecure configurations, is delivered through the Keygraph platform.
• Findings still require human review. LLM-generated reports can contain weakly supported or incorrect details.
• Anthropic, OpenAI, xAI, and AWS Bedrock are built-in providers, and any Anthropic Messages API or OpenAI Chat Completions API endpoint works through a custom base URL. Model capability varies, and a model that does not follow Shannon's instructions or tool-use constraints reliably will produce weaker results.
• A full run can take roughly 1 to 1.5 hours and may incur LLM API costs depending on model pricing and application complexity.
• Do not scan untrusted or adversarial codebases. AI-powered tools that read source code can be exposed to prompt injection.

Read the full Safety and limitations guide before running Shannon in a new environment.

License

Shannon Open Source is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0.

Commercial and enterprise licensing is available for organizations that need different license terms, commercial support, private redistribution, managed-service use, or broader deployment options, including the Keygraph platform.

For commercial licensing, contact shannon@keygraph.io.

About Keygraph

Keygraph is the company behind Shannon. It also builds the Keygraph platform, the commercial agentic pentesting product that closes the full AppSec lifecycle and runs an enhanced build of Shannon as its pentesting engine.

Community and Support

Community office hours are available for hands-on help with bugs, deployments, and configuration questions.

• US/EU: Thursday, 10:00 AM PT
• Asia: Thursday, 2:00 PM IST
• Book a slot

Join Discord to ask questions, share feedback, and connect with other Shannon users.

At this time, Keygraph is not accepting external code contributions. Issues are welcome for bug reports and feature requests:

• Report bugs
• Suggest features

Stay connected:

• Keygraph website
• Twitter/X: @KeygraphHQ
• LinkedIn: Keygraph

Built by Keygraph