# Install onionprobe with Homebrew, apt, Nix

Test and monitoring tool for Tor Onion Services. Version 1.4.1 via Homebrew; verified 2026-05-14. Also installable with debian: sudo apt install onionprobe.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:onionprobe
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install onionprobe
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

### Linux

- Debian apt (92%):

```sh
sudo apt install onionprobe
```

  Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: onionprobe from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz

- Nix (92%):

```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#onionprobe
```

  Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/on/onionprobe/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:onionprobe
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 1.4.1
- **Source summary:** Test and monitoring tool for Tor Onion Services
- **Homepage:** <https://tpo.pages.torproject.net/onion-services/onionprobe/>
- **Last updated:** 2026-05-14T09:54:07Z
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- onionprobe (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 1.4.1
## Project history and usage

Onionprobe is a Tor Project tool for testing and monitoring Tor Onion Services. It probes configured onion-service endpoints once or continuously and can export metrics to Prometheus, with Grafana and Alertmanager support in its monitoring-node setup.

### Project history

Onionprobe grew out of the operational need to monitor onion services as services, not just publish them. Its manual frames the tool as a way to test endpoints and paths, while the project site presents it as part of the Onion Services Ecosystem maintained around Tor onion-service operations.

The changelog shows active release engineering around the monitoring stack. Version 1.1.0 and 1.1.1 landed in April 2023, and Tor Project Forum announced version 1.2.0 on April 24, 2024 with a required database migration for monitoring-node users.

### Adoption history

Onionprobe is distributed through PyPI and documented in Debian and Ubuntu manpages, with Homebrew packaging it for macOS and Linux users. The Tor Project also maintains an Ansible role that can install Onionprobe from Git, PyPI, or distribution packages and configure either a single service or a standalone monitoring node.

### How it is used

Operators use onionprobe to check whether onion-service URLs are reachable, whether specific paths respond, and whether the results should feed a metrics pipeline. In standalone mode, the project provides a containerized monitoring node with Prometheus, Alertmanager, Grafana, a persistent dataset, and an Onionprobe exporter.

The tool is especially practical for onion-service fleets because reachability can fail at several layers: Tor client connectivity, onion-service descriptor publication, path construction, web-service health, or application routing. Onionprobe packages those checks into a repeatable CLI and monitoring target.

### Why package nerds care

For package nerds, Onionprobe is a clean example of a niche network daemon graduating into familiar observability shapes: PyPI package, distro package, Homebrew formula, man page, Prometheus exporter, Grafana dashboard, and Ansible role.

### Timeline

- 2023-04-03: Onionprobe v1.1.0 was released.
- 2023-04-04: Onionprobe v1.1.1 followed with Grafana, Docker, image-versioning, and database-upgrade fixes.
- 2024-04-24: Onionprobe v1.2.0 was announced by the Tor Project with monitoring-node database migration notes.
- 2026: Debian, Ubuntu, PyPI, and Homebrew provide install surfaces for the Onionprobe CLI.

### Related projects

- Related projects and technologies include Tor onion services, Prometheus, Grafana, Alertmanager, the Onionprobe Ansible role, and Tor Project onion-service operational tooling.

### Sources

- <https://forum.torproject.org/t/onionprobe-release-1-2-0/12442>
- <https://github.com/torproject/onionprobe-role/blob/main/README.md>
- <https://onionservices.torproject.org/apps/web/onionprobe/>
- <https://onionservices.torproject.org/apps/web/onionprobe/changelog/>
- <https://onionservices.torproject.org/apps/web/onionprobe/man/>
- <https://onionservices.torproject.org/apps/web/onionprobe/standalone/>
- <https://pypi.org/project/onionprobe/>


## Security Notes

No matching local secret-handling manifest was found for onionprobe. Nucleus package metadata is still published here so future coverage has a stable package URL.


## Other Package-Manager Records

- Debian apt - onionprobe - 1.4.0+ds-1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: onionprobe from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | test/monitor tool for Tor Onion Services sites | https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/onion-services/onionprobe
- Nix - onionprobe: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/on/onionprobe/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1
- Ubuntu apt - onionprobe - 1.1.2+ds-1: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: onionprobe from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | test/monitor tool for Tor Onion Services sites | https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/onion-services/onionprobe


## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/onionprobe.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/onionprobe.yml)


## Sources

- pkg.so package database
- Geiger risk classifier
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation
- external package-manager database matches
- cross-ecosystem install command graph