CLI Usage Guide

Holehe is primarily used as a Command Line Interface (CLI) tool.

Basic Command

To check an email address against all available modules:

holehe target@example.com

Arguments and Options

Argument Description
EMAIL The target email(s) to scan. You can provide multiple emails separated by spaces.
--only-used Displays only the websites where the account exists. Hides "not found" or errors.
--no-color Disables colored output in the terminal (useful for logging to files).
--no-clear Prevents the terminal from clearing before displaying results.
-NP, --no-password-recovery Important: Skips modules that use the "password recovery" method. These methods are more likely to trigger an email notification to the target.
-C, --csv Exports the results to a CSV file in the current directory.
-T, --timeout Sets the max timeout for HTTP requests (default: 10 seconds).

Examples

1. Scan a single email and save to CSV:

holehe target@example.com --csv

2. Scan multiple emails:

holehe target1@example.com target2@gmail.com

3. Scan stealthily (avoid password recovery methods) and show only hits:

holehe target@example.com --no-password-recovery --only-used

Output Interpretation

The tool uses color coding in the terminal to indicate status:

  • [+] Email used (Green): The account exists on this platform.
  • [-] Email not used (Magenta): The account does not exist.
  • [x] Rate limit (Yellow): The service is blocking requests (try changing IP/VPN).
  • [!] Error (Red): A connection or parsing error occurred.

CSV Output

If the -C flag is used, a file named holehe_{timestamp}_{email}_results.csv will be generated containing:

  • Module Name
  • Domain
  • Rate Limit Status
  • Exists (True/False)
  • Recovery Email (obfuscated)
  • Phone Number (obfuscated)
  • Other Metadata