### Snitch – A Friendlier ss/netstat

For decades, system administrators, developers, and security professionals have relied on two stalwart command-line tools for inspecting network connections: `netstat` and its more modern successor, `ss`. They are powerful, comprehensive, and get the job done. But let’s be honest—their output can be a dense, monochrome wall of text that requires a bit of mental parsing to digest.

Enter Snitch, a modern command-line utility designed to provide the same crucial information but with a focus on human readability and at-a-glance clarity. Written in Rust, Snitch takes the core functionality of its predecessors and gives it a much-needed user-experience upgrade. It’s not about replacing `ss` for complex scripting, but about becoming your go-to tool for daily, interactive network monitoring.

#### What Makes Snitch “Friendlier”?

The difference is immediately apparent the first time you run the command. Snitch presents network information in a way that’s intuitive and easy to scan, leveraging modern terminal capabilities to deliver a better experience.

**1. Colorized and Clean Output**

The most striking feature is its use of color. Snitch intelligently color-codes its output to help you distinguish different pieces of information instantly:
* **Protocols** like TCP and UDP get their own colors.
* **Connection states** (e.g., `LISTEN`, `ESTABLISHED`, `CLOSE_WAIT`) are highlighted, making it easy to spot which sockets are active and which are waiting for connections.
* **Local and remote addresses** are clearly separated.

This simple addition transforms a cluttered list of text into a well-organized and scannable report. The data is presented in neat, well-aligned columns, so you’re not left deciphering oddly spaced lines.

**2. Integrated GeoIP Information**

This is a killer feature for anyone concerned with security or just curious about their network traffic. Snitch can automatically perform a GeoIP lookup on remote IP addresses and display the country of origin, often complete with a flag emoji. Seeing a connection to an unexpected country can be an immediate red flag, and Snitch puts this information front and center without requiring you to pipe the output to another tool.

**3. Clear Process Information**

Like `ss` and `netstat`, Snitch shows you which process is responsible for a given connection. It displays the Process ID (PID) and the name of the program that owns the socket. This is essential for debugging applications or identifying mysterious network activity. You can immediately see that `sshd` is listening on port 22 or that `firefox` has established a connection to a remote web server.

#### Getting Started with Snitch

Installing Snitch is straightforward, especially if you have the Rust programming language’s toolchain and package manager, Cargo, installed.

“`bash
cargo install snitch
“`

It may also be available in your operating system’s package manager. Once installed, using it is as simple as it gets.

**Basic Usage**

Just run the command by itself to see all active connections:
“`bash
snitch
“`
You’ll be greeted with a beautifully formatted table showing the protocol, state, local and remote addresses, and the associated process.

**Filtering and Options**

Snitch provides several flags to filter the output to your needs:

* **Filter by protocol:** `snitch -p tcp` or `snitch –protocol udp`
* **Show only listening sockets:** `snitch -l` or `snitch –listening`
* **Increase verbosity:** `snitch -v` to get more detailed information.
* **Disable GeoIP lookup:** `snitch -n` or `snitch –no-geoip` if you want a faster, purely local lookup.

#### The Verdict

`ss` remains an incredibly powerful tool, especially for automation and deep-dive scripting where its raw, parsable output is an advantage. However, for the everyday task of quickly checking what’s happening on your network, Snitch is a breath of fresh air.

It answers the most common questions—”What’s listening on this machine?”, “What program is making this connection?”, and “Where is this traffic going?”—in a way that is faster to read and easier to understand. If you find yourself constantly squinting at the output of `netstat` or `ss`, do yourself a favor and give Snitch a try. It might just become your new favorite network utility.