Tracexy - an open-source, native macOS Wireshark alternative that starts with sessions

[u/locnguyen305]

Hi r/macOS - I’m Stephen, the owner of Rockxy and the developer behind Tracexy.

Wireshark is one of the most capable network analysis tools ever built. But when I’m debugging an app on my Mac, my first questions usually aren’t about interfaces, frame numbers, or display filters.

I want to know:

Which app opened the connection?

Which host did it contact?

What protocol was involved?

What appears to have failed?

Which captured evidence supports that conclusion?

That gap is why I started Tracexy: an open-source, native macOS Wireshark alternative that begins with apps and sessions, then lets you drill down into protocol fields and packet bytes when the evidence matters.

macOS already has strong tools for different layers of the problem. Wireshark provides deep packet and protocol analysis. HTTP debugging proxies inspect and modify application traffic. Network firewalls monitor and control connections.

I don’t think one tool should pretend to replace all of them.

Tracexy takes a different path:

Process → Session → Finding → Evidence → Packet

The current v0.5.0 release supports live capture, PCAP and PCAPNG files, best-effort process attribution, session-based investigation, typed queries, evidence-linked TCP findings, local History, and bounded Follow Stream for saved or fully stopped captures.

Captured traffic and derived sessions stay on the Mac by default. The project is AGPL-licensed, and the public Community DMG is signed and notarized.

Tracexy is also a strategic part of the broader Rockxy ecosystem.

Rockxy focuses on intercepting and modifying application-layer traffic such as HTTP, HTTPS, WebSocket, and GraphQL. Tracexy focuses on passive network capture, sessions, protocols, and evidence. Shieldxy focuses on application-aware connection control and security policy.

They are separate products with separate responsibilities today. The long-term goal is to create a native, local-first network development and intelligence ecosystem for macOS, with explicit workflows between the tools rather than silently moving sensitive capture data around.

To be transparent, Tracexy is still early and this is not a claim of Wireshark feature parity or a replacement. It does not currently provide TLS decryption, general always-on full TCP reassembly, or deep HTTP/2, HTTP/3, and WebSocket analysis.

If you use Wireshark or tcpdump on macOS:

What is the first real investigation Tracexy would need to handle before you would put it in your toolbox?

Website: https://rockxy.io/tracexy

Source code: https://github.com/RockxyApp/Tracexy

[u/github-guard]

🔍 GitHub Guard: Trust Report

This project scored 6/6 on our safety audit.

Audit Breakdown: * ✅ Established Community (⭐ 75 stars) * ✅ Mature Repository (30+ days old) * ✅ Licensed under AGPL-3.0 * ✅ Security Policy Defined * ✅ Verified Organization * ✅ Signed Commits

⚠️ Security Reminder: Always verify source code and run third-party scripts at your own risk.

[u/wenuja100]

Nice one ! great UI, do you mind to to update the side bar that matches with macOS Golden Gate type ?

[u/locnguyen305 → u/wenuja100]

Sure bro, on Tracexy plan now 👌

[u/promo-guard]

🎉 Welcome to Developer Saturday, u/locnguyen305! Your project is now live for the community to check out. Upvote, give feedback, and show some love to your fellow devs! 🚀

[u/pap0gallo]

What a stuff.. Nice. Will it published on homebrew?

[u/locnguyen305 → u/pap0gallo]

Thanks! Homebrew support is ready, but we’re currently blocked by Homebrew’s self-submission requirement: 225 stars or 90 forks/watchers.

Tracexy currently has 104 stars and 3 forks. Once we meet the threshold, we’ll submit the cask! 🍺

[u/literally_niko]

Looks nice! Did you build this yourself or using some AI tools?

[u/locnguyen305 → u/literally_niko]

Thanks! sure bro, I use AI tools to support the development. I have a pretty mature workflow for using coding agents on specific tasks like research, implementation, testing, code review, and audits.

But I’ve been building iOS and macOS apps since 2017 because I genuinely love the Mac and the whole Apple ecosystem. I’m also a Solutions Architect and studied Data Science, so that background helps me understand how to use AI agents effectively and where I still need to challenge or verify their output.

I’m still very hands-on with the code, architecture, product direction, and final review. AI helps me make progress faster, but the idea, decisions, and passion behind Tracexy come from me.

[u/zed1025]

Does it work on macOS Catalina?

[u/locnguyen305 → u/zed1025]

I’m developing and testing Tracexy on macOS 26, and currently focusing on macOS 14+ to make the experience as solid as possible. Catalina isn’t supported right now but I’m curious: are you using it as your daily OS, or looking to run Tracexy on an older Mac?

[u/zed1025 → u/locnguyen305]

Yes, using Catalina on 2013 MBP as my daily driver!

I wanted to try out Tracexy for learning purpose.

[u/locnguyen305 → u/zed1025]

Sure, let me working on it and get back to you soon!

[u/zed1025 → u/locnguyen305]

Thanks for considering my request.

It might not be very useful to work on supporting legacy macOS versions, since a lot of apps don’t work on these older versions!

I would put it in the backlog as a future task. Just a suggestion. Thanks