Install

Trace Eagle ships as a desktop app for macOS, Windows, and Linux. Phone traffic (iOS, Android) is also captured through a connected computer, so no matter what you want to capture, the desktop app is where you start.

Grab the installer for your platform from the download page.

macOS

The app isn’t notarized by Apple yet (our developer account isn’t ready), so macOS blocks it on the first launch. This is expected — you approve it once under Privacy & Security, and macOS remembers your choice from then on.

1. Download the version for your chip (Apple Silicon or Intel) and unzip it.
2. Drag TraceEagle.app into your Applications folder.
3. Double-click the app. macOS says “Apple could not verify ‘TraceEagle’ is free of malware.” — click Done.
4. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security and scroll down to the Security section. You’ll see “TraceEagle was blocked to protect your Mac” with an Open Anyway button — click it.
5. Confirm with Touch ID or your password, then click Open Anyway in the final dialog. The app launches, and every launch after this works with a normal double-click.

Note

This is only needed on the first launch, and only because the app isn’t notarized yet — it doesn’t weaken any other security on your Mac. Prefer the Terminal? Run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/TraceEagle.app and the app opens with a normal double-click.

Windows

1. Download the installer (.exe), run it, and follow the prompts to install.
2. NIC capture depends on the Npcap driver; the app installs it automatically when needed, so you don’t have to download it separately.
3. Launch it from the Start menu.

Linux

1. Download the AppImage or .deb.
2. AppImage: add executable permission with chmod +x, then run it directly; .deb: install with your package manager.
3. Launch it from the application menu or terminal.

About permissions

Low-level capture methods like NIC capture and system-level capture need higher system privileges. The first time you use them, the app requests authorization (administrator / root on macOS / Linux, administrator on Windows); just approve. It’s usually not needed for proxy capture and per-process capture alone.

Note

Authorization is used only for the capture itself. After you stop capturing, the app automatically restores any network settings it changed (such as the system proxy), and there’s a recovery fallback for abnormal exits too, so it won’t break your normal internet access.

After installing

Open the app and you’ll see an empty request list waiting for traffic. Then follow Getting Started to capture your first request.