Netscope App

Netscope is a desktop application designed for inspecting and analyzing HTTP Archive (HAR) files. It provides a standalone environment for exploring network request data, offering an experience similar to Chrome DevTools but independent of the browser. The tool is available for macOS, Windows, and Linux, allowing users to view and analyze HAR files directly on their desktop across these platforms.

Key features of Netscope include the ability to filter and search network requests by content type such as XHR, JavaScript, CSS, images, and fonts, as well as by URL. Users can sort requests by any column, making it easier to locate specific entries. Detailed inspection is supported for each request, enabling examination of headers, payload, response body, cookies, timing data, status codes, remote addresses, content types, and transfer sizes. The tool also visualizes the request lifecycle with a horizontal bar chart, breaking down queueing, stalled, send, wait (TTFB), and receive phases to help identify network bottlenecks.

Netscope allows users to view and search the raw HAR JSON for any entry, with match highlighting and keyboard navigation for efficient exploration. It supports multiple windows, ensuring each HAR file opens in its own window without duplication. The application offers drag-and-drop functionality for opening files and can be launched by double-clicking HAR files in a file manager. Responses served from the browser cache are clearly labeled, and the app includes an automatic update mechanism that installs updates upon quitting. Users can switch between system, light, and dark themes, with preferences saved across sessions.

The application is open source, licensed under the MIT license, and built with Electron, React, and TypeScript. macOS builds are code signed and notarized to avoid Gatekeeper warnings. Netscope is developed by Drew Hays and is available for download as well as on GitHub.