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Troubleshooting

"Neither dnstwist nor Docker is available"

The server needs one of them. Install dnstwist (pipx install "dnstwist[full]") or start Docker. Desktop clients may not inherit your shell's PATH; add an env block with PATH, or set DNSTWIST_RUNNER explicitly.

"missing DNSPython library" (or "requires DNSPython 2.x")

Your local dnstwist was installed without its optional packages, and the server always passes --nameservers. Reinstall with them: pipx install --force "dnstwist[full]". Or set DNSTWIST_RUNNER=docker to use the Docker image instead.

Docker permission errors

Your user must be able to run docker ps. On Linux, add yourself to the docker group (sudo usermod -aG docker $USER) and log in again, or use the local runner instead.

Scans are slow on a Mac

The elceef/dnstwist image is amd64-only, so on Apple Silicon it runs under emulation. Install dnstwist locally (pipx install "dnstwist[full]"); the server uses it automatically.

"dnstwist did not finish within N seconds"

The scan hit DNSTWIST_TIMEOUT_SECONDS (default 600) and was stopped. To speed it up:

  • Include an IPv4 nameserver. DNS-over-HTTPS-only scans can take over 10 minutes.
  • Turn off whois, lsh or banners if you don't need them.
  • Limit fuzzers to the algorithms you care about.
  • Or raise DNSTWIST_TIMEOUT_SECONDS.

"Invalid arguments for fuzz_domain"

The message says which argument was rejected. Common causes:

  • domain includes a scheme or path (https://example.com/). Pass just example.com.
  • nameservers includes an IPv6 address or a plain hostname. dnstwist only accepts IPv4 addresses and https://<host>/dns-query.
  • A fuzzers name isn't one of dnstwist's algorithms. See the tool reference.

DNS errors or very few results

Your resolver may be rate-limiting the burst of queries. Lower threads, or pass several resolvers, for example "1.1.1.1,8.8.8.8".