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People & Social

Tools for cross-platform username reconnaissance, social media footprint analysis, and people search.

Tool Description
sherlock_search Search 400+ social platforms for accounts matching a username.
pipl_search Search the PIPL people search API by name, email, phone, username, or address.

Search 400+ social platforms and websites for accounts matching a username using the Sherlock Project.

Parameter Type Required Default Description
username str Yes — Username to search across social platforms.

Returns: A dict mapping platform name to profile URL for each account found. Platforms where no account exists are omitted.
Auth: None. Requires sherlock-project Python library (pip install mcc[osint]).

Usage examples

Search for accounts matching a username across 400+ platforms: 

sherlock_search(username="johndoe")

Investigate a handle seen on one platform: 

sherlock_search(username="target_handle")

Performance

Scans are network-bound and typically take 30–120 seconds, depending on platform response times and network conditions.

Covered platforms

Includes Twitter/X, Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, GitHub, GitLab, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitch, Spotify, Steam, Pinterest, Snapchat, Telegram, and 380+ more. See the full site list.

Search the PIPL people search API by any combination of name, email, phone, username, user ID, URL, or address. At least one identifying field is required.

Parameter Type Required Default Description
first_name str — First name.
middle_name str — Middle name.
last_name str — Last name.
raw_name str — Full name as a single string (alternative to first/middle/last).
email str — Email address.
phone str — Phone number.
username str — Username or handle.
user_id str — User ID on a social platform.
url str — Profile or website URL.
age str — Age or age range (e.g. "30" or "25-35").
house str — House number.
street str — Street name.
city str — City.
state str — State (2-letter code recommended).
zipcode str — ZIP or postal code.
country str — Country code (e.g. "US").
raw_address str — Full address as a single string.
minimum_probability str "0.9" 0–1. Minimum probability for inferred data.
minimum_match str "0" 0–1. Minimum match score for possible persons.
show_sources str "false" all, matching/true, or false.
live_feeds str "true" Whether to use live data sources.
top_match str "false" Return only the single best high-probability match.
hide_sponsored str "false" Omit results marked as sponsored.
match_requirements str — Condition specifying fields that must be returned; empty responses won't be charged.
source_category_requirements str — Condition specifying source categories that must be returned; empty responses won't be charged.

Returns: PIPL API JSON response containing matched person records with aggregated data from public sources.
Auth: Requires PIPL_API_KEY in osint.env.

Usage examples

Search by email: 

pipl_search(email="clark.kent@example.com")

Search by name and location: 

pipl_search(first_name="Clark", last_name="Kent", city="Metropolis", state="NY")

Return only the top match: 

pipl_search(username="ckent", top_match="true")