WiFi Radar — Python Wi-Fi Scanner with a Live Flask Web Dashboard

A real-time, cross-platform Wi-Fi scanner written in Python with a military-style radar web interface served by Flask. Displays nearby access points as live radar blips with signal strength, security info, vendor lookup, and CSV export.

Overview

WiFi Radar runs a local Flask web server that continuously scans nearby Wi-Fi networks using native OS tools. The results are displayed in a browser-based radar UI that refreshes automatically. Vendor lookup is done via the macvendors.com API and cached locally.

Features

Feature Description
Live radar sweep Refreshes every 4 seconds with real scan data
Real scan data Uses native OS tools — netsh, airport, nmcli, iwlist
Vendor identification Manufacturer resolved via macvendors.com API, cached in vendor_cache.json
Color-coded security Visual security level (WPA3, WPA2, WPA, WEP, OPEN)
Signal strength dBm and percentage, with noise floor and SNR on supported platforms
Radio generation WiFi 4/5/6/7 detection (802.11n/ac/ax/be)
Cipher detection CCMP vs TKIP per access point
Network type Infrastructure vs Ad-Hoc
New AP alerts Alert when a new unknown network appears
CSV export Download a full metadata snapshot
Cross-platform Windows, macOS, Linux — one codebase
ETag caching 304 Not Modified support to avoid wasted bandwidth
Auto-install Flask and Flask-CORS are installed automatically if missing

Quick Start

Windows

START_WINDOWS.bat

macOS

bash START_UNIX.sh

Linux

sudo bash START_UNIX.sh

Manual (any platform)

pip install flask flask-cors
python server.py         # Windows / macOS
sudo python3 server.py   # Linux

Then open your browser at: http://localhost:5000

Network exposure: server.py starts Flask with host='0.0.0.0' and enables CORS, so the dashboard and API are reachable from other devices on the same network, not only from localhost. Change the host to 127.0.0.1 in app.run(...) if you want it to be local-only, and do not run it on untrusted networks.

API Endpoints

Endpoint Description
GET / Radar UI (index.html)
GET /api/scan Live scan data as JSON (ETag supported)
GET /api/export/csv Download current networks as a CSV file
GET /api/debug Raw scan output and diagnostics
GET /api/vendor_cache Vendor cache stats and contents

Platform Details

OS Primary Tool Fallback
Windows netsh wlan show networks mode=Bssid State machine parser
macOS airport -s system_profiler SPAirPortDataType
Linux nmcli dev wifi list --rescan yes iwlist scan

Linux requires sudo for scanning.

Data Fields Per Network

Field Description
SSID Network name
BSSID MAC address
Vendor Manufacturer (from macvendors.com, cached)
Signal (dBm / %) Signal strength
Noise floor / SNR Available on macOS and Linux
Channel / Band 2.4 GHz / 5 GHz / 6 GHz
Security OPEN / WEP / WPA / WPA2 / WPA3 / WPA2/WPA3
Cipher CCMP (strong) or TKIP (weak)
Radio type WiFi 4/5/6/7
Network type Infrastructure or Ad-Hoc

Requirements

  • Python 3.8+
  • Flask and Flask-CORS (auto-installed by launcher scripts)
  • Wi-Fi adapter enabled in OS settings
  • Any modern web browser
  • Internet access for vendor lookups (works offline after cache is built). Each new access point’s BSSID (MAC address) is sent to api.macvendors.com for the lookup.

File Structure

Wifi Radar/
├── server.py              # Python backend — Wi-Fi scanner + Flask API
├── index.html             # Radar UI — pure HTML/CSS/JS
├── requirements.txt       # Python dependencies (flask, flask-cors)
├── vendor_cache.json      # Auto-generated vendor lookup cache
├── START_WINDOWS.bat      # Windows one-click launcher
└── START_UNIX.sh          # macOS / Linux launcher

Disclaimer

This tool is intended for educational and network diagnostic purposes only. Only scan networks you own or have explicit permission to scan.

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