PentestGPT is an AI-driven framework for penetration testing and capture-the-flag challenges. It guides staged workflows such as reconnaissance, asset discovery, vulnerability identification, exploitation, and reporting, using large language models to operate tools and reason about findings. The catalogue includes skills and instructions for using it.
Borrowing it
Nothing to install: this file belongs to GreyDGL/PentestGPT. Take a copy, put it at the same path in your own repository, and replace the rules that are about this project with yours.
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/GreyDGL/PentestGPT/main/CLAUDE.mdgit clone --depth 1 https://github.com/GreyDGL/PentestGPTWrote this? Show the measurements
A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.
[](https://agentmods.dev/instructions/greydgl/pentestgpt/claude-md)<a href="https://agentmods.dev/instructions/greydgl/pentestgpt/claude-md"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/greydgl/pentestgpt/claude-md/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/instructions/greydgl/pentestgpt/claude-md"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/greydgl/pentestgpt/claude-md.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>What it costs to keep this loaded
Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.
| Model | Per session | Once invoked |
|---|---|---|
| Fable 5.1 | $0.00780 | $0.00780 |
| Opus 5.5 | $0.00312 | $0.00312 |
| Sonnet 5.5 | $0.00156 | $0.00156 |
| Haiku 4.5 | $0.00078 | $0.00078 |
Grade A, and why
PentestGPT CLAUDE.md scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 1mo ago.
A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.
Nothing flagged
None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.
How it starts
The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 81 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.
Claude guide
Internal instructions for Claude Code in this repository. Read
docs/architecture.md before architecture work. The root README.md is the
public project page and must not be edited unless the user explicitly requests that separate review.
Active project map
pentestgpt_agent/— maintained autonomous Supervisor/Executor framework; nested uv project.pentestgpt_legacy/— maintained human-driven USEN-2024-style client.../UnifedAgentWrapper/— canonicalunified-agentpackage used by the framework.../xbow-benchmark/— reference-only benchmark harness and historical results; it is not a supportedpentestgpt-agentCLI, CI, or runtime integration.unified_agent/— obsolete compatibility copy retained by root packaging/Docker only. Do not add features here or confuse it with the framework dependency.
The old fixed-stage pentestgpt/ package and the previous ledger-centered
Instructor/Executor/Judge implementation are gone. Historical reports may still name them.
Runtime contract
- The Supervisor and Executor both use
SandboxPolicy.FULL_ACCESS; deployment isolation is the security boundary. - Each episode is fresh. SQLite and exact trace receipts—not provider conversation history—are memory.
- Deterministic code owns scope, plan validation, leases, evidence, retries, completion bases, and revisions.
- Provider action and file activity is logged but is not an audit failure.
- Keep the core at two LLM roles. Do not add an always-on judge, RAG layer, or scheduler without trace evidence that the current deterministic seam cannot solve the problem.
Commands
Framework work runs inside the nested project:
cd pentestgpt_agent
uv sync --extra claude # or codex / all
uv run python -m pytest -q
uv run ruff check src tests
uv run ruff format --check src tests
uv run mypy src
uv lock --check
uv build
From the repository root:
make run TARGET=http://127.0.0.1:8000 BACKEND=claude
make check
make ci
make docker-build
make docker-login
make docker-auth-status
What this file has done since we first saw it
Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.
- 1mo ago First seen · 81 lines · 780 tokens per session scan A 31c3a605293a
PentestGPT CLAUDE.md is an instructions file published in the GitHub repository GreyDGL/PentestGPT (16,045 stars, last pushed 3mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 780 tokens to every session, about $0.0031 per session on Opus 5.5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.
Other instructions, from other repositories
vscode buildNext.instructions.md
Working notes and architecture documentation for the new esbuild-based build system in build/next. Use when making changes to the new build pipeline (transpile/bundle commands, NLS plugin, source-map handling, resource copying, or self-hosting watch tasks).
next.js AGENTS.md
AGENTS.md instructions for vercel/next.js, covering next.js development guide, codebase structure, monorepo overview, core package: packages/next and other important packages.
vscode oss-third-party-notices.instructions.md
Instructions for microsoft/vscode, covering vs code oss third-party-notices pipeline, architecture, pipeline flow in ci, cache eligibility and rollout and applying the notice (cutover).
langchain AGENTS.md
AGENTS.md instructions for langchain-ai/langchain, covering global development guidelines for the langchain monorepo, corridor security analysis, project architecture and context, monorepo structure and development tools & commands.
vscode copilot-instructions.md
Copilot instructions for microsoft/vscode, covering vs code copilot instructions, project overview, root folders, core architecture (src/ folder) and built-in extensions (extensions/ folder).
deno copilot-instructions.md
Copilot instructions for denoland/deno, covering deno development guide for github copilot, network access, high level overview, key directories and key files to understand first.