CLI reference¶

Canonical list of every flag privmap accepts.

privmap [OPTIONS]

Global¶

Flag	Default	Description
`--version`		Print version and exit.
`-h`, `--help`		Print help and exit.
`-v`, `--verbose`	`0`	Increase log verbosity. `-v` is INFO, `-vv` is DEBUG.
`-q`, `--quiet`	`false`	Suppress the progress spinner. Errors and warnings still go to stderr.

Source selection¶

Flag	Default	Description
`--snapshot PATH`		Analyze an offline snapshot tarball instead of live. See snapshot mode.
`--user USERNAME`, `-u USERNAME`	all	Trace from this user. Repeatable. By default privmap traces every non-privileged user with a real shell.

Scan tuning¶

Flag	Default	Description
`--scan-paths PATHS`	`/etc,/usr,/opt,/tmp,/var`	Comma-separated paths to walk for filesystem ingestion.
`--max-depth N`	`10`	Maximum traversal depth (number of edges per path).

Output¶

Flag	Default	Description
`--output FORMAT`, `-o`	`cli`	One of `cli`, `json`, `markdown`. See output formats.
`--min-severity SEVERITY`	`low`	One of `critical`, `high`, `medium`, `low`, `info`. Hides paths below this tier.
`--export-graph FILE`		Write the full graph (all nodes, all edges) as JSON to `FILE`.
`--exit-code`	`false`	Return non-zero if any path at or above `--min-severity` is found.

Stream layout¶

Stream	Contents
stdout	The report in the chosen output format.
stderr	Progress spinner (when TTY and not `-q` or `-v`), logger output, warnings, errors.

This separation means privmap --output json > report.json works correctly. The JSON is on stdout, everything else is on stderr.

Examples¶

# Default. Scan everything, render to terminal.
sudo privmap

# A single user.
sudo privmap --user www-data

# CI gate that fails on critical findings only.
sudo privmap --exit-code --min-severity critical --output json > report.json

# Offline analysis of a snapshot from a different host.
privmap --snapshot ./privmap_snapshot_target_20260507.tar.gz \
        --output markdown > target-report.md

# Fast focused scan, debug logging.
sudo privmap --scan-paths /etc --user www-data -vv

# Dump the full graph for downstream tooling.
sudo privmap --export-graph graph.json --output json > paths.json