initial-recon SKILL.md skillA
initial-recon from dreadnode/capabilities is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add dreadnode/capabilities/initial-recon@git:20260722.f41aa86Pins git:20260722.f41aa86 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- dreadnode/capabilities
- Path
capabilities/web-security/skills/initial-recon/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 1
- Latest version
- git:20260722.f41aa86, committed Jul 22, 2026
- Size
- 2,417 bytes
- Repository stars
- 22
- License
- MIT
Use when beginning a web assessment from a domain, wildcard, ASN, organization, IP list, or CIDR and measurable attack-surface coverage is needed.
Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.
What the file says
# Initial Reconnaissance Establish a bounded breadth baseline before choosing deep tests. Keep this phase short for a single URL; use the full funnel for wildcards, organizations, ASNs, IP lists, and CIDRs. ## Funnel 1. Confirm scope and separate inherited assets from newly discovered assets. 2. For domain scope, enumerate with `subfinder`, resolve with `dnsx`, then probe with ProjectDiscovery `httpx`. 3. For IP or CIDR scope, discover ports with `naabu`, then probe responsive hosts with ProjectDiscovery `httpx`. Add `tlsx` when certificate names can expand the map. 4. Use `katana` only on responsive web applications. Use `nuclei` only on confirmed, high-signal targets. 5. Prefer JSON/JSONL output and preserve it as an artifact. Orient on the results before adding breadth or beginning exploitation. Use the ProjectDiscovery binary resolver because `httpx` may otherwise resolve to the unrelated Python CLI: ```bash PD="scripts/pd-tool" # capability root is the tool working directory "$PD" subfinder -d example.com -json -silent "$PD" dnsx -json -silent "$PD" naabu -host 192.0.2.0/24 -json -silent -rate 500 "$PD" httpx -json -silent -title -tech-detect -status-code ``` …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add dreadnode/capabilities/initial-recon@sha256:f098b019a923f098The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20260722.f41aa86, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.
[](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_nzc5cvkld7u2sbhd)
3 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 1 version of this file, committed on Jul 22, 2026.
Audit of the latest version
- pass: Frontmatter block present
- pass: Frontmatter declares a name
- pass: Frontmatter declares a description
- pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (2417 bytes)
- pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
- pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
- pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
- pass: No credential-shaped string
- pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
- pass: No text hidden with inline styles
- pass: No prompt-injection phrasing
- pass: No curl or wget piped into a shell
- pass: No recursive delete of root, home or parent
- pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
- pass: No base64 blob over 200 characters
- pass: No link to a raw IP address
- pass: No script tag
Source
dreadnode/capabilities · 22 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-11-02 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_nzc5cvkld7u2sbhd GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=dreadnode/capabilities/initial-recon GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/f098b019a923f0983f4103b55944fc508af33047705611c7ef658089e489ac72
Your AI assistant does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.
Guides: the SKILL.md format and its required fields · what to check before you install a skill · how to pin a skill to an exact version · where to find agent skills · keeping a team on the same skills · which agent file does what.