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August 14, 2026

Rats on The Boat — BitTorrent Search Engine

A high-performance BitTorrent search program for desktop and server. It collects and indexes torrents from the DHT network, allowing…

By HackerBlogs

4 min read

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A high-performance BitTorrent search program for desktop and server. It collects and indexes torrents from the DHT network, allowing powerful full-text search through torrent statistics and categories. Works over an encrypted P2P network and supports Windows, Linux, and macOS platforms.

Features

Core Search & Indexing

  • Works over P2P torrent network, doesn't require any trackers
  • DHT crawling and automatic torrent indexing
  • Full-text search over torrent collection (powered by Manticore Search)
  • Torrent and files search
  • Search filters (size ranges, files, seeders, etc.)
  • Collection filters (regex filters, adult filters)
  • Tracker peers scan support
  • Collects only statistical information and doesn't save any internal torrent data

P2P Network & Security

  • Supports its own P2P protocol for additional data transfer (search between Rats clients, descriptions/votes transfer, etc.)
  • End-to-end encryption with Noise Protocol (Curve25519 + ChaCha20-Poly1305)
  • P2P Search protocol: Search in other Rats clients with encrypted communication
  • BitTorrent Mainline DHT compatible (millions of nodes)
  • mDNS Discovery for automatic local network peer discovery
  • NAT Traversal with STUN/ICE support for connecting through firewalls
  • GossipSub messaging for scalable publish-subscribe protocol
  • Supports torrent rating (voting)
  • Description association from trackers
  • Top list (most common and popular torrents)
  • Feed list (Rats clients activity feed)

Torrent Client

  • Integrated torrent client for downloading
  • Drag and drop torrents (expand local search database with specific torrents)
  • Torrent generation and automatic adding to search database

User Experience

  • Native C++/Qt application — fast, responsive, and lightweight
  • Modern dark UI with customizable settings
  • System tray support with minimize/close to tray
  • Translations: English, Russian, Ukrainian, Chinese, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Italian, Hindi
  • Console mode for headless server operation
  • REST & WebSocket API for custom clients and integrations

Screenshots

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Architecture

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Rats Search is built on librats — a high-performance P2P networking library providing:

FeatureDescriptionBitTorrent Mainline DHTCompatible with the largest distributed hash table network (millions of nodes)mDNS DiscoveryAutomatic local network peer discovery without internetNAT TraversalSTUN/ICE support for connecting through firewalls and NATNoise Protocol EncryptionEnd-to-end encryption with Curve25519 + ChaCha20-Poly1305GossipSub MessagingScalable publish-subscribe protocol for P2P communicationThread-safe DesignModern C++17 concurrency with minimal overhead

Download

⬇️ Download the latest release for Windows, Linux, or macOS.

PlatformPackageWindowsRatsSearch-Windows-x64.zipLinuxRatsSearch-Linux-x64.AppImage or .tar.gzmacOS IntelRatsSearch-macOS-Intel.zipmacOS ARMRatsSearch-macOS-ARM.zip

Building from Source

Requirements

  • CMake 3.16+
  • Qt 6.9+ (with WebSockets module)
  • C++17 compatible compiler (MSVC, GCC, or Clang)
  • Ninja (recommended) or Make

Build Instructions

Clone the repository with submodules:

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/DEgITx/rats-search.git
cd rats-search

Configure and build:

cmake -B build -G "Ninja" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build --config Release

The executable will be in build/bin/.

Build Options

OptionDefaultDescriptionRATS_SEARCH_BUILD_TESTSONBuild unit testsRATS_SEARCH_USE_SYSTEM_LIBRATSOFFUse system-installed librats

Running

GUI Mode (Default)

Simply run the executable:

./RatsSearch

Command line options:

OptionDescription-p, --port <port>P2P listen port (overrides config setting)-d, --dht-port <port>DHT port (overrides config setting)--data-dir <path>Data directory for database and config-h, --helpDisplay help-v, --versionDisplay version

Console Mode (Headless/Server)

For servers without a display, use console mode:

./RatsSearch --console

Console mode options:

OptionDescription-c, --consoleRun in console mode (no GUI)-p, --port <port>P2P listen port (overrides config setting)-d, --dht-port <port>DHT port (overrides config setting)--data-dir <path>Data directory for database and config-s, --spiderForce-enable the DHT spider even when indexer is off in the config-m, --max-peers <n>Maximum P2P connections (overrides config, range: 10-1000)

Console mode runs unattended: it starts every subsystem, logs to <data-dir>/rats-search.log, and exits on Ctrl+C. It reads no commands from stdin — to query or drive a running instance, enable the REST API ("restApi": true) and use the HTTP/WebSocket API.

Example:

# Start with the spider forced on
./RatsSearch --console --spider --data-dir /var/lib/rats-search
# Or start with custom ports
./RatsSearch -c -p 4445 -d 4446 -s

Configuration

After first launch, a configuration file rats.json will be created in the data directory:

{
    "p2pPort": 4445,
    "dhtPort": 4446,
    "httpPort": 8095,
    "restApi": true,
    "indexer": true,
    "darkMode": true
}

SettingDescriptionp2pPortPort for P2P communication (TCP/UDP)dhtPortPort for DHT operations (UDP)httpPortPort for REST API server (WebSocket listens on httpPort + 1)restApiEnable/disable REST APIindexerEnable/disable DHT indexerupnpEnable/disable UPnP/NAT-PMP port mapping (config-file only)

API

Rats Search includes a built-in REST API server for integrations and custom clients.

📖 API Documentation

Usage Manuals

Contributing

We welcome all contributions: bug fixes, improvements, code refactoring, and other enhancements.

Docker

Run Rats Search in a container (console mode, no GUI):

docker build -t rats-search .
docker run -d -p 8095:8095 -v rats-data:/data rats-search

The default command starts the spider with 30 max P2P peers. Override as needed:

docker run -d \
  -p 8095:8095 \
  -v rats-data:/data \
  rats-search \
  /app/RatsSearch --console --spider --max-peers 100 --data-dir /data

Port / VolumeDescription8095HTTP REST API (enable restApi in /data/rats.json)/dataPersistent storage for database, config, and logs

Legacy Version (1.x — Electron/Node.js)

The previous Electron-based version is preserved in the legacy/ folder for reference and for running the web server interface.

Running the Legacy Web Server

cd legacy
npm install --force
npm run buildweb
npm run server

Access the web interface at: http://localhost:8095

Legacy Server Configuration

Server Compatibility Notes

Support & Donation

Bitcoin: bc1qsm5akf0gf2jnnxvjpf6nn3cd2p29yt3svxva3g

Subscribe to autor (GitHub donations): https://github.com/sponsors/DEgITx

Contacts

License

MIT License © 2026