WatchYourLAN is a lightweight network IP scanner written in Go that provides a web interface for monitoring devices on a local network.
The tool solves the problem of tracking which devices are connected to a network and detecting when new hosts appear or existing ones go offline. It performs ARP scanning to discover devices and maintains a history of their online and offline status. The scanner can send notifications when new hosts are detected, helping users identify unexpected network activity or intrusions.
The tool suits self-hosted network monitoring scenarios where users want visibility into their LAN without heavy infrastructure. It works well for small to medium networks and integrates with monitoring stacks by exporting data to InfluxDB2 or Prometheus for visualization in Grafana dashboards. The project does not include built-in authentication but documents integration with external SSO tools and simple auth applications. It requires host network mode to function and runs on multiple Linux architectures through Docker or native packages.
Development activity shows consistent maintenance with support across multiple Linux distributions and architectures through packaged releases. The project accepts configuration through multiple channels including config files, the web GUI, and environment variables, indicating attention to deployment flexibility. Documentation includes examples for common deployment patterns such as authentication setups, suggesting the maintainer responds to practical usage patterns.