Install WireLens for Mac

What you need#

• A Mac with Apple silicon. On an Intel Mac WireLens captures, but cannot decrypt HTTPS.
• macOS 14 Sonoma or later.
• Touch ID or your Mac password, twice during setup.

Download and install#

1. Download WireLens from the download page.
2. Open the disk image and drag WireLens into Applications.
3. Open WireLens from Applications.

WireLens comes from us rather than from the Mac App Store, because App Store apps cannot get the system access a debugging proxy needs.

The Setup Assistant#

The first time WireLens opens, the Setup Assistant takes over the window. It has four steps, shown at the bottom: Welcome · Helper · Certificate · Start. Click a step to jump to it, and Back (⌘[) to go back. You can skip any step and come back to it later from Help ▸ Setup Assistant. A skipped step keeps a warning mark until it is done.

Step 2: WireLens Helper#

The helper is a small background tool that points your Mac at WireLens when capture starts and puts your settings back when it stops. You allow it once, and after that capture starts without a password.

1. Click Install….
2. macOS asks: "WireLens is trying to install a new helper tool." Use Touch ID or enter your password.
3. The step shows WireLens Helper is allowed. Click Continue.

On macOS 14 and 15 the helper is a login item instead. Click Set Up…, then turn on the switch next to WireLens in System Settings ▸ General ▸ Login Items. Open Login Items… takes you there, and the step ticks itself when the switch is on.

Step 3: the certificate#

To show you what is inside HTTPS, WireLens needs your Mac to trust its root certificate. The certificate is created on your Mac and its private key never leaves it.

1. Click Install….
2. macOS asks: "You are making changes to your Certificate Trust Settings." Use Touch ID or enter your password.
3. The step shows Certificate trusted. Click Continue.

This trusts the certificate for your account, which is what Safari, Chrome, Edge, Arc and most Mac apps use. Firefox, Node, Python, Java and the iOS Simulator keep their own lists: see The WireLens root certificate and Client setup.

Step 4: Start#

The last step sums up what is ready: Helper allowed and Certificate trusted, or what is still missing (click a chip to go back to its step). Click Start Capture, then open any app or website.

Under Also: are three shortcuts:

• iPhone & Android shows your Mac's address and a QR code for the certificate, to capture a phone through this Mac. See Capture other devices.
• iOS Simulators opens Tools ▸ iOS Simulators.
• Browsers & CLI opens Tools ▸ Client Setup.

The main window#

• ⌘R starts and stops capture. So do the button at the top of the sidebar, the toolbar and the WireLens icon in the menu bar.
• The sidebar lists every app and domain WireLens has seen. Click one to narrow the list to it.
• Select a row to read the request and response below the list. See The traffic list and The inspector.

Decrypt your first host#

Requests appear as soon as capture starts, but HTTPS hosts stay tunnels, shown as CONNECT rows, until you choose to decrypt them. Right-click a row, or a domain in the sidebar, and choose Enable SSL Proxying for followed by the host name. Then make the request again. See SSL Proxying.

How capture reaches your apps#

Settings ▸ Capture decides how traffic gets to WireLens:

When you stop capture or quit, WireLens puts your previous network settings back. If your Mac is ever left pointing at a proxy that is not running, for example after a crash, choose Capture ▸ Restore System Proxy.

Command line tools#

The wirelens command and the wirelens-mcp server come with the app, in /Applications/WireLens.app/Contents/Helpers/, and always match its version. Installing the app does not add either to your PATH.

For the MCP server that changes nothing: Tools ▸ MCP Server points your agent straight at the copy inside the app.

To type wirelens in a terminal instead of its full path, link it once with Help ▸ Install Command Line Tool…, or run:

/Applications/WireLens.app/Contents/Helpers/wirelens install-symlink

See Command line and MCP for AI agents.

Updates#

WireLens checks for updates by itself. WireLens ▸ Check for Updates… checks now, and the Updates group in Settings ▸ General decides whether updates download and install automatically and whether you get beta versions. Your captures, settings and license carry over.

Uninstall#

1. Stop capture and quit WireLens, which puts your network settings back.
2. Remove the certificate: Certificate ▸ Remove Certificate from Keychain…
3. Remove the helper: Settings ▸ Capture ▸ WireLens Helper ▸ Uninstall WireLens Helper ▸ Uninstall…
4. If you installed the Network Extension, remove it in Settings ▸ Capture ▸ Network Extension (Experimental) ▸ Uninstall… macOS may ask you to restart.
5. Drag WireLens from Applications to the Trash.
6. To remove captures and settings too, delete ~/Library/Application Support/WireLens.