WhatRuns API Documentation — There Isn't One
Searched for WhatRuns API docs? You won't find any. WhatRuns is a browser extension only. Here's the closest documented equivalent — a REST API with the same detection capabilities and a free tier.
WhatRuns has no public API, no SDK, no documentation. It's a Chrome/Firefox extension that runs in-browser and shows results to the user. You cannot call it from code, you cannot integrate it into a pipeline, and you cannot batch-process URLs. If you need any of that, you need a different provider.
Why people search for "WhatRuns API documentation"
The browser extension is good at one thing: showing a developer the tech stack of the site they're looking at, right now, in their browser. That works for spot checks. It breaks down the moment you need to:
- Detect tech for 100 URLs without clicking each one
- Enrich CRM records on a schedule
- Trigger a webhook when a competitor's stack changes
- Integrate into a CI pipeline or back-end service
- Run from a server that doesn't have a browser
All of these need an API. WhatRuns doesn't expose one — so the "WhatRuns API documentation" search lands on either dead pages or competitor tools.
DetectZeStack: the API WhatRuns doesn't have
DetectZeStack is a REST API with the same kind of detection coverage as WhatRuns (frameworks, CMS, analytics, CDN, ads, libraries, security headers) plus things WhatRuns can't see (DNS CNAME analysis, TLS certificate metadata, CPE identifiers for vulnerability lookups). Full OpenAPI spec at /openapi.yaml.
30-second quick start
# Free tier — 100 requests/month, no credit card
# Sign up at https://rapidapi.com/mlugoapx/api/detectzestack
curl "https://detectzestack.p.rapidapi.com/analyze?url=stripe.com" \
-H "X-RapidAPI-Key: YOUR_RAPIDAPI_KEY" \
-H "X-RapidAPI-Host: detectzestack.p.rapidapi.com"Sample response (truncated)
{
"url": "https://stripe.com",
"domain": "stripe.com",
"technologies": [
{
"name": "Nginx",
"categories": ["Web servers", "Reverse proxies"],
"confidence": 100,
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:f5:nginx:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"source": "http"
},
{
"name": "Amazon S3",
"categories": ["CDN"],
"confidence": 100,
"source": "http"
}
],
"categories": {
"CDN": ["Amazon S3"],
"Web servers": ["Nginx"]
}
}WhatRuns vs DetectZeStack at a glance
| Capability | WhatRuns | DetectZeStack |
|---|---|---|
| REST API | No | Yes |
| OpenAPI / Swagger docs | None | /openapi.yaml |
| API key | N/A | Free tier, no credit card |
| Batch (multiple URLs) | No | Up to 10 URLs / request |
| DNS CNAME analysis | No | Yes (CDN/hosting detection) |
| TLS certificate metadata | No | Yes (issuer, expiry, chain) |
| CPE identifiers | No | Yes (when available) |
| Webhook on stack change | No | Yes |
| Works server-side (no browser) | No | Yes |
| Pricing | Free (extension only) | Free tier; paid from $9/mo |
Endpoint catalog
14 endpoints in total. Full schemas in the OpenAPI spec. The most-used ones:
Frequently asked questions
Where is the WhatRuns API documentation?
There is none — WhatRuns has no public API. The product is exclusively a browser extension for Chrome and Firefox. No REST endpoint, no key, no SDK, no docs.
Does WhatRuns publish a REST API or SDK?
No. There's no programmatic access at all. If you need a tech-detection API, look at DetectZeStack, BuiltWith (expensive), or Wappalyzer (also expensive).
What's the closest equivalent to a WhatRuns API?
DetectZeStack — same coverage, REST API, free tier (100 req/mo), paid from $9/mo. It also covers DNS and TLS detection, which browser extensions cannot do.
Is there any way to call WhatRuns programmatically?
No supported way. Some developers have tried scraping the extension's internal endpoints — those are undocumented and break without warning. Don't ship anything that depends on them.
Where can I find example requests and response schemas?
DetectZeStack's full OpenAPI spec covers every endpoint with request/response shapes, error codes, and auth. Import it into Postman, Insomnia, or any OpenAPI tool. We also publish a Postman collection.
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