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Complete keyboard shortcut reference for sipnab’s interactive TUI.

You can remap keys marked (configurable) in the [keybindings] config section. See config-reference.md for details. All other keys are hardcoded.

Annotated screenshots of every view are in the TUI visual tour at the bottom of this page.

Essential keys

Quick start:

  • j/k for vim-style up/down.
  • Enter to drill into a call.
  • Esc to go back.
  • Tab to switch between Call List and RTP Streams.
KeyActionViews
j / kNavigate down / upAll list and scroll views
EnterDrill in (call flow, raw message, stream detail)Call List, Call Flow, RTP Streams
EscBack to the previous view (asks to quit from the Call List)All views
TabSwitch between Call List and RTP StreamsCall List, RTP Streams
/SearchCall List, Raw Message, RTP Streams
F7Open filter dialogCall List, Call Flow, RTP Streams
F2Save capture (or the selected stream’s audio)Call List, Call Flow, Raw Message, RTP Streams, Stream Detail
SpaceStar dialogs for multi-select — save them, or open them as one merged flowCall List
tCycle timestamp modeCall List, Call Flow
F1HelpCall List, Call Flow, Raw Message, Message Diff, Combined Detail, RTP Streams, Stream Detail

Global

KeyAction
Ctrl+CForce quit (skips the confirmation)
Ctrl+LClear calls — Call List only, same as F5 there
vShow version (with git commit) in the status line
nCycle name resolution (Off / Static / DNS)
NName the selected address (map IP → host/FQDN)
FShow the filter the F7 dialog built as a summary or in full on status line 3 (configurable: filter_detail)
F12Toggle mouse capture — off enables the terminal’s native drag-to-select (wheel scrolling pauses until re-enabled)
Mouse wheelScroll (every view: lists move the selection, text views scroll)

Quit confirmation

Esc and the quit key open a confirmation rather than ending the session.

  • Esc means “go back” in every other view.
  • It was ending captures that had been running for hours.
KeyAction
Y, EnterQuit
N, Esc, qReturn to the session
Ctrl+CQuit at once, from anywhere, including this dialog

Any other key leaves the question on screen. A stray keypress must not dismiss the dialog, and it certainly must not answer it.

v, n, and F12 ship as fallbacks.

  • A key you explicitly rebind in [keybindings] always wins over them.
  • In the Raw Message view with an active search, n/N are match navigation instead.

Copying text

Clipboard copies (y in the Raw Message view, E in the Call Flow view) use OSC 52. This is an escape sequence the terminal maps to your system clipboard.

  • It travels in-band over the pty. So it works across SSH with no X11 forwarding.
  • Your terminal must support it. Most modern ones (kitty, WezTerm, iTerm2, Windows Terminal, foot, recent xterm) do.

On top of OSC 52, sipnab also feeds pbcopy/xclip silently when one is available.

  • Copies stop at 72 KiB (terminals limit OSC 52 payloads).
  • The status line reports how much it copied.

To select arbitrary screen text with the mouse:

  • Press F12 to turn mouse capture off.
  • Drag as usual.
  • Press F12 again to get wheel scrolling back.

In many terminals, holding Shift while dragging bypasses mouse capture without toggling anything. To start every session with capture off, set mouse_capture = false under [display] in the config file.

Call list

KeyAction
Up / kNavigate up
Down / jNavigate down
PgUpPage up
PgDnPage down
HomeJump to first dialog
EndJump to last dialog
EnterOpen call flow for the selected dialog — with two or more starred rows, opens one chronologically merged flow of all of them
SpaceStar/unstar dialog ([*]) for multi-select: F2 saves all starred dialogs, Enter opens them as one merged flow
Esc / qQuit, after a confirmation (configurable: quit)
<Sort by previous column
>Sort by next column
ZReverse sort direction
AToggle autoscroll (configurable: autoscroll)
pPause/resume capture (configurable: pause)
/Activate search (configurable: search) — while typing, ↑/↓/PgUp/PgDn/Home/End move the highlight in the narrowed list, Space stars rows, and Enter commits the query and opens the selection in one press
iClear non-matching dialogs
IClear matching dialogs
tCycle timestamp mode (absolute / delta from previous / delta from first / scaled)
uCycle From/To column display (default / host:port / user / user@host:port)
r / F6Show raw SIP message for selected dialog
sSwitch to Statistics view
hOpen the Capture health panel: drops, undecodable frames, and on a -L run the HEP listener’s senders
gOpen Top talkers: every source IP ranked by the dialogs it took part in
mOpen Carrier metrics: ASR, NER and ACD per destination IP
cOpen Compare two calls for the two starred dialogs (star exactly two with Space first; any other count leaves a hint on the status line)
eOpen the Endpoint rollup for the selected dialog’s source address
bOpen the Call volume histogram: calls per 60-second bucket
oOpen the SDP offer/answer timeline of the selected dialog
fOpen the RFC conformance findings of the selected dialog
xOpen TFPS observe: the sources an enforcing TFPS peer bans, and its drop counters
aOpen Security findings: the alerts of the armed detectors
BOpen the Capture filter editor to append an expression to the BPF capture filter
NName the selected dialog’s addresses (map IP → host/FQDN; Tab switches between source and destination)
SOpen the Relay statistics view — asks the live relay for its own counters (s asks what this capture saw, S asks what the relay says). See Relay statistics
DOpen the Quality Dashboard (live MOS/jitter/loss)
TOpen the call timeline for the selected dialog (Esc / q closes it)
OOpen pcap file (File Open dialog)
F8Open Settings popup (configurable: settings)
TabSwitch to RTP Streams view
F1 / ?Help (configurable: help)
F2Save capture (configurable: save)
F3Search (same as /) — matches Call-ID, method, From/To user, addresses, dialog state, and the full raw message text (headers and bodies, including SDP and multipart payloads)
F4Open extended multi-leg flow for the selected dialog (configurable: extended_flow)
F5 / Ctrl+LClear calls (configurable: clear_calls) — the starred dialogs when any carry a star, otherwise all of them. Ctrl+L is a fixed alias
F7Open filter dialog (configurable: filter)
F9Clear filter: drops the view filter and the persisted search
F10Column selector (configurable: column_selector) — a popup to show/hide any of the eleven Call List columns (#, Method, From, To, Source, Destination, State, Msgs, Date, PDD, Duration)

A search committed with Enter keeps narrowing the list. It appears on the status line as Search: /query (F9 clears). F9 clears it together with any active filter.

Gotcha: the clear_calls action binds F5 in both views.

  • In the Call List it clears calls.
  • In the Call Flow it resets a pending message-compare selection.
  • Rebinding clear_calls moves both.

Call flow

KeyAction
Tab / Shift+TabSwitch focus between the ladder (left) and detail (right) panes
Up / kPrevious message or RTP row — or scroll detail up when the detail pane has focus
Down / jNext message or RTP row — or scroll detail down when the detail pane has focus
PgUpPage up (ladder, or detail when focused)
PgDnPage down (ladder, or detail when focused)
HomeJump to first message (or top of detail when focused)
EndJump to last message (or bottom of detail when focused)
EnterOpen full-screen raw message view — or, with the cursor on an RTP stream’s row, that stream’s Stream Detail view (MOS, jitter, quality intervals, burst/gap analysis, silence detection, sparklines)
SpaceSelect message for diff (press on two messages to compare)
qQuit, after a confirmation (configurable: quit)
EscBack to call list
dCycle SDP display mode (hidden / summary / full)
tCycle timestamp mode (absolute / delta from previous / delta from first / scaled)
cCycle color scheme (method / Call-ID / CSeq)
hCycle header-name display (as captured / expanded / compact) — visual only, rewrites From: ↔ f: etc. in the message text views
RShow or hide the detail pane
+ / = / 0 / LeftWiden the detail pane, narrowing the ladder (with the detail pane off, shows a hint instead)
- / 9 / RightNarrow the detail pane, widening the ladder (with the detail pane off, shows a hint instead)
wToggle line wrapping in the detail pane (off = long lines truncate and a scrollbar appears along the bottom edge)
← / →Scroll the detail pane horizontally when it has focus with wrap off
[Scroll the detail pane up
]Scroll the detail pane down
eExpand/collapse the selected fold header (retransmissions, auth retries)
fFilter the ladder to the selected message’s transaction (toggle)
aOpen combined detail for the selected message’s transaction
AOpen combined detail for the whole dialog
mSet mark at current message — navigate to another message and sipnab shows the delta between the mark and the cursor, for measuring the delay between two specific SIP messages
MClear mark
EExport Mermaid sequence diagram to clipboard
yCopy the selected message’s raw text to the clipboard, as the raw message view shows it (see Copying text)
CWrite, amend or remove your note on the selected message. The note is yours, never sipnab’s analysis: sipnab shows it in a pane titled so, marks the row with ✎, writes it as a packet comment when you save PCAP-NG, and saves it to a notes file with the NOTES save format. See Operator notes
x / F4Toggle extended multi-leg flow (configurable: extended_flow) — shows related B2BUA/SBC call legs together, for tracing a call through proxies and back-to-back user agents
rOpen RTP Streams narrowed to this call’s streams (in a merged or extended flow, every call the flow shows). a there switches to every stream and back, and Esc returns here with the selected message kept
NName endpoints (map IP → host/FQDN, and Tab/Shift+Tab switch between the offered participants)
F1 / ?Help (configurable: help)
F2Save (configurable: save)
F5Reset message-compare selection (configurable: clear_calls)
F6 / Ctrl+RToggle the call’s RTP streams in the ladder: one arrow per stream, from sender to receiver, with codec, packet count and a one-way mark (see Follow each RTP stream in the call flow). Ctrl+R is an alias for front-ends that cannot send F-keys
F7Open filter dialog (configurable: filter)
F9Clear filter: drops the view filter and the persisted search

While the detail pane shows, Tab moves keyboard focus between the two panes.

  • The status line names the focused pane (Focus: Ladder / Focus: Detail).
  • That pane gets a highlighted border.
  • When either pane has more rows than fit, a vertical scrollbar appears on its right edge.
  • [ and ] always scroll the detail pane regardless of focus.

Operator notes

C opens a one-line editor on the selected message.

  • Enter keeps the note.
  • An empty note removes it.
  • Esc leaves it as it was.

sipnab refuses a note over 4096 bytes, or one holding:

  • a control character,
  • an SDES inline: key,
  • a TLS key-log line,
  • or a digest response= value.

It says why on the status line without repeating it. A message sipnab read from no frame takes no note.

The note goes three places:

  • The pane under the flow, titled “operator note — not sipnab analysis”.
  • A PCAP-NG save, as the packet comment on that message’s frame. A line names the frame you typed it on.
  • The NOTES format of the save dialog (F2, Tab to NOTES). It writes the file --notes resumes from.

A classic PCAP save refuses rather than drop the notes. sipnab never reads a packet comment back.

Quitting with notes you have not saved to a notes file says so in the quit confirmation. Opening another capture asks first. The notes are about this capture’s frames, and opening another drops them.

Raw message

KeyAction
Up / kScroll up
Down / jScroll down
PgUpPage up
PgDnPage down
Home / EndJump to top/bottom
/Search within message
n / NJump to the next / previous search-match line (wraps)
sToggle syntax highlighting
cCycle color scheme
hCycle header-name display (as captured / expanded / compact)
yCopy the displayed message’s raw text to the clipboard (OSC 52, works over SSH — see Copying text)
CWrite, amend or remove your note on this message — see Operator notes
F1 / ?Help (configurable: help)
F2Save (configurable: save)
qQuit, after a confirmation (configurable: quit)
EscBack to the view you came from (call flow or call list)

Message diff

KeyAction
Up / k, Down / jScroll
PgUp / PgDnPage scroll
Home / EndJump to top/bottom
hCycle header-name display (as captured / expanded / compact)
qQuit, after a confirmation (configurable: quit)
EscBack to call flow
F1 / ?Help (configurable: help)

Combined detail

Opened from the call flow with a (transaction) or A (whole dialog). It renders every message of the selection as one scrollable document.

KeyAction
Up / k, Down / jScroll
PgUp / PgDnPage scroll
Home / EndJump to top/bottom
hCycle header-name display (as captured / expanded / compact)
F1 / ?Help (configurable: help)
qQuit, after a confirmation (configurable: quit)
EscBack to call flow

RTP streams

KeyAction
Up / kNavigate up
Down / jNavigate down
PgUp / PgDnPage scroll
HomeJump to first stream
EndJump to last stream
/Search streams (SSRC, codec, addresses, dialog) (configurable: search) — while typing, ↑/↓/PgUp/PgDn/Home/End move the highlight in the narrowed list and Enter commits the query and opens the highlighted stream
EnterOpen the Stream Detail view for the selected stream
DOpen the Quality Dashboard (live MOS/jitter/loss)
TabSwitch to Call List
aAfter r from a call flow: switch between that call’s streams and every stream. Status line 3 says which the list shows, and how many streams sipnab linked to no call
EscBack to the call flow when r opened the list from one, otherwise to the Call List
qQuit, after a confirmation (configurable: quit)
NName the selected stream’s source address (map IP → host/FQDN)
F1 / ?Help (configurable: help)
F2Save the selected stream’s audio as WAV (configurable: save)
F7Open filter dialog (configurable: filter)

Stream detail

KeyAction
Up / kScroll up
Down / jScroll down
PgUp / PgDnPage scroll
Home / EndJump to top/bottom
Shift+PPlay / stop the stream’s audio (G.711 or Opus; requires the audio build)
LOpen the packet loss map (RTP loss pattern) — a single screen with nothing to scroll, so Esc or q is the only key it takes, and either returns here
F1 / ?Help (configurable: help)
F2Save the stream’s audio as WAV (configurable: save)
qQuit, after a confirmation (configurable: quit)
EscBack to the view you came from (RTP Streams, Call Flow, or Quality Dashboard)

The Stream Detail view shows comprehensive per-stream quality data:

  • MOS score,
  • jitter statistics,
  • quality intervals,
  • burst/gap analysis (RFC 3611),
  • silence detection,
  • sparkline graphs for MOS and jitter trends over the stream’s lifetime.

Quality dashboard

Live call-quality overview:

  • aggregate MOS/jitter/loss,
  • the worst streams ranked first,
  • per-stream trend sparklines.

Open with D from the Call List or RTP Streams view.

KeyAction
Up / k, Down / jSelect stream (worst first)
PgUp / PgDnPage through streams
Home / EndJump to best/worst
EnterOpen stream detail for the selection
LOpen the packet loss map (RTP loss pattern) for the selection
Esc / q / DClose (returns to the opening view)

Statistics

KeyAction
Up / k, Down / jScroll
PgUp / PgDnPage scroll
Home / EndJump to top/bottom
Esc / q / sBack to Call List

Top talkers

Every source IP in the capture, ranked by the number of dialogs it took part in, then by messages.

  • Each row counts the participant’s dialogs, messages, INVITEs, and how many of those INVITEs got an answer or failed.
  • The view credits a participant for every dialog it took part in. So the shares overlap.

Open with g from the Call List.

KeyAction
Up / k, Down / jScroll
PgUp / PgDnPage scroll
Home / EndJump to top/bottom
Esc / q / gBack to Call List

Carrier metrics

Answer-seizure ratio (ASR), network effectiveness ratio (NER) and average call duration (ACD) for each destination IP. That is the address each call went to.

  • A call attempt is an INVITE that got a final response.
  • A group with no call attempt shows — rather than a zero.
  • The figures come from the same calculation as GET /v1/dialogs/rates.

Open with m from the Call List.

KeyAction
Up / k, Down / jScroll
PgUp / PgDnPage scroll
Home / EndJump to top/bottom
Esc / q / mBack to Call List

Compare two calls

Two dialogs side by side: Call-ID, state, final status, message count and the methods each carried. The view:

  • marks each field that differs (differs),
  • lists the differences by name,
  • shows a failed call’s diagnosis hints.

Star exactly two dialogs with Space in the Call List, then press c.

KeyAction
Up / k, Down / jScroll
PgUp / PgDnPage scroll
Home / EndJump to top/bottom
Esc / q / cBack to Call List

Endpoint rollup

Everything the selected dialog’s source address did in the capture:

  • its dialogs,
  • messages sent and received,
  • counts by method and by state,
  • INVITE outcomes,
  • registrations,
  • the User-Agent and Server values it sent,
  • its RTP streams with codecs, loss and jitter,
  • its most recent Call-IDs.

The same report as GET /v1/endpoints. Open with e from the Call List.

KeyAction
Up / k, Down / jScroll
PgUp / PgDnPage scroll
Home / EndJump to top/bottom
Esc / q / eBack to Call List

Capture health

The capture’s own health:

  • the loss, decode and media-path counters,
  • on a run with a HEP listener (-L), one line counting its senders.

Open with h from the Call List.

KeyAction
sOpen HEP senders
Up / k, Down / jScroll
PgUp / PgDnPage scroll
Home / EndJump to top/bottom
Esc / q / hBack to Call List

HEP senders

Who is feeding the -L listener:

  • each sender (the capture id it claims and the address it sends from),
  • its packet count,
  • when it was last heard and whether it went silent,
  • then every address the listener refused, with the reasons.

The same table --hep-senders prints at the end of a headless run. A session with no listener says so. Open with s from Capture health.

KeyAction
Up / k, Down / jScroll
PgUp / PgDnPage scroll
Home / EndJump to top/bottom
Esc / q / sBack to Capture health

Call volume histogram

Calls per 60-second bucket across the capture, one bar per bucket. The view scales the bars against the busiest bucket. Open with b from the Call List.

KeyAction
Up / k, Down / jScroll
PgUp / PgDnPage scroll
Home / EndJump to top/bottom
Esc / q / bBack to Call List

SDP offer/answer timeline

Each SDP offer and answer of the selected dialog in order:

  • its time,
  • the codecs,
  • the media address and port,
  • the direction attribute (sendrecv, sendonly and so on).

The row of a mid-call change names it:

  • on hold,
  • resumed,
  • codec change,
  • switched to T.38 fax,
  • media anchor moved,
  • or a transfer.

Open with o from the Call List.

KeyAction
Up / k, Down / jScroll
PgUp / PgDnPage scroll
Home / EndJump to top/bottom
Esc / q / oBack to Call List

RFC conformance

The selected dialog’s RFC conformance findings. They are the same ones GET /v1/dialogs/:call_id/lint returns. Each names:

  • its severity,
  • the RFC section,
  • the message it came from,
  • the rule ID,
  • what sipnab observed,
  • what the RFC expects,
  • and why it matters.

Open with f from the Call List.

KeyAction
Up / k, Down / jScroll
PgUp / PgDnPage scroll
Home / EndJump to top/bottom
Esc / q / fBack to Call List

TFPS observe

What an enforcing TFPS peer reports, read by running its tfps_ctl command:

  • the sources it bans now,
  • or its per-source drop counters.

The view only reads; it bans and unbans nothing. Without tfps_ctl on the PATH (or named by --tfps-ctl or [tfps] ctl) the view says so. Open with x from the Call List.

KeyAction
bShow the banned sources (the view opens on these)
dShow the drop counters
Up / k, Down / jScroll
PgUp / PgDnPage scroll
Home / EndJump to top/bottom
Esc / q / xBack to Call List

Security findings

The detectors armed on this run and the alerts they raised. For each finding: rule, source address, detail and time.

  • It shows 200 findings and gives the total when more matched.
  • With no detector armed, the view says that nothing was watching. So an empty list is not a clean bill.
  • The same report as GET /v1/security/findings.
  • Arm a detector with --kill-scanner, --fraud-detect, --digest-leak or --reg-flood.
  • With scanner detection armed, a Scanner responses: line says whether sipnab answers scanners. The TUI never answers one, so it reads detect-only, scanners are detected and never answered under --kill-scanner-detect-only, and none sent by this run otherwise.

Open with a from the Call List.

KeyAction
Up / k, Down / jScroll
PgUp / PgDnPage scroll
Home / EndJump to top/bottom
Esc / q / aBack to Call List

Capture filter editor

Appends an expression to the BPF capture filter.

  • The upper pane previews the filter in force.
  • The lower pane takes the expression.
  • Enter compiles the combined filter first. It refuses one libpcap rejects, with the reason on the status line.
  • A live capture then applies it to the running capture.
  • sipnab reads a single capture file again under it.
  • With several input files, or none, it reports that the filter compiles and applies nothing.

Open with B from the Call List.

KeyAction
TabSwitch between AND (narrow the current filter) and OR (widen it)
EnterCheck the combined filter and apply it
BackspaceDelete the last character
Up / DownScroll the preview
PgUp / PgDnPage the preview
Home / EndJump to top/bottom of the preview
EscDiscard the edit and return to the Call List

Relay statistics

The live relay’s own view of media, asked over its control socket. This is distinct from the Statistics view above, which is about what this capture saw. Open with S:

  • From the Call List it asks the relay’s global counters.
  • From a call’s flow view it scopes them to that call.

It needs a relay control address and a live capture. A run reading a file reports that it may not ask. The ask runs in the background. So the view never freezes waiting on a slow relay. Ask a media relay about itself shows the view against a live relay.

KeyAction
?Show the names the relay knows (what you can ask for)
KCompare the relay’s per-call count against this capture’s (per-call view only)
HShow what the relay holds now: the Call-IDs of up to 32 calls (press again to return to the counters)
Up / k, Down / jScroll
PgUp / PgDnPage scroll
Home / EndJump to top/bottom
Esc / SClose

Help

The help text can run past the screen, so it scrolls.

KeyAction
Esc / F1 / qClose help
Up / k, Down / jScroll one line
PgUp / PgDnScroll ten lines
Home / EndJump to top/bottom

Save popup

KeyAction
EscCancel and close
EnterSave to the specified path
TabCycle format forward (PCAP -> PCAP-NG -> TXT -> JSON -> NDJSON -> CSV -> Mermaid/HTML -> Markdown -> WAV -> SIPp XML -> RTP JSON)
Shift+TabCycle format backward
Left / RightMove cursor in filename
Home / EndJump to start/end of filename
BackspaceDelete character before cursor
(any char)Insert character

Save formats: PCAP, PCAP-NG, TXT, JSON, NDJSON, CSV, Mermaid/HTML, Markdown, WAV, SIPp XML, RTP JSON

Filter popup

KeyAction
EscCancel without applying
EnterApply filter (or cancel if Cancel button focused)
TabFocus next field
Shift+Tab / BackTabFocus previous field
DownNext field (or checkbox down)
UpPrevious field (or checkbox up)
Left / RightMove within checkboxes or text cursor
SpaceToggle checkbox / activate button
F9Clear all fields and active filter, close popup
Backspace / DeleteText editing in focused text field
Home / EndJump to start/end of text field
(any char)Insert character in focused text field

The SIP-method grid starts with an All master checkbox. Space on it checks or unchecks every method at once.

Settings popup

KeyAction
EscClose settings
Up / kPrevious setting
Down / jNext setting
Enter / SpaceToggle or cycle the focused setting

Settings items: Colors, Timestamps, Autoscroll, Detail pane, SDP, Syntax colors.

Values read as the rest of the TUI spells them: Delta from previous, Call-ID, Hidden, On and Off.

File open popup

The popup opens on the file browser. Tab switches to typing a path instead, and Tab again returns to the browser.

KeyAction
EscCancel and close
TabSwitch between the browser and typing a path, in either direction
Up / DownBrowser: move the selection
PgUp / PgDnBrowser: page through the listing
Home / EndBrowser: jump to the first or last entry
EnterBrowser: descend into the selected directory, or load the selected capture. Typed path: load that path
(any char)Browser: extend the name filter, which narrows the listing. Typed path: insert the character
BackspaceBrowser: trim the name filter, then climb to the parent directory once the filter is empty. Typed path: delete the character before the cursor
Left / RightTyped path: move the cursor
Home / End (typed path)Jump to the start or end of the path
DeleteTyped path: delete the character under the cursor

The browser lists:

  • .pcap, .pcapng, and .cap files,
  • their gzip-compressed forms (.pcap.gz, .pcapng.gz and .cap.gz),
  • archives of captures (.tar, .tgz and .tar.gz, and .zip and .7z in builds with the archive feature),
  • stored vCon containers (.vcon.json and .vcon.json.gz).

sipnab decompresses on the fly. It loads an archive as the set of captures it holds, member by member into one view. The status line says how many captures came out of the archive and how many members it did not read.

If sipnab cannot read the directory, the dialog shows the reason instead of a blank list.

  • The most common cause: sipnab started with sudo and dropped privileges to an unprivileged user that can’t read your home directory.
  • Run sipnab without sudo to browse your own files. See install.md for capabilities.

Archive password popup

A capture load that meets an encrypted archive member asks here when no password you configured opens it (see Archives).

  • The load waits for the answer.
  • The popup names the archive, the member and the attempt.
  • Each archive gets three attempts.
KeyAction
EnterTry the password. A wrong one reopens the popup, masked, saying so
EscSkip this archive’s locked members and load the rest
Ctrl-RShow or hide what you typed. The popup always opens masked, one dot per character, and masks again after every attempt. While shown, the title says “password visible”
Ctrl-UClear the entry
BackspaceDelete the last character

A paste arrives as one entry. So a password manager works, and no character of the password acts as a key.

  • The session remembers the password that opened an archive for that archive only. It forgets it when another capture opens.
  • The action trail says archive_password_accepted or archive_locked_members_skipped with the archive’s name. It never says the password or its length.
  • The status line counts locked members. It marks an archive that uses ZipCrypto, which protects nothing.

Column selector

KeyAction
Up / kMove selection up
Down / jMove selection down
SpaceToggle column visibility
sSave the current layout to [display] visible_columns in the config file this run loaded, or the user config file ($XDG_CONFIG_HOME/sipnab/sipnab.toml, by default ~/.config/sipnab/sipnab.toml) when none was (persists across runs). Refused, with a message, when the settings came from /etc/sipnab/sipnab.toml
Enter / EscClose selector

Timestamp modes

Press t in the Call List or Call Flow to cycle through the timestamp modes. Both views share the mode:

  • Absolute – HH:MM:SS.mmm wall-clock time
  • Delta from previous (default) – +N.NNNs time since previous entry. Color-coded in call flow:
    • Green: < 100 ms
    • Yellow: 100 ms - 1 s
    • Red: 1 s - 5 s
    • Bold red: > 5 s
  • Delta from first – +N.NNNs cumulative time from first entry
  • Scaled – delta-from-previous timestamps plus time-proportional spacer rows. So quiet gaps are visible in the ladder. The set of visible messages is identical in every mode. Only the presentation changes.

In the Call List, the timing column’s header names the mode. The column shows different data in each:

  • Start in Absolute (the dialog’s start time, HH:MM:SS).
  • +Prev in Delta from previous (time since the dialog above it, in the list’s current sort order).
  • +First in Delta from first (time since the first dialog).
  • The spacer rows of Scaled belong to the ladder. So the Call List shows Scaled as +Prev.

The F10 column selector and the visible_columns setting still call this column Date.

Timestamp Modes Comparison
Absolute:           Delta from previous: Delta from first:
14:23:01.000  INVITE  +0.000s  INVITE      +0.000s  INVITE
14:23:01.003  100     +0.003s  100         +0.003s  100
14:23:01.847  180     +0.844s  180         +0.847s  180
14:23:03.134  200     +1.287s  200         +2.134s  200
14:23:03.137  ACK     +0.003s  ACK         +2.137s  ACK
14:24:08.320  BYE     +65.18s  BYE         +67.32s  BYE

Tip: Delta from previous is ideal for spotting latency spikes in call setup. Delta from first is useful for measuring total elapsed time from the first message.

Name resolution

sipnab can display host names instead of raw IP addresses (Wireshark-style). It does so in:

  • the call list Source/Destination columns,
  • call-flow participant labels,
  • the RTP stream views.

Press n to cycle the mode (shown briefly in the status line):

  • Off (default) – raw ip:port
  • Static – operator mappings + the system /etc/hosts. No network traffic
  • DNS – additionally resolves via reverse DNS (PTR). A background worker looks names up and caches them (so the UI never blocks)

Names come from four sources, highest priority first:

  • operator-entered mappings,
  • then /etc/hosts (or a --names / [names] hosts_file),
  • then any Name Resolution Block in the capture you opened,
  • then reverse DNS.

Substitution touches only the IP. The :port stays (sbc-edge:5060).

To name an address in context, select a call-list row, stream row, or call-flow message and press N.

  • A popup opens with the endpoints of that row or message. A call-list row offers its source and its destination.
  • Each endpoint is pre-filled with the name it has now.
  • Tab and Shift+Tab move between the endpoints.
  • Type a host/FQDN and press Enter to apply every endpoint. An empty name clears that mapping.
  • Esc closes the popup without applying.

Naming an address turns resolution on automatically. sipnab saves the mapping to $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/sipnab/hosts (~/.config/sipnab/hosts) so it persists across runs.

Mappings can also persist into your config file.

  • Set [names] persist_to_config = true. N-dialog edits then land in the [names.manual] table of:
    • the file this run loaded (~/.sipnabrc, a --config file, whichever it was),
    • or the user config file ($XDG_CONFIG_HOME/sipnab/sipnab.toml, by default ~/.config/sipnab/sipnab.toml) when none was.
  • The edits leave comments and other sections intact.
  • When the settings came from /etc/sipnab/sipnab.toml, edits are not written there. The status line says so when the session opens.

You can also pre-declare mappings there by hand:

[names.manual]
"192.0.2.1" = "sbc-edge"

When saving a capture as PCAP-NG with resolution active, sipnab embeds the mappings as a Name Resolution Block. It reads them back when you reopen the file.

Related flags:

  • --resolve (start with resolution on),
  • --reverse-dns (enable PTR lookups, which implies --resolve),
  • --names <FILE> (preload an /etc/hosts-format mapping file, repeatable).

See cli-reference.md and the [names] section of config-reference.md.


TUI views

Call list view

The call list is the main view when sipnab starts. It shows all tracked SIP dialogs with their state, timing, and quality metrics.

sipnab -- Call List
 Live capture: eth0    Dialogs: 47 shown of 47    Autoscroll: on
 Capture filter (BPF): port 5060
 View filter: none
  #  Method     From           To             Src IP         Dst IP         State        Msgs  +Prev       PDD
▸ 1  INVITE     alice          bob            192.0.2.1      192.0.2.2      InCall         12  +0.000s     847ms
  2  INVITE     charlie        dave           192.0.2.3      192.0.2.4      Ringing         6  +1.234s     --
  3  REGISTER   admin          --             192.0.2.5      192.0.2.1      Registered      4  +0.012s     --
  4  INVITE     +15551234      +15559876      192.0.2.6      192.0.2.7      Failed          8  +3.456s     --
  5  INVITE     1005           1006           192.0.2.1      192.0.2.2      Completed      14  +0.003s     923ms
  6  OPTIONS    monitor        --             192.0.2.8      192.0.2.1      Completed       2  +0.001s     --
  7  INVITE     1010           +441234567     192.0.2.9      192.0.2.7      InCall         10  +0.215s     1.2s
  Esc Quit  F1 Help  Enter Open call  Tab Streams  F2 Save  F7 Filter

The three lines above the list say what you are looking at.

  • Line 1 names:
    • the source (Live capture: eth0 or File: call.pcap),
    • how many dialogs the list shows out of how many sipnab holds,
    • whether autoscroll is on.
  • Line 2 is the capture (BPF) filter the kernel applies. It is none when sipnab compiled no filter.
    • The filter can belong to a different source from the one line 1 names. Then line 2 says which after the filter:
      • [live capture] when a file opened with O replaced the screen while the live capture keeps running behind it,
      • [file re-scan] when B re-read a capture file under the filter.
  • Line 3 is the view filter from F7 and any search you kept with Enter.
    • It also carries status messages, with errors in red.
    • A line wider than the terminal ends in ….

The key bar at the bottom lists the keys of the view you are in, F1 Help first after the way out, and fewer of them on a narrow terminal.

Tip:

  • Press Space to star dialogs. A starred row shows [*] in the # column (the ▸ above is just the cursor).
  • F2 then saves only the starred dialogs.
  • Enter opens two or more of them as a single merged flow.
  • Use < / > to sort by different columns and Z to reverse sort direction.

Call flow view

The call flow shows a ladder diagram for a selected dialog, with timing, SDP, and RTP quality indicators.

sipnab -- Call Flow
    192.0.2.1:5060           192.0.2.3:5060           192.0.2.2:5060
     (alice UAC)           (OpenSIPS proxy)             (bob UAS)
          |                        |                        |
 +0.000s  |------- INVITE -------->|                        |
 +0.003s  |<--------- 100 ---------|                        |
 +0.005s  |                        |------- INVITE -------->|
 +0.008s  |                        |<--------- 100 ---------|
 +0.847s  |                        |<--------- 180 ---------|  +839ms
 +0.850s  |<--------- 180 ---------|                        |
 +2.134s  |                        |<--------- 200 ---------|  +1.28s
 +2.137s  |<--------- 200 ---------|                        |
 +2.140s  |--------- ACK --------->|                        |
 +2.143s  |                        |--------- ACK --------->|
          | ██ RTP PCMU MOS 4.2 ██ |                        |
          |                        | ██ RTP PCMU MOS 4.1 ██ |
+65.320s  |                        |<--------- BYE ---------|
+65.323s  |<--------- BYE ---------|                        |
+65.326s  |------- 200 OK -------->|                        |
          |                        |                        |
  Esc Back  F1 Help  ↑↓ Move  Enter Raw  d SDP  t Time  c Color  R Detail

Tip:

  • Press m to set a mark at any message. Then navigate to another message to see the delta badge showing elapsed time between them.
  • Press M to clear the mark.
  • Use d to cycle through SDP display modes (none / summary / full).

Raw message view

Full SIP message with optional syntax highlighting, searchable.

sipnab -- Raw Message
INVITE sip:bob@192.0.2.2:5060 SIP/2.0
Via: SIP/2.0/UDP 192.0.2.1:5060;branch=z9hG4bK-524287-1
Max-Forwards: 70
From: "alice" <sip:alice@192.0.2.1>;tag=as6e4f2c8b
To: <sip:bob@192.0.2.2>
Contact: <sip:alice@192.0.2.1:5060>
Call-ID: 3c9a82f1e7b4@192.0.2.1
CSeq: 102 INVITE
User-Agent: Olle/1.0
Content-Type: application/sdp
Content-Length: 263

v=0 o=alice 2890844526 2890844526 IN IP4 192.0.2.1 s=- c=IN IP4 192.0.2.1 t=0 0 m=audio 10000 RTP/AVP 0 8 101 a=rtpmap:0 PCMU/8000 a=rtpmap:8 PCMA/8000 a=rtpmap:101 telephone-event/8000 a=fmtp:101 0-16 Esc Back F1 Help s Highlight c Color / Search y Copy F2 Save

RTP streams view

Shows all tracked RTP streams with quality metrics. Switch here from the Call List with Tab.

sipnab -- RTP Streams
 RTP Streams: 14 tracked                                                         
  #  SSRC        Src IP:Port          Dst IP:Port          Codec   Pkts    Jitter  Loss%   MOS
▸ 1  0x1a2b3c4d  192.0.2.1:10000      192.0.2.2:20000      PCMU    4820    2.1ms   0.0%    4.2
  2  0x5e6f7a8b  192.0.2.2:20000      192.0.2.1:10000      PCMU    4815    1.8ms   0.0%    4.3
  3  0x9c0d1e2f  192.0.2.6:12000      192.0.2.7:22000      PCMA    1205    18.3ms  1.2%    3.4
  4  0xa1b2c3d4  192.0.2.7:22000      192.0.2.6:12000      PCMA    1198    45.7ms  3.8%    2.1
  5  0xe5f60718  192.0.2.9:14000      192.0.2.7:24000      opus    9612    3.2ms   0.1%    4.1
  6  0x29304150  192.0.2.7:24000      192.0.2.9:14000      opus    9608    2.9ms   0.0%    4.2
  7  0xdeadbeef  192.0.2.3:16000      --                   PCMU    340     --      --      orphan
  Esc Back  F1 Help  Enter Detail  Tab Calls  F2 Save WAV  F7 Filter  a All/Call

Tip: Streams marked orphan have no matching SIP dialog. This often indicates:

  • RTP arriving on unexpected ports (check your NAT/ALG config),
  • or calls that started before capture began.

Filter dialog (F7)

The filter popup lets you build filter expressions with text fields and checkboxes for common options.

sipnab -- Filter Dialog
 ┌ Filter ──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
 │  From user:       [alice                          ]  │
 │  To user:         [                               ]  │
 │  Source IP:       [                               ]  │
 │  Destination IP:  [                               ]  │
 │  Text in message: [                               ]  │
 │  Header:          [Name: text                     ]  │
 │  After:           [2026-07-07T08:00:00Z           ]  │
 │  Before:          [2026-07-07T09:00:00Z           ]  │
 │  Named filter:    [sales, support                 ]  │
 │  ──────────────────────────────────────────────────  │
 │  All       [*]                                       │
 │  REGISTER  [*]             OPTIONS   [*]             │
 │  INVITE    [*]             PUBLISH   [*]             │
 │     [ Filter ]                 [ Cancel ]            │
 └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
 Tab Next  Space Toggle  Enter Apply  Esc Cancel  F9 Clear

Each label says what its field matches:

  • From user and To user match the user part of the URI.
  • Source IP and Destination IP match the addresses.
  • Text in message searches every SIP message of the call.
  • Header takes Name: text, or a bare header name to find the calls that carry it.
  • After and Before take an RFC 3339 timestamp.
  • The empty fields show an example in gray.
  • Named filter takes the names of [filters] entries, separated by spaces, with or without the leading @. While it is empty, it lists the names the config defines.

Tip: Press F9 to clear every field and the method boxes at once. For anything the fields cannot say, the Filter DSL takes the full expression.

Status line 3 shows the applied selections as a summary, one short item per field:

  • 7 methods counts the checked methods. One checked method shows its name, as in INVITE.
  • From~alice names the field and the text it matches.
  • @sales names a [filters] entry.
  • after 2026-07-07T08:00:00Z repeats a time bound.

For example, F7: 7 methods, From~alice, To~bob · F full.

  • Press F in any view to show the full expression instead, and again to return to the summary.
    • The key is filter_detail in [keybindings].
    • Set view_filter_detail = "full" under [display] to start with the full expression.

Save dialog (F2)

Save captured data in multiple formats. Use Tab to cycle through formats.

sipnab -- Save capture
 ┌ Save capture ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
 │  Save to: /tmp/sipnab_20240615_120000.pcap                           │
 │  Dialogs: 47 (3 checked) · Messages: 212                             │
 │                                                                      │
 │  Packet capture                                                      │
 │    ▸ PCAP      Universal baseline (Wireshark, tcpdump, Homer)        │
 │      PCAP-NG   Modern format with metadata and annotations           │
 │                                                                      │
 │  SIP-specific                                                        │
 │      TXT       Plain text SIP messages                               │
 │      SIPp      Replayable SIPp scenario for QA testing               │
 │                                                                      │
 │  Structured/analytics                                                │
 │      JSON      Full call detail for ELK, ClickHouse, etc.            │
 │      NDJSON    Streaming-friendly for large captures                 │
 │      CSV       Summary rows for spreadsheets and BI tools            │
 │                                                                      │
 │  Reporting                                                           │
 │      HTML      Ladder diagram page (Mermaid), no dependencies        │
 │      Markdown  Call summary for tickets and incidents                │
 │                                                                      │
 │  RTP/media                                                           │
 │      WAV       Decoded G.711 audio per RTP stream                    │
 │      RTP JSON  Jitter, packet loss, MOS per stream                   │
 │                                                                      │
 │  Operator notes                                                      │
 │      NOTES     Your notes, to resume with --notes (not analysis)     │
 │                                                                      │
 │  [Enter] Save  [Tab/⇧Tab] Format  [Esc] Cancel                       │
 └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
 Enter Save  Tab Format  Esc Cancel

The path and the dialog count stay at the top on any terminal height. The keys stay at the bottom. Only the format list scrolls. With no dialog checked, the count line says none checked, so all are saved.

Tip:

  • Select specific dialogs in the Call List with Space before pressing F2. The save dialog shows the count and saves only those.
  • HTML writes a ladder diagram page drawn with Mermaid that you can open in any browser.

Settings dialog (F8)

Toggle display options without leaving the TUI.

sipnab -- Settings
 ┌ Settings ──────────────────────────────────────┐
 │                                                │
 │  Colors:           [Method]                    │
 │  Timestamps:       [Delta from previous]       │
 │  Autoscroll:       [On]                        │
 │  Detail pane:      [On]                        │
 │  SDP:              [Hidden]                    │
 │  Syntax colors:    [On]                        │
 │                                                │
 │  ↑/↓ move · Enter toggle · Esc close           │
 └────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
 ↑↓ Move  Enter Toggle  Esc Close

See also

  • theme-guide.md — recolor every TUI element via [theme]
  • config-reference.md — rebind the 12 configurable keys via [keybindings]
  • filter-dsl.md — the expression language the F7 filter dialog compiles down to (and the --filter flag exposes directly)