thor-lens

name	thor-lens
description	THOR Lens workflows for forensic timeline analysis. A web UI that imports THOR v11 audit trail JSONL logs for interactive exploration. Requires THOR v11 (audit trail not available in v10).

THOR Lens Skill

THOR Lens is a forensic timeline viewer that transforms THOR v11 audit trail files into an interactive exploration interface.

Critical Boundary:

• THOR Lens is a web UI application - users interact in the browser
• The CLI handles build, import, and serve - not scanning
• THOR Lens does not scan - it visualizes data from THOR scans
• Requires THOR v11 audit trail output (v10 does not produce this format)
• Not compatible with THOR Lite - Lite cannot generate audit trail output

Quickstart

# 1. Clone and build
git clone https://github.com/NextronSystems/thor-lens.git
cd thor-lens
make build

# 2. Import an audit trail
./thorlens import --log /path/to/audit.jsonl --case mycase

# 3. Serve and open browser
./thorlens serve --case ./cases/mycase --port 8080
# Open http://127.0.0.1:8080

When to Use THOR Lens

• Investigating timelines from THOR v11 scans
• Correlating events across time ranges
• Exploring high-score detections and their context
• Annotating findings with tags, comments, bookmarks
• MCP integration with Claude Code for AI-assisted analysis

References

• Quickstart - Get running in 5 minutes
• Build & Prerequisites - Go, Node.js, make requirements
• Import & Cases - Importing audit trails, case structure
• Serve & UI - Web server, UI features, keyboard shortcuts
• MCP Integration - Claude Code setup, MCP tools
• Audit Trail Generation - THOR v11 commands for audit trail

Troubleshooting

• Common Issues - Build, import, serve problems
• Empty UI - Why the timeline shows nothing
• MCP Issues - Connection and configuration problems

Examples

• End-to-End Local - Full workflow on local machine
• Case from Mounted Image - Forensic image workflow
• Case from SSHFS - Remote system via SSH mount

Helper Scripts

• scripts/validate_audit_trail.sh - Check audit trail file validity
• scripts/case_inventory.sh - List case contents and stats

Key Facts

Item	Value
Upstream repo	https://github.com/NextronSystems/thor-lens
Default port	8080
Case storage	./cases/<name>/
Input format	JSONL (.jsonl or .jsonl.gz)
MCP stdio	./thorlens serve --case <path> --mcp-stdio
MCP HTTP	http://localhost:8080/mcp (default)

Workflow Rules

1. Always verify audit trail was generated with THOR v11 before importing
2. Use --virtual-map and -j during THOR scans to preserve path/hostname context
3. MCP stdio mode is recommended for Claude Code integration
4. Never expose MCP HTTP endpoint publicly (no authentication)
5. If user has THOR Lite, explain that Lens is not an option - Lite lacks audit trail capability. See THOR Lite limitations.