Important
This project is NOT part of the official nftables project
A simple tool to display information from nf-tables in a more iptables-like format.
Requirements: python3-nftables system package must be installed.
# Fedora/RHEL
dnf install python3-nftables
# Debian/Ubuntu
apt install python3-nftablesInstall from private registry:
uv tool install --extra-index-url https://git.olen.net/api/packages/Olen/pypi/simple/ nft-viewerOr install from source:
git clone https://git.olen.net/olen/nftables.git
cd nftables
uv tool install .nft-viewer # Show all rules
nft-viewer -L input # Show only input hook
nft-viewer -s # Show all sets
nft-viewer -s my-set # Show specific set
nft-viewer -j # Output raw JSON
nft-viewer -x # Show exact counter values (no K/M/G)This tool
It complements the official nft tool, and tries to find a space between nft - where the output can be quite complex to follow, and iptables-nft - which I felt was to limited.
The tool is not designed to modify nf-tables rules, only to display them in an easy to understand format.
You can chose to display the entire ruleset, or just a single hook (input, output, forward, prerouting, postrouting), a single chain, or a set.
nft-viewer -L input
hook # chains
------ ----------
input 3
chain table priority default
--------- --------- ---------- ---------
MYCHAIN filter -10 accept
f2b-chain f2b-table -1 accept
INPUT filter 0 accept
handle pkts bytes target log proto filter
----------- ------ ------- -------- ----- ------- --------------------------------------------------
MYCHAIN/9 74.2 K 18.9 M accept inet ip saddr == @my-set
f2b-chain/3 27 1.6 K reject inet l4proto == tcp AND ip saddr == @addr-set-blacklist
f2b-chain/5 0 0 reject inet tcp dport == 143 AND ip saddr == @addr-set-dovecot
f2b-chain/7 20 1.6 K reject inet tcp dport == 22 AND ip saddr == @addr-set-sshd
INPUT/132 18.7 K 832.9 K reject ip ip saddr == @abuseipdb
INPUT/166 0 0 drop ip ip saddr == @fedotracker
INPUT/171 0 0 drop ip ip saddr == @talos
INPUT/174 0 0 drop ip ip saddr == @threatfox
sudo nft-viewer -L forward
hook # chains
------- ----------
forward 2
chain table priority default
--------------- ------- ---------- ---------
OLENNET_FORWARD filter -10 accept
FORWARD filter 0 drop
handle pkts bytes target log proto filter
------------------ ------- ------- ----------------------------- ----- ------- ---------------------------------------------------------
FORWARD/13 0 0 accept inet iifname == eth1 AND oifname == eth0
FORWARD/68 9.6 K 862.1 K accept ip6 ip6 saddr == fd00:ffff:42::/48
FORWARD/182 0 0 accept ip6 state in ['established', 'related']
FORWARD/183 0 0 accept ip state in ['established', 'related']
FORWARD/417 0 0 jump DOCKER ip oifname == docker0
If your terminal supports color, the output is even easier to read:
The output is ordered according to the chain priority, and you can easily get a good overview over what chains and rules are in use and how they are configured.
nft-viewer -s my-set
add set inet filter my-set { type ipv4_addr; size 65536; }
flush set inet filter my-set
add element inet filter my-set { 10.20.0.0/16 comment "network 1" }
add element inet filter my-set { 10.40.0.0/16 comment "another network" }
add element inet filter my-set { 172.16.0.0/16 comment "lan" }
Output here is actually the format to recreate the set, so you can easily run this command and redirect to a file (nft-viewer -s my-set > my-set.nft, add or modify entries, and just run nft -f my-set.nft to update it.
After searching and discovering nftwatch I was inspired to create something even simpler and more familiar when you come from an iptables-background, without all the limits of iptables-nft