FormerLab has released shadow-fleet-tracker-light, an open-source tool that monitors over 1200 vessels from the Ukrainian GUR War&Sanctions catalogue in the Baltic Sea. The tracker connects to the AISStream WebSocket feed, plots live vessel positions on a self-updating map, and flags proximity to undersea cables. It runs locally without cloud services or subscriptions beyond a free AISStream API key.

Built as part of the Former Lab sovereign intelligence toolchain, the tracker detects loitering patterns and Russia-to-West transshipment activities. Users can add vessels directly to the watchlist while running, with changes picked up within five minutes. The tool includes a FastAPI dashboard for log inspection, vessel analysis, and interactive route replay, serving data from SQLite databases for offline analysis.

FormerLab maintains this privacy-first tool on old hardware without VC backing. Supporters on Patreon get early access to new tools and development updates. The tracker comes pre-populated with vessels involved in recent Baltic incidents, including those seized by Finland, Germany, Estonia, and Sweden for cable sabotage, sanctions violations, and smuggling operations.