Open source project · GUI clients for five platforms track core updates
Download and configuration guide for Clash clients across every platform. From subscription import to rule-based routing to a TUN virtual adapter, each step is written as a concrete action you can follow: what to click, what you'll see, and what comes next. Troubleshooting articles and a glossary let you match error messages to fixes.
Clash isn't a single app — it's a family of clients built around the same core. Each platform has its own actively maintained GUI client, and the download page groups options, system requirements, and install steps by platform. The links below jump straight to each section.
Rules are the core mechanism in Clash: each connection is matched, in order, against domain names, IP location, or process names, and the first match sends it to a designated outbound; anything unmatched falls through to the MATCH catch-all rule. Common types include DOMAIN-SUFFIX, DOMAIN-KEYWORD, GEOIP (an IP geolocation database), and IP-CIDR (an IP range). Rules are matched top to bottom, so order is priority. Compared with manually toggling a proxy per app, rule-based routing works continuously once set up: sites in mainland China connect directly with no detour, target sites go through the proxy, and ad domains are rejected outright — the three types of traffic never interfere with each other. Most subscriptions already ship with a mature rule set, so beginners don't need to write one from scratch.
Where a matched connection goes is decided by its outbound, and there are three basic values: DIRECT connects straight out over the local network, PROXY forwards through a proxy node, and REJECT blocks the connection outright. PROXY usually isn't a single node but a proxy group: a select group lets you pick a node manually, a url-test group pings nodes on a schedule and picks the fastest, and a fallback group automatically switches to a backup when the primary node fails. Proxy groups can be nested — a regional group wrapped in an auto-test group, for instance. Once you understand outbound strategy, switching nodes stops feeling like guesswork: every option you click in the client panel maps to a specific group and node in the config file.
A subscription is an HTTP link pointing to a node and rule list hosted by a provider. Paste the link into the client's config/subscription page, and the client downloads and parses it into a complete configuration, then auto-updates on a schedule so node changes never require manually editing a file. There are two formats: native Clash YAML imports directly, while generic Base64 needs to pass through a subscription converter to become YAML first. When import fails, check three things first: whether the link is complete and not truncated, whether the response is actually YAML rather than a webpage, and whether the client's core version supports the protocols used in the config. Our setup guide walks through the import steps with screenshot-level detail.
System proxy settings only affect apps that honor them — command-line tools, game clients, and some desktop software bypass them and connect directly. TUN mode creates a virtual network adapter on your system, intercepting all traffic at the network layer and handing it to the Clash core for rule matching, regardless of whether an app cooperates. Prerequisites: Windows needs the service component installed as administrator, macOS requires granting a system extension, and Linux needs the corresponding permissions. Once enabled, pairing it with fake-ip DNS mode is recommended, to avoid DNS resolution happening before rule matching and throwing off routing accuracy. Everyday browsing works fine with the system proxy alone — turn on TUN only when you need full system-wide coverage.
Domain resolution happens before rule matching, so a misconfigured DNS setup causes two typical problems: poisoned results, where direct traffic gets the wrong IP and pages won't load; or resolution taking the wrong path, where GEOIP rules mistake proxied traffic for direct traffic. The Clash core ships a built-in DNS service supporting two modes: fake-ip returns a reserved-range virtual address and lets the core decide the real resolution path when the connection is established — the most stable pairing with TUN; redir-host behaves closer to traditional resolution and is more compatible with apps that are sensitive to IPs. Most subscriptions already include a usable DNS block, so this is the first place to check when you're "connected but pages won't load."
Clash started as an open-source rule-based proxy core written in Go, and its design — describing every behavior in one YAML config — earned it wide adoption in the tech community. After the original repository was archived, the community fork Clash.Meta continued development and was renamed Mihomo, becoming the de facto standard core today: broader protocol support, more rule types, and a more complete TUN implementation. Every major GUI client has switched over to it.
GUI clients and the core operate on two separate layers: the core handles protocol handshakes, rule matching, and traffic forwarding, while the client handles subscription management, the interface, and system integration. Clash Plus, Clash Verge Rev, FlClash, and similar clients are each developed and maintained independently, but they all read the same YAML config format — meaning subscriptions and rules move directly between clients, so switching clients doesn't mean relearning your configuration.
Code for the core and every client lives in public repositories, with commit history, issue discussions, and releases visible to anyone. Updates are community-driven: the core team fixes protocol and rule implementations, while client teams track core versions and iterate on the interface. The version info and installers on our download page mirror each project's official release channel — nothing here is modified before distribution.
The config format is plain-text YAML, which brings one practical benefit: any configuration problem can be traced back to exactly what a specific line says. You can back it up, diff it, and walk through it line by line in an article. Every guide and troubleshooting article on this site is built around this format, so you can follow along directly with your own config file.
git clone https://github.com/MetaCubeX/mihomo.gitThe core's source repository. Regular users don't need to build it — just grab a GUI client from the download page.
Breaks down the differences between Clash YAML, generic Base64, and client-specific formats, explains how subscription converters work, common reasons conversion fails, and how to move the same subscription between different clients.
READ →Breaks slow speeds down into three layers — node, route, and local settings — to isolate the problem: start with latency tests and switching nodes, then check protocol and port choices, and finally verify whether system proxy, DNS, or routing rules are dragging down direct traffic.
READ →The full fix for a bind: address already in use startup error: use netstat and lsof to find the process holding port 7890, decide whether to end it or change the port, and update your system proxy settings to match afterward.
READ →