Clash for Windows User Guide

50 articles covering installation, features, routing rules and troubleshooting.

AllGetting StartedFeaturesRules & RoutingAdvancedTroubleshooting
50 articles
Getting Started

Installing Clash for Windows: from download to first launch

The full flow from downloading the installer to first launch, plus three things to verify after installing.

2025-06-18 · ~2 min read
Getting Started

UI overview: what each page does

A quick tour of the five core pages — General, Proxies, Profiles, Connections and Logs — to build a mental map.

2025-06-20 · ~2 min read
Getting Started

Importing your first subscription and getting online

The complete path from pasting a subscription URL to successfully browsing, with a checkpoint at every step.

2025-06-25 · ~2 min read
Getting Started

What the system proxy is: what happens when you flip the switch

The mechanics behind System Proxy, which apps it covers, which it cannot, and why.

2025-07-02 · ~2 min read
Getting Started

Rule, Global, Direct: choosing an outbound mode

How the three modes behave, when to switch, and why daily use should stay on Rule.

2025-07-08 · ~2 min read
Getting Started

Latency tests: what the number means and what counts as normal

How the latency test works, what each range of values means, and why low latency does not equal high speed.

2025-07-15 · ~2 min read
Getting Started

Starting Clash with Windows, silently

Combining Start with Windows and Silent Start, and what to do when autostart stops working.

2025-07-22 · ~2 min read
Getting Started

Portable vs installer builds, and migrating between them

How the two distributions differ in data location and updates, and how to migrate without losing anything.

2025-08-05 · ~2 min read
Getting Started

Updating the app vs updating a subscription — two different things

Client updates and subscription updates are separate operations: where to do each, and how often.

2025-08-12 · ~2 min read
Getting Started

Uninstalling cleanly — without breaking your internet

The right uninstall order: restore network settings first, then remove the app, to avoid the classic no-internet aftermath.

2025-08-20 · ~2 min read
Features

The Profiles page in full: every subscription operation

Download, switch, edit, locate on disk, view traffic — what every button on a profile card does.

2025-08-28 · ~2 min read
Features

The four proxy-group types: select, url-test, fallback, load-balance

How the groups on the Proxies page work and when each type is the right choice.

2025-09-03 · ~2 min read
Features

The Connections page in full: what every column means

Reading Host, Rule, Chains and the rest — the page that answers 'where did this traffic actually go?'.

2025-09-10 · ~2 min read
Features

The Logs page in full: levels and common messages decoded

What info, warning and error each mean, plus translations of the log lines you will actually see.

2025-09-17 · ~2 min read
Features

TUN mode explained: how it works, how to enable it, when to use it

TUN takes over all traffic at the network layer through a virtual NIC — prerequisites and the exact steps.

2025-09-24 · ~2 min read
Features

Mixed Port: HTTP and SOCKS5 on a single port

What the mixed port does, how it relates to the separate HTTP/SOCKS ports, and what to type into third-party apps.

2025-10-08 · ~2 min read
Features

Allow LAN: sharing the proxy with phones, tablets and consoles

With LAN sharing on, other devices on the same Wi-Fi can use the proxy with nothing installed.

2025-10-15 · ~2 min read
Features

UWP Loopback: getting Microsoft Store apps onto the proxy

UWP apps are blocked from loopback addresses by default, so they cannot reach a local proxy until you exempt them.

2025-10-22 · ~2 min read
Features

Profile auto-update: setup and how it behaves

Give subscriptions an auto-update interval so the node list stays fresh, plus what happens when an update fails.

2025-11-01 · ~2 min read
Features

The General page, switch by switch

A top-to-bottom walkthrough that answers every 'should this be on?' in one article.

2025-11-08 · ~2 min read
Rules & Routing

Clash rule syntax 101: reading your first rule

Breaking down the 'TYPE,matcher,policy' three-part syntax so every line in the rules section makes sense.

2025-11-15 · ~2 min read
Rules & Routing

DOMAIN vs DOMAIN-SUFFIX vs DOMAIN-KEYWORD

The three domain rules match from narrow to broad; using the wrong one over- or under-matches. With examples.

2025-11-22 · ~2 min read
Rules & Routing

IP-CIDR and GEOIP: routing by IP

How traffic with no domain gets routed, and why nearly every profile ends with GEOIP,CN,DIRECT.

2025-11-29 · ~2 min read
Rules & Routing

Rule priority: why order decides everything

Clash matches top-down and stops at the first hit — two real-world cases show what wrong ordering does.

2025-12-06 · ~2 min read
Rules & Routing

The MATCH catch-all: writing the last rule

MATCH captures everything that slipped through; its policy defines the default fate of unknown sites.

2025-12-13 · ~2 min read
Rules & Routing

Nesting proxy groups: region groups + auto-select combined

Groups can contain groups — build a two-tier 'pick a region manually, auto-pick within it' structure.

2025-12-20 · ~2 min read
Rules & Routing

A custom direct list: sites that must never touch the proxy

Banking, payments and intranets misbehave behind a proxy — fix it with high-priority DIRECT rules.

2026-01-05 · ~2 min read
Rules & Routing

rule-providers: community-maintained rule sets

Skip hand-writing thousands of rules — reference community lists that update themselves.

2026-01-12 · ~2 min read
Rules & Routing

The no-resolve flag: skipping needless DNS lookups

Add no-resolve to IP rules so domain traffic does not get resolved early just to test an IP rule.

2026-01-19 · ~2 min read
Rules & Routing

Appending rules to a subscription with Mixin (without editing it)

Subscription updates overwrite manual edits; Mixin is the official patch layer that survives them.

2026-01-26 · ~2 min read
Advanced

Mixin basics: YAML mode vs JavaScript mode

YAML is simple but replaces whole fields; JS is programmable. How to choose, with examples.

2026-02-02 · ~2 min read
Advanced

Parsers basics: rewriting a profile as it downloads

Parsers hook the subscription download step and can treat each subscription differently — how they divide work with Mixin.

2026-02-09 · ~2 min read
Advanced

fake-ip vs redir-host: choosing a DNS mode

fake-ip is faster and poison-proof but confuses a few programs — understand the mechanism to fix issues properly.

2026-02-16 · ~2 min read
Advanced

Custom DNS: DoH / DoT encrypted resolution

Replace plaintext port-53 lookups with DNS over HTTPS — config example and the nameserver/fallback split.

2026-02-23 · ~2 min read
Advanced

The external controller: driving Clash over a RESTful API

The core exposes an HTTP API for status, node switching and connection control — the basis of all automation.

2026-03-02 · ~2 min read
Advanced

External Controller + third-party dashboards

Web panels like yacd connect to the core's API and offer another management UI — especially handy across devices.

2026-03-09 · ~2 min read
Advanced

UDP relay and gaming: enabling and verifying

Game traffic and voice run heavily on UDP; both the node and the config must support relaying it.

2026-03-16 · ~2 min read
Advanced

The two load-balance strategies

consistent-hashing pins each site to one node; round-robin spreads evenly — different jobs.

2026-03-23 · ~2 min read
Advanced

Using Benchmark properly: bandwidth beyond latency

Latency measures responsiveness; Benchmark measures real download bandwidth. You need both to pick nodes well.

2026-04-06 · ~2 min read
Advanced

Organizing and switching multiple profiles

Work, home, multiple providers — how to organize them as separate profiles, and what changes on switch.

2026-04-13 · ~2 min read
Troubleshooting

Proxy on, internet gone: the troubleshooting checklist

A six-step checklist that walks from node to system settings to isolate the outage.

2026-04-20 · ~2 min read
Troubleshooting

Why every node times out

All nodes timing out at once is rarely the nodes' fault — it is your uplink or a dead subscription. How to tell.

2026-04-27 · ~2 min read
Troubleshooting

Port already in use: fixing the bind error

Find the process squatting on 7890, or just move to another port — both paths, step by step.

2026-05-04 · ~2 min read
Troubleshooting

Subscription download failures: errors and fixes

From 404 to timeout to YAML parse failures — what each error means and what to do.

2026-05-11 · ~2 min read
Troubleshooting

TUN mode: no network / DNS dead — the repair steps

The four usual suspects when TUN kills connectivity: service mode, DNS hijack, firewalls and leftover adapters.

2026-05-18 · ~2 min read
Troubleshooting

When browser proxy extensions fight with Clash

SwitchyOmega-style extensions stack on top of the system proxy and cause spooky bugs — sort out the precedence.

2026-05-25 · ~2 min read
Troubleshooting

One app refuses the proxy: three ways in

First classify the app, then pick the right fix: system proxy, in-app settings, or TUN.

2026-06-01 · ~2 min read
Troubleshooting

Common YAML config errors, with fixes

Indentation, colons and quoting — YAML's three killers, each with a real broken example and the repair.

2026-06-08 · ~2 min read
Troubleshooting

Abnormal memory or CPU usage: where it comes from

The four usual sources: connection storms, debug logging, the always-open window, and oversized rule sets.

2026-06-15 · ~2 min read
Troubleshooting

DNS leaks: detection and repair

What a DNS leak is, confirming one with a test site, and the fake-ip + encrypted DNS combo that fixes it.

2026-06-22 · ~2 min read
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