A small cross-platform desktop control panel for running a local Tor SOCKS proxy.

FoxyTunnel

FoxyTunnel is a Rust/Tauri desktop app that starts and controls a local Arti-powered Tor SOCKS5 proxy. It is designed for users who want a compact desktop control surface for Tor routing without pretending to be a full VPN or whole-system tunnel.

The current app focuses on Windows and Linux desktop usage with a native window, a tray icon for quick show/hide actions, persistent settings, disk logs, and a small Tor Control panel.

Features

• Start and stop a local SOCKS5 proxy backed by Arti.
• Switch between SOCKS Only and System Proxy routing modes.
• Copy the local proxy endpoint, defaulting to 127.0.0.1:19050.
• Verify the active route through Tor Check from inside the app.
• Select a strict Tor exit country from a fixed list.
• Configure bootstrap timeout and connection logging.
• Save desktop settings across launches.
• Write live activity logs to disk while keeping the on-screen log clearable.
• Reset Tor runtime state/cache without deleting user settings.
• Use the tray icon to hide, restore, or quit the app.

Current Scope

FoxyTunnel is not a VPN and does not currently route all system traffic. SOCKS Only mode exposes the local SOCKS5 endpoint directly. System Proxy mode points Linux desktop proxy settings at the local SOCKS5 endpoint. On Windows, it points the system HTTP proxy setting at FoxyTunnel's local HTTP bridge for proxy-aware applications.

UDP and ICMP are not supported by the SOCKS proxy. DNS should be sent through SOCKS-aware applications using remote hostname resolution, for example socks5h://127.0.0.1:19050.

Desktop Behavior

The desktop app now uses a normal native system window on Windows and Linux. Closing the window hides it to the tray instead of quitting the process. Use the tray menu's Quit action to fully exit FoxyTunnel.

When the proxy is running, settings that affect the active runtime are locked. Stop the proxy before changing the port, exit country, bootstrap timeout, or Tor runtime data.

Development

Install a recent Rust toolchain, Node.js, npm, and the native dependencies required by Tauri on your platform.

Run the desktop app:

cd apps/desktop
npm install
npm run tauri -- dev

Run the workspace checks:

cargo fmt --check
cargo test --workspace
cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets -- -D warnings
cd apps/desktop
npm run build
npx tsc --noEmit

Run the CLI helper:

cargo run -p foxytunnel-app
cargo run -p foxytunnel-app -- --bootstrap
cargo run -p foxytunnel-app -- --socks
cargo run -p foxytunnel-app -- --socks --port 19051 --log

Building

Linux desktop build:

cd apps/desktop
npm run tauri -- build

Windows cross-builds from Linux require the Windows Rust target and a MinGW toolchain:

rustup target add x86_64-pc-windows-gnu
sudo pacman -S --needed mingw-w64-gcc
cd apps/desktop
npm run tauri -- build --target x86_64-pc-windows-gnu

When running the raw Windows executable directly, keep WebView2Loader.dll beside the generated .exe. On Windows machines without WebView2 Runtime, install Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime.

Configuration

Desktop settings are stored in the platform app config directory. Runtime logs are stored in the platform app log directory and can be opened from Settings.

Example config:

socks_host = "127.0.0.1"
socks_port = 19050
log_connections = false
exit_country = "DE"
bootstrap_timeout_seconds = 120
arti_state_dir = "target/foxytunnel/arti-state"
arti_cache_dir = "target/foxytunnel/arti-cache"

Use exit_country = null or omit it for automatic Tor exit selection.

Security

FoxyTunnel should avoid promising more protection than it can provide. Treat the current app as a local Tor SOCKS proxy controller, not as a complete network isolation product.

Please read SECURITY.md before reporting expected early limitations as vulnerabilities.

License

FoxyTunnel is licensed under the MIT License.