Green Tunnel

GreenTunnel bypasses DPI (Deep Packet Inspection) systems found in many ISPs (Internet Service Providers) which block access to certain websites.

It runs a local proxy that splits the TLS ClientHello so the hostname you are visiting never appears whole in a single packet, and resolves DNS over an encrypted channel so your resolver cannot be used to block or observe you either.

Note: GreenTunnel does not hide your IP address and is not a VPN. It defeats hostname-based blocking, nothing more.

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GreenTunnel v3 is out now. A ground-up TypeScript rewrite: a new engine with real backpressure and timeouts, RFC 8484 DoH and DoT, a system-proxy layer that snapshots your settings and puts them back — even after a crash — and a rebuilt Electron app with a live log panel. Runtime dependencies are down to two. yargs, chalk, ora, debug, dns-socket, validator and winreg are all gone, replaced by things Node ships with. Open-source tools that help people reach the free internet shouldn't die — and with AI-assisted development, they don't have to. We'll keep doing our best to help people access the open internet, one packet at a time.

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A note from the maintainer

Contribute prompts, not pull requests.

I don't take large diffs anymore. If you want to change something in GreenTunnel, send the prompt instead — the final one, the one you'd hand to your own agent. Open an issue, label it PROMPT REQUEST, and paste it in.

I'll run it against the codebase, review what comes out, and open the PR for you — committed with your email, so it lands in the history as your contribution, because it is one.

Write it like you'd run it yourself: name the files, say what done looks like, say how to verify it. Several prompts in sequence are welcome — that's usually how real work goes. A sharp prompt is worth more to this project than a big patch: it's the part I can't write for you, and it's the part that decides what the code becomes.

Small, focused PRs — a bug fix, a typo, a dead link — are as welcome as they ever were. The world is changing. Let's build with it.

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Installation

Requirements

• Node.js 24+ (for the CLI and the library; the desktop app and the Docker image bring their own)

npm (recommended)

npm install -g green-tunnel

After installation, run with gt or green-tunnel.

Desktop app

Download the installer for your OS from the releases page — .dmg for macOS, .exe for Windows, .AppImage or .deb for Linux.

Builds are currently unsigned, so macOS Gatekeeper and Windows SmartScreen will warn on first launch. On macOS, right-click the app and choose Open.

Docker

docker run -p 8000:8000 sadeghhayeri/green-tunnel

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Usage

CLI

Usage: gt [options]

Server
  --host <ip>              Address to bind          (default: 127.0.0.1)
  -p, --port <n>           Port to bind, 0 = random (default: 8000)
  --https-only             Reject plain HTTP requests

Fragmentation
  --no-fragment            Forward the ClientHello untouched
  --fragment-size <n>      Bytes per piece          (default: 40)
  --tls-records            Re-frame pieces as valid TLS records
  --fragment-delay <ms>    Pause between pieces     (default: 0)

DNS
  --dns <mode>             doh | dot | plain        (default: doh)
  --doh-url <url>          DoH endpoint             (default: Cloudflare)
  --dot-host <host>        DoT server               (default: 1.1.1.1)
  --dot-port <n>           DoT port                 (default: 853)
  --dns-server <ip>        Plain resolver, repeatable
  --family <pref>          ipv4 | ipv6 | ipv4-first | ipv6-first

Other
  --no-system-proxy        Do not touch the OS proxy settings
  --log-level <level>      silent | error | warn | info | debug | trace
  -q, --quiet              No banner, no logs
  -h, --help               Show this help
  -V, --version            Show the version

Examples:

# Basic usage (auto-sets the system proxy)
gt

# Custom port
gt --port 9000

# Stricter fragmentation, for DPI that reassembles TCP
gt --tls-records

# DNS over TLS via Quad9
gt --dns dot --dot-host 9.9.9.9

# Leave the OS alone and configure your client yourself
gt --no-system-proxy

# Debug mode
gt --log-level debug

If a site is still blocked, see Good to know.

Docker

# Basic
docker run -p 8000:8000 sadeghhayeri/green-tunnel

# Custom port
docker run -e PORT=9000 -p 9000:9000 sadeghhayeri/green-tunnel

# Run in background, restart on reboot
docker run -d --restart unless-stopped -p 8000:8000 sadeghhayeri/green-tunnel

The container never touches a system proxy — point your client at it.

Environment variables:

Variable	Description	Default
HOST	Address to bind inside the container	0.0.0.0
PORT	Proxy port	8000
DNS_MODE	doh, dot or plain	doh
DOH_URL	DoH endpoint	Cloudflare
DOT_HOST	DoT server, when DNS_MODE=dot	1.1.1.1
DNS_SERVER	Plain resolver, when DNS_MODE=plain	system
FRAGMENT_SIZE	Bytes per ClientHello piece	40
FRAGMENT_DELAY	Milliseconds between pieces	0
TLS_RECORDS	Set to any value to re-frame as TLS records	off
NO_FRAGMENT	Set to any value to disable fragmentation	off
HTTPS_ONLY	Set to any value to block plain HTTP	off
LOG_LEVEL	silent…trace	info

Boolean variables are on when set to anything and off when unset — HTTPS_ONLY=false still turns it on.

Desktop app

A 340 px window with an on/off switch, a tray icon, and an Advanced panel for DNS transport, port, fragmentation and log level. It snapshots your system proxy settings before changing them and restores them when it stops — including after a crash, on the next launch.

Library

import { Proxy, SystemProxy, DEFAULT_BYPASS } from 'green-tunnel';

const proxy = new Proxy({
  port: 8000,
  fragment: { size: 40, tlsRecords: true },
  dns: { mode: 'doh' },
});

const { host, port } = await proxy.start();

const system = new SystemProxy();
await system.enable({ host, port, bypass: DEFAULT_BYPASS });

proxy.on('tunnel:open', ({ kind, host }) => {
  console.log(`${kind} → ${host}`);
});

// later
await system.disable();
await proxy.stop();

The engine and the gt command ship as one package, so v2's import { Proxy } from 'green-tunnel' still works unchanged. Runtime dependencies are just dns-packet and lru-cache.

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How It Works

HTTPS / SNI fragmentation

TLS's Server Name Indication (SNI) extension sends the target hostname in plaintext during the handshake — the one part of an HTTPS connection a DPI box can still read. GreenTunnel splits that handshake at the moment it forwards it:

• TCP split — the ClientHello is written across several small segments, so no single packet contains the whole hostname.
• Record split (--tls-records) — the handshake is re-framed into several individually valid TLS records. A box that reassembles TCP but inspects record-by-record still never sees a complete SNI. Legal per RFC 8446 §5.1.

HTTP

Plain HTTP requests carry the hostname in the Host header, in the clear. GreenTunnel relays them through the same split, so the header straddles a segment boundary and the DPI cannot match the blocked hostname.

Encrypted DNS

Standard DNS lookups can be intercepted or spoofed by ISPs to block domains at the DNS level. GreenTunnel resolves over DNS over HTTPS (RFC 8484 wire format) or DNS over TLS, so your ISP's resolver cannot return a poisoned answer or log the lookup.

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Good to know

• A site is still blocked. Try, in order: a smaller --fragment-size, then --tls-records, then --fragment-delay 10. Different DPI boxes reassemble differently, and one of the three usually gets through.
• Quad9 over DoH doesn't work. Their endpoint refuses HTTP/1.1, which is all Node's fetch speaks. Use --dns dot --dot-host 9.9.9.9 instead.
• Linux system proxy is GSettings, so it covers GNOME and its relatives. On other desktops, run with --no-system-proxy and point your browser at the proxy yourself.
• Terminal tools ignore the system proxy. No process can set another's environment, so curl, git and friends need http_proxy / https_proxy exported — the CLI prints the exact line for you.

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Repository layout

packages/cli/        green-tunnel — the only published package
packages/cli/src/core/   the engine: proxy, TLS fragmentation, DNS, system proxy
apps/desktop/        the Electron app

Development

npm install      # workspaces: packages/*, apps/*

npm run check    # typecheck + lint + test
npm run build    # core, cli, desktop
npm run dev      # the desktop app, with HMR
npm run dev:cli  # build the CLI and run it

⚠️ npm run dev points your real system proxy at the app. See CLAUDE.md for a throwaway-profile recipe, plus architecture notes, conventions, and what is and is not verified.

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Contributing

The main way to contribute code here is to send the prompt you'd run, and let me run it for you.

Prompt requests

Open an issue, label it PROMPT REQUEST, and paste in the finished prompt — or the sequence of them — that you want run against the repository. I'll run it, review the result, iterate if it needs it, and open the PR authored with your email. Tell me which address to use; otherwise I'll take the one on your GitHub account.

A prompt worth running usually has:

• Scope — the files or areas it should touch, and the ones it must not.
• Intent — what the change is for, so a judgement call goes the right way.
• Done — the observable result. "gt --port 0 prints the chosen port" beats "improve port handling".
• Verification — the command that proves it. npm run check is the floor; name the test you'd add.

Read CLAUDE.md before you write one. It's the same context I'd be handing the model, and it names the conventions, the constraints, and the mistakes this codebase has already made once.

Pull requests

Still open for the small stuff: a bug fix, a typo, a dead link, a doc correction.

• Use FIX:, ADD:, UPDATE: prefixes in the title.
• Keep commits focused and descriptive.
• Make sure npm run check passes.

Large rewrites and sweeping refactors won't be merged. Send them as a prompt request instead — same work, and you still get the commit.

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License

Licensed under the MIT License.