Top 10 Clash Beginner Questions Answered (Setup, Modes, TUN & More)

Most beginners hit the same wall: the client's installed, but it's not obvious where to paste the subscription link. The mode switch is sitting right there, but the difference between the three options isn't explained anywhere. The proxy is clearly on, yet some apps route through it fine while others don't budge. The ten questions below are ordered by how often they come up in beginner groups and comments — each one gets a quick diagnosis and a fix, dosage included. For a full step-by-step install walkthrough with screenshots, head to the tutorial page; this post sticks to answers and quick fixes.

Getting the Client and a Subscription

Q1: Where do I download the client, and which one should I pick?

Clash itself is an open-source proxy core, but what you actually install is a client with a GUI on top of it. The original Clash core stopped receiving updates back in 2023, so most clients today run on the mihomo core (formerly Clash Meta) instead — it supports more protocols and is actively maintained. That's the main thing to check when choosing one.

Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android each have their own clients, all free and open source — grab the right one from the download page. If you're not sure which to pick, check the client comparison first and choose based on your OS and habits. iOS works under a different set of rules and isn't covered on this site.

Q2: What is a subscription link, and where do I get one?

A subscription link is a URL your provider gives you. The client checks it periodically to pull down the node list and routing rules. Clash itself doesn't come with any nodes built in — it just runs whatever config you feed it. No subscription, no traffic to route.

There are two ways to get one: buy a plan from a provider, and their dashboard will give you a subscription URL to paste into the client's import field; or set up your own server and generate the config yourself, which works if you don't mind the extra tinkering. Once imported successfully, the node list and rules show up in the client automatically.

The Three Modes and System Proxy

Q3: What's the actual difference between Global, Rule, and Direct mode?

The mode switch at the top of the client controls how all your traffic gets routed. Each mode is built for a different situation:

• Rule mode: the everyday default. The client checks each connection against the rule set — traffic to overseas destinations goes through the proxy, local/domestic traffic goes direct, and neither slows the other down.
• Global mode: every single connection gets routed through the current node, rules ignored entirely. Only switch to this temporarily if rules are misbehaving or you need everything forced through one exit — then switch back to Rule mode when you're done.
• Direct mode: nothing gets proxied at all, effectively the same as turning Clash off. Useful as a baseline check — if you suspect a node is broken, switch to Direct first to confirm your local network itself is fine.

Q4: What does the system proxy toggle actually control?

The system proxy is the master switch at the OS level. When the client enables it, your system's proxy setting gets pointed at a local port (usually 7890), and any app that respects the system proxy — browsers, most desktop software — automatically routes through it without needing separate setup.

Two things worth knowing: first, apps that ignore the system proxy setting (most games, some download managers and CLI tools) aren't affected by this switch at all — they need TUN mode or a manually entered proxy address instead. Second, if the system proxy is still pointed at the client but the client got force-killed and the local port is dead, you'll get a "nothing loads anywhere" situation — just turn the system proxy off manually to fix it. Quitting the client properly resets this automatically; leftover settings almost always come from killing the process directly.

TUN Mode and What It Covers

Q5: Should I turn on TUN mode?

TUN mode creates a virtual network adapter on your system and captures nearly all TCP/UDP traffic, regardless of whether an app respects proxy settings. Whether to enable it depends on what you're doing:

• Just browsing and using regular office apps: skip it, the system proxy already covers this.
• Playing online games or running apps that ignore the system proxy: turn it on.
• macOS and some Linux desktop environments have inconsistent system proxy support, so TUN mode is a reliable one-and-done fix there too.

Turning it on requires authorization (Windows installs a virtual adapter service, macOS asks for your password once), and it conflicts with other VPN-type software — only one can run at a time. It's best paired with Rule mode; otherwise local traffic gets swept into the proxy and takes the long way round unnecessarily.

Q6: The proxy's clearly on, so why isn't this one app routing through it?

Work through these in order — most cases get resolved by step three:

1. Confirm the system proxy toggle is actually on, and the mode isn't set to Direct.
2. Check that app's own network settings for something like "use system proxy" and make sure it's enabled.
3. If the app supports manual proxy entry, use 127.0.0.1 as the address, 7890 as the port, and pick HTTP or SOCKS5 as the protocol.
4. If none of that works, enable TUN mode to force it through.

If it's still not working after all four steps, the problem's likely with the node or the rules themselves — head to the troubleshooting page and dig deeper from there.

Day-to-Day Use and Maintenance

Q7: There's a huge list of nodes — how do I pick one?

Run the client's built-in latency test on all of them first, then weigh these four factors:

• Latency measures handshake time, not actual speed — anything in the 100–300ms range is fine for everyday browsing, no need to chase the absolute lowest number.
• Watch for rate multipliers (like ×2) — one unit of traffic there costs two units of your plan's allowance, so avoid high-multiplier nodes for heavy downloads.
• For streaming, check whether the node's location actually unlocks the library you want; for gaming, prioritize latency and how stable it stays during peak evening hours.
• Skip any node that times out during testing — don't waste time retrying it.

For a deeper dive into node selection, there's a dedicated post on the blog — this is just the quick-reference version.

Q8: Will updating my subscription wipe out my settings?

Updating a subscription only refreshes the node list and rules — it doesn't touch your mode selection, system proxy toggle, or other local settings. Two things can reset, though: providers sometimes reshuffle nodes, which can bump your manually selected node back to default; and any rules you've hand-edited directly in the subscription config get fully overwritten by the new pull. If you need custom rules to stick around long-term, use the client's built-in override (mixin/override) feature to save them separately instead of touching the original subscription file. How often to update is really up to you — do it whenever nodes start dropping in bulk, or roughly once a week; there's no need to do it daily.

Q9: Does closing the window count as quitting? Should I enable auto-start?

In most clients, clicking the close button just minimizes it to the system tray — the proxy keeps running in the background. To actually quit, right-click the tray icon and choose "Quit." If you use it daily, turning on "launch at startup" plus silent launch saves you from starting it manually every time. One note for laptop users: occasional disconnects after waking from sleep are normal — just reconnect to a node or toggle the system proxy off and on again to fix it.

Security and Multiple Devices

Q10: Is Clash safe to use, and can I run it on multiple devices at once?

The major Clash clients are all free and open source, with publicly auditable code, and the clients themselves don't collect your data. That said, your traffic still passes through your provider's nodes, so your actual privacy depends on how trustworthy that provider is — think twice before doing anything involving money or sensitive accounts over it. As for multiple devices: most subscriptions allow several devices online at once, with the exact limit set by your plan — just install the client on your computer and phone and paste in the same link on both. If you're using it on a shared or borrowed device, remember to log out and clear the subscription afterward — the link is effectively a password, and leaving it behind is like leaving your keys in the door.

That covers all ten. If there are terms you'd still like to nail down one by one, check the glossary; for a step-by-step install and subscription-import walkthrough with screenshots, see the setup guide. New questions are always welcome — come back anytime.