Tor in the browser

Gateway server for tor-js — providing fast bootstrap data, WebSocket-to-socket relay, and WebRTC peer discovery so browsers can connect to the Tor network directly.

Fast Bootstrap

Pre-synced consensus, authority certs, and microdescriptors served as a compressed archive. Clients bootstrap in seconds, not minutes.

⇆

WebSocket Relay

Bridges browser WebSocket connections to raw TCP sockets on the Tor network, enabling circuit construction from JavaScript.

✵

Peer Discovery — planned

WebRTC signaling so tor-js clients can relay traffic for each other, enabling access even when gateways are blocked.

Bootstrap from this gateway

Download and parse the Tor consensus directly in the browser:

import { bootstrap } from 'https://this-server/torJsGateway.js';

const { consensus, microdescs, authcerts } = await bootstrap(
  'https://this-server/bootstrap.zip.br',
  (ev) => console.log(ev.type),  // optional progress callback
);

console.log(`Got ${microdescs.length} relay descriptors`);

Connect to a Tor relay

Open a WebSocket that bridges to a raw TCP socket on a consensus relay:

// Connect to a relay's ORPort via the gateway
const ws = new WebSocket('wss://this-server/socket/198.51.100.1:9001');
ws.binaryType = 'arraybuffer';

ws.onopen = () => {
  // Send raw bytes — the gateway relays them to the TCP socket
  ws.send(new Uint8Array([0x00, 0x07, ...]));
};

ws.onmessage = (ev) => {
  const data = new Uint8Array(ev.data);
  // Received raw bytes from the relay
};

Only addresses advertised in the current Tor consensus are allowed. The gateway rejects connections to non-relay or private IPs.

Bootstrap Inspector View on GitHub

Run your own gateway

Install from source (requires Rust 1.89+):

cargo install --path .
tor-js-gateway init        # create config at ~/.config/tor-js-gateway/config.json5
tor-js-gateway             # run in foreground
tor-js-gateway install     # or install as a systemd service

Manage the service with standard systemd commands: