Glossary
Clash Meta / Mihomo glossary
What core, client, subscription, proxy group, TUN, and Fake-IP actually mean, one entry at a time.
- Clash Meta
- The former name of the Mihomo core in the Clash ecosystem; casually also refers to the Meta-feature profile format and client ecosystem.
- Mihomo
- The common open-source proxy core today, written in Go, formerly Clash Meta. It reads profiles, matches rules, and forwards traffic, with no interface of its own.
- Core
- The program that actually runs the proxy logic. Clients are graphical shells around it; swapping clients does not change your profile.
- Client
- A graphical app wrapping a core, such as Clash Verge Rev, FlClash, or Clash Light.
- Subscription URL
- A provider URL a client uses to fetch nodes and rules. It usually embeds credentials, so keep it private.
- YAML
- The profile format, using indentation for structure. Indentation mistakes are the most common config problem; spaces only, never tabs.
- Proxy (node)
- One concrete server entry: protocol type, address, port, and credentials, listed under proxies and usually generated by the subscription.
- Proxy Group
- A bundle of nodes acting as one entry: select for manual choice, url-test for lowest latency, fallback for failover.
- Rules
- Decide whether each connection goes direct, through a proxy, or is rejected. Matched top to bottom, first hit wins, so order matters.
- System Proxy
- Hands the system’s HTTP/HTTPS traffic to the client’s listening port. Only covers apps that honor system proxy settings.
- TUN mode
- Captures all traffic at the network layer through a virtual adapter, covering apps that ignore the system proxy. Needs extra system permissions.
- Fake-IP
- A DNS mode where the core answers lookups with a placeholder IP first, then routes by domain, reducing DNS pollution and connection latency.
- DoH / DoT
- DNS over HTTPS or TLS. Encrypts lookups so they cannot be hijacked or read in transit.
- GEOIP
- Matches rules by the destination IP’s country or region. GEOIP,CN,DIRECT routes mainland China IPs directly.
- mixed-port
- A single listening port that accepts both HTTP and SOCKS5 proxy requests.
Want the full picture?
These guides put the terms back into real-world context.