Shadowsocks

Shadowsocks
Original author(s)Clowwindy
Initial release20 April 2012 (2012-04-20)
Stable release(s) [±]
rust1.18.3  / 21 April 2024 (21 April 2024)
windows4.4.1.0  / 8 February 2022 (8 February 2022)
android5.3.3  / 7 February 2023 (7 February 2023)
X-NG1.10.2  / 29 March 2023 (29 March 2023)
Repository
Written inPython; Rust; C#; Kotlin; Swift; Objective-C; C; Go; C++ 
Operating systemUnix-like operating system
Microsoft Windows
Android
iOS 
Typecommunication protocol
free software
Internet censorship circumvention 
Websiteshadowsocks.org 

Shadowsocks is a free and open-source encryption protocol project, widely used in China to circumvent Internet censorship. It was created in 2012 by a Chinese programmer named "clowwindy", and multiple implementations of the protocol have been made available since. Shadowsocks is not a proxy on its own, but (typically) is the client software to help connect to a third-party SOCKS5 proxy. Once connected, internet traffic can then be directed through the proxy. Unlike an SSH tunnel, Shadowsocks can also proxy User Datagram Protocol (UDP) traffic.