Getting Started

This page walks through the first run: getting a configuration into Chute, selecting it, starting the proxy, and verifying that traffic flows. Everything else in this manual builds on a working setup.

Chute iOS

1. Get a configuration

On the first launch with no configurations, Chute opens a setup guide ("Welcome to Chute") with three paths: Subscription Link for a provider-issued URL, Scan QR Code, and Manual Setup, which asks for your server details, the sites to proxy, and a DNS choice, then builds a configuration named "Default" and connects.

To add a configuration later, tap the Config bar at the top of the main screen, then Add Configuration From...:

• Blank Configuration — opens the built-in editor with an empty configuration (see the minimal example below for what to put in it).
• Add Subscription — downloads from a subscription URL and keeps it updated: a native profile is saved as a managed configuration that re-fetches every 24 hours, or at the interval the profile's own #!MANAGED-CONFIG line sets. A Clash or sing-box subscription is converted on the way in and saved as a static snapshot with no update header, so it never refreshes itself — re-import it to update.
• Import from Local File — imports a Chute (.conf), sing-box (.json), or Clash/mihomo (.yaml) file; non-native formats are converted automatically.
• Sync From iCloud, Download From URL, Upload File Via Wi-Fi, Download From QR Code — additional transports for the same thing.

Without a license an iPhone or iPad holds one configuration. Once there is one, every channel above raises the purchase alert, as does selecting a different configuration — see License and Activation.

2. Select it

In the configuration list, tap a configuration so a checkmark appears, then tap Done. Chute always runs the selected configuration — with none selected, the main switch refuses to start ("Please select configuration first").

3. Start and authorize

Tap the round switch on the main screen. On the very first start iOS asks to add a VPN configuration — approve it and confirm with Face ID / Touch ID / passcode. If you declined the prompt, just toggle again; if the VPN profile ever gets stuck, Reset VPN Configuration in the app's settings removes it so the next start re-creates it.

4. Verify

Once the switch is on, leave the outbound mode on Rule-Based (the Direct / Global modes bypass or force the proxy wholesale), then open a website. The Dashboard button shows live traffic and per-connection detail — the quickest way to confirm the configuration behaves as intended.

Chute Mac

Chute Mac lives in the menu bar (there is no Dock icon by default). Click the menu bar icon:

1. Import a configuration — Import Configuration... opens the main window's Profiles tab, which offers Import from File… for a file on disk and Import from URL or Share Link… for a subscription URL or a share link (ss://, vmess://, ...; of the four apps, only Chute Mac imports share links). Setup Assistant... builds one step by step instead. Both menu items appear only while the proxy is stopped. Subscription and converted profiles are stored under ~/Library/Application Support/<bundle id>/Profiles/; files imported from disk are referenced in place.
2. Select it — Select Configuration File, or Switch Configuration while the proxy is running. The first time the engine starts, Chute installs the privileged helper that sets the system proxy and creates Enhanced Mode's interface: it explains why (Chute Needs a Helper), then macOS asks you to authorize it. On macOS 13 and later the helper may also have to be allowed under System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions; Chute says so with Approval Required or Allow Chute in Login Items.
3. Turn it on — two independent switches serve different needs:
   • System Proxy — the toggle at the top of the menu. Registers Chute as the system HTTP/SOCKS proxy; apps that honor the system proxy go through Chute.
   • Enhanced Mode (⌘E) — captures all traffic at the network layer, including apps that ignore the system proxy. Its default type, Helper utun (Legacy), shows a notice before it turns on and needs no further approval; only the PacketTunnel (Recommended) type asks you to approve Chute's network extension and VPN configuration. See Enhanced Mode for the type choice and approval flow.
4. Verify — the menu header reads "System Proxy: Active", and the main window's Traffic and Log tabs show what is flowing and why.

Notice: These steps describe the new main window. Chute Mac turns it on by itself only for an install that has no configuration yet; an install that already had configurations keeps the older interface: its menu offers Preferences... in place of Open Dashboard..., and that window has no Traffic or Log tab. Tick Use New Main UI in the menu — it is listed while the proxy is running — to switch.

Chute tvOS

Chute tvOS adds a configuration on its own. On the configuration list, Add Configuration From... offers Blank Configuration, Upload File Via Wi-Fi or Chute iOS and Download From URL. The Wi-Fi upload puts a plain HTTP page on the TV's address that any browser on the same network can post a file to; opened from an iPhone, that page hands off to Chute iOS through the chute://tv URL scheme, which is where the remote-configuration import view comes in. The single-configuration limit is the same as on iOS.

Chute Android

The first run on Android — adding a configuration, the VPN consent, the service and per-app modes, and where to verify — has its own page: Getting Started on Android. The minimal configuration below works there unchanged.

A minimal configuration

A complete, working configuration for one Shadowsocks server — routes LAN and Chinese traffic direct, everything else through the proxy:

[General]
loglevel = notify
dns-server = 1.1.1.1, 8.8.8.8
skip-proxy = 127.0.0.1, 192.168.0.0/16, 10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12, 100.64.0.0/10, localhost, *.local

[Proxy]
MyProxy = ss, example.com, 8388, aes-256-gcm, "password"

[Proxy Group]
MainGroup = select, MyProxy, DIRECT

[Rule]
IP-CIDR,192.168.0.0/16,DIRECT
IP-CIDR,10.0.0.0/8,DIRECT
IP-CIDR,172.16.0.0/12,DIRECT
IP-CIDR,127.0.0.0/8,DIRECT
GEOIP,CN,DIRECT
FINAL,MainGroup

Replace the [Proxy] line with your server's protocol and parameters — every supported protocol is documented in Proxy Server. From here:

• Configuration — the file format and every section.
• Rule — how rules are evaluated and the full rule-type catalog.
• Policy Group — automatic selection (url-test, fallback, load-balance).
• Troubleshooting — when something doesn't work.