#Clash Setup Guide: From Importing Your Subscription to Verifying It Works

Before you start, you'll need two things ready — both are required:

• An installed Clash client. Download links for Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS are all on the Get the Client page, and Clash Plus is the top recommendation across all platforms; if you're not sure which one to pick, the Client Comparison page lays out the differences side by side. This guide uses Clash Plus as its main path, noting where other clients differ.
• A working subscription link. Log into your subscription provider's account center — you'll usually find a "Copy Clash subscription" button or similar. Clicking it copies a URL starting with https:// to your clipboard — that's your subscription link. It's effectively an account credential: whoever has it can use the nodes you paid for, so don't share it in group chats or post it on public pages.

Some providers offer multiple subscription formats. Prefer the one labeled for Clash; if only a "generic subscription" is offered, most modern Clash clients can auto-detect and convert it. If detection fails, see the "Installation & Setup" category in the FAQ — that's not covered here. Once you have both items ready, move on to step one.

This step has one goal: get the node profile behind your subscription link into the client and make sure it's "enabled." The exact location differs slightly across the three platform types.

Desktop (Windows / macOS)

Using Clash Plus and Clash Verge Rev as examples:

1. Go back to your provider's account center and copy the full subscription link. Use the "Copy" button rather than manually selecting the text — manual selection often misses trailing parameters, which causes a format error on import.
2. Open the client and find the "Profiles" page in the left navigation (some Clash Verge Rev versions label it "Subscriptions"). There's an input field at the top of the page with an "Import" or "Download" button next to it.
3. Paste the link into the field and click Import. The client immediately fetches the subscription, and within a few seconds a profile card should appear below showing the profile name — most providers also include remaining data and expiration date.
4. Click the card to select it — a highlighted border or a checkmark means the profile is now enabled. That's it for desktop.

Android

Clash Plus for Android has a "Profiles" entry right on the home screen, and the flow matches desktop: paste, import, select to enable. If you're using Clash Meta for Android instead, the path is a bit deeper: tap "Profiles" on the main screen to open the profile list, tap the "+" button in the bottom right, choose "Import from URL," fill in a recognizable name and paste the subscription link in the form, then save. Back in the profile list, make sure to tap the newly imported entry again — a selection mark next to it confirms it's enabled. Importing without enabling is the most common slip-up on Android.

iOS

After installing Clash Plus from the App Store, open the app, paste the link on the subscription management screen, and add it — the flow matches Android. The first time you tap connect, the system will additionally ask to add a VPN configuration; that's covered in step three and doesn't need attention during import.

The universal sign of a successful import: the profile list shows one enabled profile, and you can see the node information it carries. If you get a network error or a spinning loader during import, don't rush to reinstall the client — it's almost always an incomplete link, a temporarily unreachable subscription server, or a local network issue; see the FAQ for troubleshooting steps. If the subscription imports fine but later updates fail, that's a separate issue with its own entry there too. Once your profile is ready, move on to step two to choose a mode.

Every Clash client offers three modes, usually shown as a three-way toggle on the main screen or in Settings:

• Rule: Each connection is routed based on the rules in the profile — traffic to sites outside China goes through a node, local traffic goes direct. This is the recommended everyday mode and the default after importing a subscription.
• Global: All traffic goes through the selected node with no rule-based routing. Occasionally useful for sites the rules don't cover, or when you need every connection to exit through the same node.
• Direct: No traffic goes through the proxy at all — effectively pausing routing while keeping Clash running. Handy for checking "is this actually a proxy problem?"

At this stage, beginners just need to confirm the mode is set to "Rule." For a deeper look at how the routing logic differs between modes and when Global is worth switching to, see the "Usage Tips" category in the FAQ.

Selecting a Node in a Proxy Group

Once the mode is confirmed, open the client's "Proxies" page. Nodes here are organized by proxy group: profiles typically preset groups like "Proxy Select" or "Auto" — expand a group to see every node from your subscription. There are two things to do:

1. Click the lightning bolt or speed test icon on the page to run a latency test on the current group. Within a few seconds, a millisecond value appears next to each node — lower is better; avoid nodes showing "timeout" or grayed out.
2. In a manual group like "Proxy Select," click a node with normal latency — the node name highlights once selected. If the group is an auto-select type, the client picks the fastest one automatically and no manual action is needed.

The first two steps just got your profile and node ready — system traffic hasn't been handed to Clash yet. This step actually flips the switch, and the action differs across the three platform types.

Desktop: Turn On System Proxy

Find the "System Proxy" toggle on the client's main screen or Settings page and turn it on. Once enabled, the client points your operating system's proxy settings to Clash's local port, and traffic from apps that respect the system proxy — browsers, for example — gets routed through Clash. Windows may show a firewall prompt the first time; allow it. One boundary worth knowing: system proxy only affects apps that "voluntarily follow" proxy settings — command-line tools and some game clients bypass it entirely. For those, you'd need TUN mode to intercept traffic at the network layer, which is a more advanced topic — configuration steps and common pitfalls are in the relevant section of the Troubleshooting Handbook; you don't need it for a first setup.

Android: Allow the VPN Permission

Tap the connect button on the main screen, and the system shows a "Connection request" dialog explaining that the app will establish a VPN connection — this is the standard way Android clients take over traffic. Tap "Allow" or "OK." Once granted, a key-shaped VPN icon appears in the status bar and the client's button switches to "Connected." This permission is only requested once — future connections won't ask again.

iOS: Add a VPN Configuration

The first time you tap connect, the system prompts "Would like to add a VPN configuration" — tap Allow and authenticate with your passcode, Touch ID, or Face ID. Once done, a VPN badge appears at the top of Settings, meaning traffic is now handled by the client. After that, daily connections are just a single toggle inside the app.

Regardless of platform, don't judge success by feel once you've connected — move on to step four and verify explicitly.

There are three verification methods, from simple to thorough — pick any one, though doing at least the first two is recommended:

1. Visit a site directly in your browser. Open a site outside China that was previously unreachable; loading successfully confirms the proxy path is working. If you just switched nodes, force-refresh to rule out cache interference.
2. Check the connections panel. Open the client's "Connections" or "Logs" page, then visit a few pages. New connection entries should keep appearing, each showing the destination domain, the matched rule, and the proxy group used — an entry like "domain → proxy group → node" confirms traffic really is being routed through Clash, not bypassing it.
3. Verify from the command line (desktop). Send a request explicitly through Clash's local mixed port (default 7890) to an external probe address:

curl -x http://127.0.0.1:7890 -I https://www.google.com/generate_204

A response like HTTP/2 204 or similar success status confirms both the port and the node are working. If you've changed the local port, replace 7890 with the actual port shown in the client's settings.

If It's Not Working

Run through these quickly in order — most issues are resolved within the first three:

• Go back to step two and try a different node with normal latency — a single node failing is far more common than a config error.
• Confirm the toggle from step three is actually on: check the system proxy switch on desktop, or the VPN icon in the status bar on mobile.
• Confirm the profile imported in step one is "enabled," not just sitting in the list.
• On desktop, check whether your browser has a proxy-switching extension installed — these override system proxy settings and conflict with Clash.

If it's still not working after all four checks, the issue is beyond the scope of a setup guide: complete inability to connect, all nodes timing out, subscription update failures, abnormal speed, DNS pollution, and similar symptoms are covered chapter by chapter in the Troubleshooting Handbook, each with a complete diagnostic flow and fix.