Archive/brook/docs/client.md

Client

CLI

Before discussing the GUI client, let's first talk about the command line client brook. As we know, after you have deployed the server, you can use the command line client brook to create a local socks5 proxy or http proxy on your machine, and then configure it in your system proxy settings or in your browser to use this proxy. However:

1. Not all apps will use this proxy, whether they use it is up to the app itself.
2. Generally, all UDP protocols will not go through this proxy, such as http3.

For the specifics of socks5 and http proxy, you can read this article.

GUI

The GUI client does not use socks5 and http proxy mode, so there is no issue with some software not using the system proxy. Instead, it uses a virtual network card to take over the entire system's network, including UDP-based http3. Moreover, Brook allows us to control network requests programmatically, so it is necessary to have basic knowledge of network requests. Brook GUI will pass different global variables to the script at different times, and the script only needs to assign the processing result to the global variable out

Without Brook

Note: When we talk about addresses, we mean addresses that include the port number, such as a domain address: google.com:443, or an IP address: 8.8.8.8:53

1. When an app requests a domain address, such as google.com:443
2. It will first perform a DNS resolution, which means that the app will send a network request to the system-configured DNS, such as 8.8.8.8:53, to inquire about the IP of google.com
3. The system DNS will return the IP of google.com, such as 1.2.3.4, to the app
4. The app will combine the IP and port into an IP address, such as: 1.2.3.4:443
5. The app makes a network request to this IP address 1.2.3.4:443
6. The app receives the response data

In the above process, the app actually makes two network requests: one to the IP address 8.8.8.8:53 and another to the IP address 1.2.3.4:443. In other words, the domain name is essentially an alias for the IP, and must obtain the domain's IP to establish a connection.

With Brook

Brook has a Fake DNS feature default, which can parse the domain name out of the query requests that an app sends to the system DNS UDP 53 and decide how to respond to the app.

1. When an app requests a domain name address, such as google.com:443
2. A DNS resolution will be performed first. That is, the app will send a network request to the system-configured DNS, such as 8.8.8.8:53, to inquire about the IP of google.com
3. The Brook client detects that an app is sending a network request to 8.8.8.8:53. This will trigger the in_dnsquery variable, carrying information such as domain
4. The Brook client returns a fake IP to the app, such as 240.0.0.1
5. The app combines the IP and port into an IP address, such as: 240.0.0.1:443
6. The app makes a network request to the IP address 240.0.0.1:443
7. The Brook client detects that an app is sending a network request to 240.0.0.1:443, discovers that this is a fake IP, and will convert the fake IP address back to the domain address google.com:443. This will trigger the in_address variable, carrying information such as domainaddress
8. The Brook client sends google.com:443 to the Brook Server
9. The Brook Server first requests its own DNS to resolve the domain name to find out the IP of google.com, such as receiving 1.2.3.4
10. The Brook Server combines the IP and port into an IP address, such as: 1.2.3.4:443
11. The Brook Server sends a network request to 1.2.3.4:443 and returns the data to the Brook client
12. The Brook client then returns the data to the app
13. The app receives the response data

However, if the following situations occur, the domain name will not/cannot be parsed, meaning that the Brook client will not/cannot know what the domain name is and will treat it as a normal request sent to an IP address. To avoid the ineffectiveness of Fake DNS, please refer to this article:

• Fake DNS not enabled: in this case, the Brook client will not attempt to parse the domain name from the request sent to the system DNS and will treat it as a normal request sent to an IP address.
• Even with Fake DNS enabled, but the app uses the system's secure DNS or the app's own secure DNS: in this case, the Brook client cannot parse the domain name from the request sent to the secure DNS and will treat it as a normal request sent to an IP address.

Script can do more:

• In the script: in_dnsquery step, script can do more, read more below
• In the script: in_address step, script can do more, read more below

Variables

variable	type	condition	timing	description	out type
in_brooklinks	map	/	Before connecting	Predefine multiple brook links, and then programmatically specify which one to connect to	map
in_dnsquery	map	FakeDNS: On	When a DNS query occurs	Script can decide how to handle this request	map
in_address	map	/	When connecting to an address	Script can decide how to handle this request	map
in_httprequest	map	/	When an HTTP(S) request comes in	Script can decide how to handle this request	map
in_httprequest,in_httpresponse	map	/	when an HTTP(S) response comes in	Script can decide how to handle this response	map

in_brooklinks

Key	Type	Description	Example
_	bool	meaningless	true

out, ignored if not of type map

Key	Type	Description	Example
...	...	...	...
custom name	string	brook link	brook://...
...	...	...	...

in_dnsquery

Key	Type	Description	Example
domain	string	domain name	google.com
type	string	query type	A
appid	string	macOS App Mode: this is app id; Linux and Windows: this is app path; OpenWrt: this is IP address of client device. Note: In some operating systems, the app may initiate DNS queries through the system app.	com.google.Chrome.helper

out, if it is error type will be recorded in the log. Ignored if not of type map

Key	Type	Description	Example
block	bool	Whether Block, default false	false
ip	string	Ignore fake DNS, specify IP directly, only valid when type is A/AAAA	1.2.3.4
system	bool	Ignore fake DNS, resolve by System DNS over brook, default false	false
bypass	bool	Ignore fake DNS, resolve by Bypass DNS, default false	false
brooklinkkey	string	When need to connect the Server, instead, perfer connect to the Server specified by the key in_brooklinks	custom name

in_address

Key	Type	Description	Example
network	string	Network type, the value tcp/udp	tcp
ipaddress	string	IP type address. There is only one of ipaddress and domainaddress. Note that there is no relationship between these two	1.2.3.4:443
domainaddress	string	Domain type address, because of FakeDNS we can get the domain name address here	google.com:443
appid	string	macOS App Mode: this is app id; Linux and Windows: this is app path; OpenWrt: this is IP address of client device	com.google.Chrome.helper

out, if it is error type will be recorded in the log. Ignored if not of type map

Key	Type	Description	Example
block	bool	Whether Block, default false	false
ipaddress	string	Rewrite destination to an ip address	1.2.3.4:443
ipaddressfrombypassdns	string	Use Bypass DNS to obtain A or AAAA IP and rewrite the destination, only valid when domainaddress exists, the value A/AAAA	A
bypass	bool	Bypass, default false. If true and domainaddress exists, then ipaddress or ipaddressfrombypassdns must be specified	false
mitm	bool	Whether to perform MITM, default false. Only valid when network is tcp. Need to install CA, see below	false
mitmprotocol	string	MITM protocol needs to be specified explicitly, the value is http/https	https
mitmcertdomain	string	The MITM certificate domain name, which is taken from domainaddress by default. If ipaddress exists and mitm is true and mitmprotocol is https then must be must be specified explicitly	example.com
mitmwithbody	bool	Whether to manipulate the http body, default false. will read the body of the request and response into the memory and interact with the script. iOS 50M total memory limit may kill process	false
mitmautohandlecompress	bool	Whether to automatically decompress the http body when interacting with the script, default false. Usually need set this to true	false
mitmclienttimeout	int	Timeout for MITM talk to server, second, default 0	0
mitmserverreadtimeout	int	Timeout for MITM read from client, second, default 0	0
mitmserverwritetimeout	int	Timeout for MITM write to client, second, default 0	0
brooklinkkey	string	When need to connect the Server，instead, connect to the Server specified by the key in_brooklinks	custom name

in_httprequest

Key	Type	Description	Example
URL	string	URL	https://example.com/hello
Method	string	HTTP method	GET
Body	bytes	HTTP request body	/
...	string	other fields are HTTP headers	/

out, must be set to an unmodified or modified request or a response

in_httpresponse

Key	Type	Description	Example
StatusCode	int	HTTP status code	200
Body	bytes	HTTP response body	/
...	string	other fields are HTTP headers	/

out, must be set to an unmodified or modified response

Modules

In Brook GUI, scripts are abstracted into Modules. There are already some modules, and there is no magic, it just automatically combine _header.tengo and _footer.tengo, so you only need to write the module itself.

modules = append(modules, {
    // If you want to predefine multiple brook links, and then programmatically specify which one to connect to, then define `brooklinks` key a function
    brooklinks: func(m) {
        // Please refer to the example in `brooklinks.tengo`
    },
    // If you want to intercept and handle a DNS query, then define `dnsquery` key a function, `m` is the `in_dnsquery`
    dnsquery: func(m) {
        // Please refer to the example in `block_aaaa.tengo`
    },
    // If you want to intercept and handle an address, then define `address` key a function, `m` is the `in_address`
    address: func(m) {
        // Please refer to the example in `block_google_secure_dns.tengo`
    },
    // If you want to intercept and handle a http request, then define `httprequest` key a function, `request` is the `in_httprequest`
    httprequest: func(request) {
        // Please refer to the example in `ios_app_downgrade.tengo` or `redirect_google_cn.tengo`
    },
    // If you want to intercept and handle a http response, then define `httpresponse` key a function, `request` is the `in_httprequest`, `response` is the `in_httpresponse`
    httpresponse: func(request, response) {
        // Please refer to the example in `response_sample.tengo`
    }
})

ipio

https://github.com/txthinking/ipio

ipio uses the same script as the GUI. If you are using ipio, you can manually combine multiple modules into a complete script in the following way. For example:

cat _header.tengo > my.tengo

cat block_google_secure_dns.tengo >> my.tengo
cat block_aaaa.tengo >> my.tengo

cat _footer.tengo >> my.tengo

openwrt

https://www.txthinking.com/talks/articles/brook-openwrt-en.article

openwrt uses the same script as the GUI. If you are using openwrt, you can manually combine multiple modules into a complete script in the following way. For example:

cat _header.tengo > my.tengo

cat block_google_secure_dns.tengo >> my.tengo
cat block_aaaa.tengo >> my.tengo

cat _footer.tengo >> my.tengo

Debug

If you are writing complex scripts, the GUI may not be convenient for debugging. It is recommended to use ipio on desktop to debug with fmt.println

CA

https://txthinking.github.io/ca/ca.pem

OS	How
iOS	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSGPC2vpDGk
Android	Android has user CA and system CA, must be installed in the system CA after ROOT
macOS	nami install mad ca.txthinking, sudo mad install --ca ~/.nami/bin/ca.pem
Windows	nami install mad ca.txthinking, Admin: mad install --ca ~/.nami/bin/ca.pem

Some software may not read the system CA，you can use curl --cacert ~/.nami/bin/ca.pem to debug

IPv6

Brook's stance on IPv6 is positive, if your server or local environment doesn't have an IPv6 stack, read this article.

Troubleshooting Steps

1. After adding your Server to the Brook client
2. If your Server uses a domain and has not specified an IP address via brook link --address, then Brook client will attempt to resolve the domain's IP using local DNS, preferring AAAA record. For example:
   • domain.com:9999
   • ws://domain.com:9999
   • wss://domain.com:9999
   • quic://domain.com:9999
3. Connectivity check: Go to the Server details page and click Connectivity Check. If it works sometimes but not others, this indicates instability.
4. After connected
5. Brook will change your system DNS to the System DNS configured in Brook (by default Google's DNS). In very rare cases, this change may be ignored on Windows, you can confirm this in the system settings.
6. Test IPv4 TCP: Use Test IPv4 TCP for testing; this test has hardcoded the IP address, so does not trigger DNS resolution.
7. Test IPv4 UDP: Use Test IPv4 UDP for testing; this test has hardcoded the IP address, so does not trigger DNS resolution.
8. Test IPv6 TCP: Use Test IPv6 TCP for testing; this test has hardcoded the IP address, so does not trigger DNS resolution.
9. Test IPv6 UDP: Use Test IPv6 UDP for testing; this test has hardcoded the IP address, so does not trigger DNS resolution.
10. Test TCP and UDP: Use the Echo Client for testing. If the echo server entered is a domain address, it will trigger DNS resolution.
11. Ensure the effectiveness of Fake DNS: Fake DNS is essential to do something with a domain or domain address. Generally, enable the Block Google Secure DNS module is sufficient. For other cases, refer to this article.
12. If your local or Server does not support IPv6: Refer to this article.
13. macOS App Mode: Refer to this article.
14. Windows:
    • The client can pass the tests without any special configuration on a brand-new, genuine Windows 11.
    • Be aware that the Windows system time is often incorrect.
    • Do not have other similar network software installed; they can cause conflicting network settings in the system.
    • Try restarting the computer.
    • Windows Defender may ask for permission to connect to the network or present other issues.
    • System DNS may need to be set to 8.8.8.8 and/or 2001:4860:4860::8888
15. Android:
    • The client can pass the tests without any special configuration on the official Google ROM.
    • Different ROMs may have made different modifications to the system.
    • Permission for background running might require separate settings.
    • System DNS may need to be set to 8.8.8.8 and/or 2001:4860:4860::8888
16. Bypass traffic such as China, usually requires the following modules to be activated:
    • Block Google Secure DNS
    • Bypass Geo
    • Bypass Apple: To prevent issues receiving Apple message notifications.
    • Bypass China domain or Bypass China domain A: The former uses Bypass DNS to obtain the IP, then Bypass Geo or other modules decide whether to bypass; the latter bypasses directly after obtaining the IP with Bypass DNS using A records. The latter is needed if your local does not support IPv6.
    • If you are a Shiliew user, some modules are enabled by default, which is usually sufficient.
17. If Fake DNS works properly, this should return an IP from server DNS Server IP pool. Otherwise, your application(such as browser) may has its own DNS setting instead of use system DNS.

    curl https://`date +%s`.http3.ooo --http2
    

18. Search GitHub issues
19. Read the blog
20. Read the documentation
21. Submit new issue
22. Seek help in the group