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Running Clash as a Service

Running Clash as a Service covers background operation for routers, servers and shared machines, including lifecycle, logs and restart checks.

Overview

Running Clash as a service keeps the core active in the background, independent of a GUI window. This is useful for routers, servers and shared machines.

Service model

A service should have a clear configuration path, log path, restart policy and permission model. On desktops, make sure it does not conflict with a GUI client running its own core.

Operational checklist

  • Confirm the service user can read the profile and provider cache.
  • Use stable ports that do not conflict with other software.
  • Keep logs rotated and readable.
  • Document how to stop or reload the service safely.

Support Checks

If the service starts but clients needs connection settings confirmed, check firewall rules, bind addresses and whether the profile was loaded from the expected location.

Reference examples

These examples mirror the corresponding Chinese documentation page so the English page carries the same configuration material.

cp clash /usr/local/bin
cp config.yaml /etc/clash/
cp Country.mmdb /etc/clash/
[Unit]
# reference note
After=network-online.target

[Service]
Type=simple
Restart=always
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/clash -d /etc/clash

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable clash
systemctl start clash
systemctl status clash
journalctl -xe
services:
  clash:
    image: ghcr.io/dreamacro/clash
    restart: always
    volumes:
      - ./config.yaml:/root/.config/clash/config.yaml:ro
      # reference note
    ports:
      - "7890:7890"
      - "7891:7891"
      # reference note
    network_mode: "bridge"
services:
  clash:
    image: ghcr.io/dreamacro/clash-premium
    restart: always
    volumes:
      - ./config.yaml:/root/.config/clash/config.yaml:ro
      # reference note
    ports:
      - "7890:7890"
      - "7891:7891"
      # reference note
    cap_add:
      - NET_ADMIN
    devices:
      - /dev/net/tun
    network_mode: "host"
docker-compose up -d
docker-compose logs
docker-compose stop