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Connecting in Censored Networks (Bridges)

This tutorial guides you through configuring Tor bridges in TTP to bypass network censorship, protocol filtering, and blocked Tor relays.

1. Acquiring Tor Bridges

Before configuring TTP, obtain valid bridge lines from official Tor Project channels:

  • Web: Visit Tor Project Bridges
  • Email: Send an email from a Gmail or Riseup address to bridges@torproject.org with get transport obfs4 or get transport snowflake in the body.
  • Telegram: Contact @GetBridgesBot on Telegram.

2. Using Inline Bridge Lines (--bridge)

Pass bridge configuration lines directly to sudo ttp start using the --bridge option:

# Start TTP with an obfs4 bridge
sudo ttp start --bridge "obfs4 192.0.2.1:443 74A91DF57D70E69D037D770D6C31D89F0A311494 cert=EXAMPLE fingerprint=EXAMPLE"

For multiple bridges, specify --bridge multiple times:

sudo ttp start \
  --bridge "obfs4 192.0.2.1:443 74A91DF57D70E69D037D770D6C31D89F0A311494 cert=ABC..." \
  --bridge "obfs4 198.51.100.2:8443 A91DF57D70E69D037D770D6C31D89F0A311494 cert=XYZ..."

3. Using a Bridge File (--bridge-file)

Store multiple bridge lines in a plain text file:

# Save bridge lines to a file
cat << 'EOF' > /tmp/my_bridges.txt
obfs4 192.0.2.1:443 74A91DF57D70E69D037D770D6C31D89F0A311494 cert=ABC...
obfs4 198.51.100.2:8443 A91DF57D70E69D037D770D6C31D89F0A311494 cert=XYZ...
EOF

# Start TTP pointing to the bridge file
sudo ttp start --bridge-file /tmp/my_bridges.txt

4. Monitoring Bootstrap and Troubleshooting

If bootstrapping stalls on restricted networks:

# View real-time TTP and Tor logs
ttp logs

# Run diagnostic check to verify Tor control socket connectivity
sudo ttp diagnose

If an obfs4 bridge is unreachable, replace it with fresh bridge lines or switch to Snowflake transports.