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To host a website as a Tor onion service, run a web server locally, configure Tor’s HiddenServiceDir and HiddenServicePort settings, restart Tor, and open the generated address in Tor Browser. The service address is created in the directory you specify; keep the private key in that directory secret. Tor encrypts and authenticates onion-service connections, but careful web-server configuration and operational security are still required.
What a Tor onion service does
An onion service is a network service that can be accessed through Tor rather than directly from the public internet. The Tor Project describes onion services as services that can only be accessed over Tor. A visitor uses Tor Browser or another Tor-enabled client, and Tor builds the connection without requiring the website to publish a normal public IP address.
For a website, Tor is a forwarding layer. Your web server still produces the HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images, and HTTP responses. Tor accepts requests for the onion address and passes them to the local listener you define in torrc. The basic arrangement is:
- A local web server, such as Nginx or Apache, listens on a local port or Unix socket.
- Tor runs on the same machine, or can reach the web server on the network you configure.
HiddenServicePortmaps the onion service’s virtual port to that listener.- Tor creates a v3 onion address and the cryptographic keys needed to operate it.
The onion protocol supplies encryption and authentication between the Tor client and the onion service. That does not make the application automatically anonymous: page source, error messages, server headers, uptime patterns, administrator mistakes, and reused content can still identify a host or operator.
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Requirements and decisions before configuration
Software and access
- A system that can stay powered on whenever you want the site available.
- Tor installed and running for your operating system.
- A working local web server. Nginx and Apache are common examples, but the exact package and service commands depend on your distribution.
- Administrative access to Tor’s configuration file and service manager.
- Permission for the Tor process to read and write the onion-service directory.
- Tor Browser for testing from a client machine.
The official setup procedure assumes Tor is already functional and that the local website works before you add onion configuration. Complete those two checks independently. This isolates ordinary web-server problems from Tor problems.
Public or restricted access?
A normal onion service is public to anyone who learns or discovers its address. If the site is intended only for selected people, plan to use v3 client authorization. Authorized clients receive credentials; visitors without the corresponding private credential cannot connect. Do not treat an unlisted address as access control.
Where should the web server listen?
A TCP loopback listener is easiest to configure. A Unix socket can reduce the chance that the web server is exposed through a local network interface, but it requires matching web-server and Tor configuration. Choose the socket only if you can administer both sides confidently.
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Step 1: make the website work locally
Install and configure the web server
Use your operating system’s documented package method to install a web server. Debian-family systems commonly use a package manager and a service unit, while other systems use different names and paths. Do not copy Debian paths or service commands blindly to another operating system.
Place a simple test page in the server’s document root, then request it locally. For a TCP listener on the loopback interface, a check such as curl http://localhost/ should return the page or an HTTP response from your server. You can also open http://localhost/ in a browser on the host. Resolve errors such as a stopped service, an incorrect document root, a port conflict, or a broken virtual-host configuration before continuing.
Keep the first test deliberately simple
Start with one site and one listener. Avoid adding reverse proxies, containers, content delivery layers, authentication middleware, or clearnet redirects until the basic onion request succeeds. Every additional layer introduces another address, header, cookie, or log that can complicate diagnosis and disclosure review.
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Step 2: add an onion service to torrc
Open Tor’s configuration file with administrative privileges. The location varies by operating system and package. Add a distinct directory for this website and a port mapping such as:
HiddenServiceDir /var/lib/tor/my-website/
HiddenServicePort 80 127.0.0.1:80How the two directives work
| Directive | Example value | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
HiddenServiceDir |
/var/lib/tor/my-website/ |
Directory in which Tor stores the onion address information and service keys. |
HiddenServicePort |
80 127.0.0.1:80 |
Maps virtual port 80 on the onion service to the web server at loopback address 127.0.0.1, port 80. |
The first port is the port visitors use in the onion service URL. The second address and port are the actual destination Tor contacts. They do not have to be the same. For example, a web server listening on local port 8080 could be mapped with HiddenServicePort 80 127.0.0.1:8080.
Directory ownership and permissions
The directory must be readable and writable by the account under which Tor runs. Create it with the package’s expected ownership and restrictive permissions rather than making it world-readable. A permissions error can prevent Tor from starting or stop it from creating the hostname and key files.
Do not place the directory in a publicly served document root. Do not copy its private files into a web backup, source repository, shared drive, or support ticket.
Step 3: choose TCP loopback or a Unix socket
| Option | Advantages | Costs and cautions |
|---|---|---|
| TCP loopback | Simple, widely supported, and easy to test with ordinary HTTP tools. | Requires a TCP listener. Bind the web server to loopback when it should not be reachable from the local network. |
| Unix socket | Can avoid an additional TCP exposure path on the local network; the Tor setup guidance presents this as good practice. | Requires a socket-capable web-server configuration, matching path and permissions, and more involved troubleshooting. |
With TCP, use a loopback destination such as 127.0.0.1:80 rather than a broad address unless you intentionally need a different machine. With a Unix socket, configure the web server to create the socket and configure Tor’s port mapping to use that socket according to the syntax supported by your Tor package. Check both processes’ user and group permissions: a socket can exist while still being inaccessible to Tor.
Step 4: restart Tor and inspect the result
- Save
torrcand check for spelling, capitalization, duplicate directives, and a valid destination path. - Restart the Tor service using your operating system’s service manager.
- Read the Tor service log if the restart fails. Look specifically for configuration parsing errors, an unavailable destination, or permission errors in
HiddenServiceDir. - Confirm that Tor created the directory and populated it with the service files.
Do not assume a successful service restart means the website is reachable. Tor can start while the web server is stopped, listening on another port, returning an error, or refusing the connection. Test the local destination again before diagnosing the onion side.
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Step 5: find and test the onion address
Tor writes the generated v3 address to the hostname file inside the directory from HiddenServiceDir. Read that file as the Tor administrator, copy the complete value, and use it in Tor Browser. A v3 address is 56 characters long, excluding the http:// prefix and the .onion suffix.
Use the address exactly as written. A single missing or transposed character points to a different address or produces a failure. If you configured virtual port 80, test with an ordinary HTTP URL first. If the page does not load, inspect Tor’s logs, then check the local web server logs and listener.
What the service directory contains
The hostname file contains the public address. Other files contain the private material Tor needs to prove ownership of that address. The precise filenames can vary with the Tor version and configuration, but the private key files are the critical assets. Anyone who obtains them can impersonate the onion service. The Tor Project warns that a leaked key can make an Onion Service compromised, useless, and dangerous to visit.
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Does an onion website need HTTPS?
No. HTTPS is not universally required for an onion service. Tor’s onion-service protocol provides encryption and authentication between the client and service, so an onion URL can work over HTTP while remaining protected inside Tor.
HTTPS can still be the right choice in specific deployments:
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- Tor and the web server run on separate machines and you need encryption on the connection between them.
- The application or framework requires an
https://origin. - The site shares cookies, redirects, or content with a clearnet HTTPS version and you need consistent secure-origin behavior.
- Mixed-content rules, absolute URLs, or security policies would otherwise break the application.
Do not add HTTPS merely because the address ends in .onion, and do not assume Tor makes every browser security feature irrelevant. Decide based on the path between components and the application’s origin, cookie, and link behavior. Use relative links or deliberate rewriting where the same content is served through clearnet and onion addresses; hard-coded links to the wrong origin can create redirect loops, broken assets, or mixed-content warnings.
Keep the service from revealing its operator
A working onion address is not an anonymity guarantee. Review the whole deployment, not only Tor’s configuration.
Web-server and application leaks
- Remove or minimize headers that disclose server software, operating-system details, framework versions, or internal hostnames.
- Check default error pages, directory listings, stack traces, debugging panels, comments, and generated asset paths.
- Inspect images and documents for metadata that reveals a device, username, GPS location, or editing software.
- Do not reuse administrator usernames, email addresses, analytics identifiers, tracking pixels, or public-site accounts that connect the onion site to a real identity.
- Review absolute links, canonical tags, API endpoints, downloadable files, and third-party resources for clearnet addresses or identifying domains.
Host and administration leaks
- Separate onion-service administration from personal browsing and accounts when your threat model requires it.
- Restrict management interfaces to a controlled network; never publish a control panel through the onion website by accident.
- Protect logs and backups because they may contain visitor data, internal paths, IP addresses from upstream components, or the service key.
- Keep the operating system, Tor package, web server, and application maintained through the normal security process for that platform.
Tor’s operational-security guidance also warns that server details can identify the software or operating system. Removing a version header does not compensate for a distinctive page, a reused certificate, a unique response pattern, or careless administration.
Availability can reveal information
If the host is offline for long periods, visitors see downtime. An observer can compare availability over time with another service, infer working hours, or correlate induced traffic patterns. Tor guidance notes that profiling availability and matching traffic patterns can create information about the operator or hosting environment.
For a service that must be reachable continuously, an always-on server or VPS is one possible environment. That is an operational choice, not a guarantee of anonymity or reliability. Evaluate who controls the host, what logs are retained, how backups are handled, and whether the deployment schedule itself identifies you. If intermittent availability is intentional, avoid describing the service as continuously online and tell authorized users how to distinguish planned downtime from compromise.
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Without authorization, possession of the address is enough to attempt access. v3 client authorization changes that model: Tor requires a client credential in addition to the onion address. Give credentials only to intended users and protect the corresponding private material as carefully as the service key.
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When authorization is appropriate
- Private administration panels or internal documentation.
- Small groups testing a site before public release.
- Services containing confidential material that should not be discoverable by the general public.
Authorization does not fix a compromised application, leaked credentials, or an exposed service key. Remove credentials when a client is no longer trusted, maintain an inventory of issued access, and test revocation procedures before relying on the service for sensitive work. Follow the client-authorization syntax documented for your Tor version; the exact file names and credential format are version-dependent.
Advertise an onion counterpart from a normal website
If you operate both a regular HTTPS website and an onion counterpart, the clearnet site can advertise the onion address with an Onion-Location HTTP header or an equivalent HTML meta attribute. The page defining the header must itself be served over HTTPS, and the value must be an HTTP or HTTPS URL whose host ends in .onion.
Use one canonical onion URL and verify it in Tor Browser before publishing the advertisement. An incorrect value sends visitors to a nonexistent or unrelated service. Keep the clearnet and onion versions’ cookies, redirects, asset URLs, and security policies deliberately aligned; advertising an onion address does not automatically make the two deployments identical.
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The conventional method in this guide gives you a normal web server, control over routing, and a foundation for dynamic applications. For a small static site, Tor documentation also points to OnionShare as a potentially easier publishing workflow. It is an alternative to investigate, not a substitute for understanding uptime, key protection, authorization, or content leaks.
| Approach | Best fit | Important limitation |
|---|---|---|
Local web server plus torrc |
Persistent sites, dynamic applications, custom server configuration, and repeatable operations. | More components and permissions to maintain. |
| Static publishing workflow | Short-lived or simple static content where a full server stack is unnecessary. | May not provide the same application features, uptime model, or administrative controls. |
Troubleshooting by symptom
Tor will not restart
- Check the service log for an unknown directive, missing value, or malformed path.
- Verify that the
HiddenServiceDirpath exists or can be created and is writable by Tor. - Look for duplicate or conflicting entries in
torrc. - Undo only the new onion-service lines temporarily to confirm whether they caused the failure, then correct the configuration rather than leaving the service disabled.
The hostname file was not created
- Confirm that Tor actually loaded the configuration file you edited.
- Check directory ownership and permissions.
- Read the Tor log for a failure to create keys or write the service directory.
- Make sure you are inspecting the exact directory in the active
HiddenServiceDirentry.
The onion address opens an error page or times out
- Request the local site directly and confirm the web server returns the expected page.
- Compare the destination in
HiddenServicePortwith the address and port on which the web server listens. - For loopback TCP, check that the listener is bound to the expected interface and port.
- For a Unix socket, check the socket path and permissions for the Tor process.
- Read both Tor and web-server logs while making a new Tor Browser request.
The page loads but exposes identifying information
Inspect response headers, HTML source, redirects, cookies, downloadable files, error pages, and third-party requests. Test the site from a clean Tor Browser profile and remove identifying content at the source. Do not assume that changing the onion address alone removes a disclosure that is built into the application.
Ongoing maintenance and recovery
Record the service directory location, the Tor service account, the web-server listener, and the configuration change that created the service. Store an encrypted backup of the private key separately from the live host, with access limited to the operators who need it. Test restoration on a controlled system before an outage occurs.
When changing web-server ports, socket paths, virtual hosts, or application origins, update the corresponding Tor mapping and test locally before announcing any change. Preserve the service directory when upgrading or rebuilding if you need the same v3 address. If continuity is not required, creating a new service identity can be safer after a suspected key exposure.
Quick Recap
Review the site periodically for new software banners, debugging output, metadata, analytics code, clearnet links, and accidental public files. Re-test from Tor Browser after each significant application or network change.
Final deployment checklist
- Tor is installed, running, and using the configuration file you edited.
- The website works at a local URL before Tor forwarding is enabled.
HiddenServiceDiris private and writable by Tor.HiddenServicePortpoints to the actual local listener or correctly configured Unix socket.- The
hostnamefile contains the intended v3 address. - The service loads in Tor Browser from outside the host.
- Private keys are excluded from web roots, repositories, logs, and ordinary shared backups.
- You have decided whether public access, client authorization, HTTPS, and an
Onion-Locationadvertisement fit the application. - Server content, headers, cookies, uptime, and administration have been reviewed for identifying leaks.
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