Arachnidium

Data-optimizing HTTP(S) proxy, powered by mitmproxy.

Setup

  1. Find a home server - this can be any internet-connected computer, like an old laptop. Currently, pre-built releases exist for x64 Windows and Linux. If you need ARM or Mac support, clone the repository and run it from source.
  2. On your home server, download the portable archive for your system in Releases.
  3. Extract the archive and run Arachnidium.exe (or Arachnidium on Linux).
  4. Install the WireGuard client on your device: Android | iOS
  5. Add the VPN preset using the QR code displayed in Arachnidium. Alternatively, use the automatically generated wireguard.cfg file.
  6. This is where things get a little hairy - if you want to actually use this outside of your home WiFi, you'll have to configure your network to listen for incoming VPN connections. To do this, you will have to forward UDP port 51820 from your home server to your router. The exact process for this is vastly different for every network and router, and it would be impossible to give a universal guide in this document, so please research this yourself. Searching for "port forward udp <router model>" should be enough to get you on the right track. Alternatively, call your internet service provider and ask if they can help.
  7. Connect to the VPN and visit mitm.it on your phone's browser. Follow the instructions there to set up the certificate authority. Make sure to read all of the instructions.

If you run into issues, please make sure you've followed these steps carefully. Do your own troubleshooting first to make sure the issue isn't on your end (e.g. misconfigured network). Please do not message me personally asking for help - I sadly don't have the time (or patience) to be able to assist everyone, sorry.

Configuration

There are two ways to configure Arachnidium: via the graphical interface, or by editing defaults.json. Changes made in the GUI are not saved between restarts - for that, use the JSON file. If you want to run Arachnidium without the GUI, set ENABLE_GUI to false in defaults.json.

Running from source

To run this project from source code without building it (for development purposes, or to run on unsupported platforms):

  1. Install Python and uv.
  2. Install Bun.
  3. Clone this repository with submodules (using --recursive).
  4. Run uv run main.py
  5. In another terminal, change directory to bun-api and run bun i, then bun run index.ts