Tour the client UI section by section: proxy groups and node switching on the proxies page, subscription management and rule loading on the profiles page, and connection-log troubleshooting on the logs page — a functional map for new users.
Different Clash clients (Clash Verge Rev, Clash Nyanpasu, FlClash, Clash Meta for Windows, and others) lay out their interfaces a little differently, but the core functional areas are highly consistent. They all revolve around three panels — "Proxies," "Profiles," and "Logs" — plus a "Settings" page for system-level options. Understanding what each panel is responsible for is more useful than memorizing where a specific button sits in one particular client, because this mental model carries over cleanly once you switch clients.
After opening a client, the sidebar or top bar usually lists a handful of fixed entry points. The common names and responsibilities are as follows:
| Panel | Common Name | Core Responsibility |
|---|---|---|
| Proxies page | Proxies | View proxy groups, switch nodes, run speed tests |
| Profiles page | Profiles | Manage subscription links, switch profiles, update rules |
| Rules page | Rules | View the routing rule list currently in effect |
| Connections / Logs page | Connections, Logs | Inspect live connections and runtime logs, diagnose issues |
| Settings page | Settings | System proxy, TUN mode, launch on startup, etc. |
Most troubleshooting scenarios only involve the first four panels; the settings page is mostly a one-time setup you rarely touch afterward. Below they're covered in order of how frequently you'll use them.
The proxies page is the one you'll open most often day to day. It has two layers of structure:
select (manual selection), url-test (automatic latency-based selection), fallback (primary/backup switching), and load-balance. Group names usually spell out their purpose, such as "Global Direct," "Streaming," or "Default Proxy."Clicking a node switches the current group to that node — this works for select-type groups. A url-test group automatically picks the lowest-latency node itself, so manually clicking a node usually has no effect or gets overridden by the next round of speed testing. To verify whether nodes are reachable, use the "Speed Test" or "URL Test" button to trigger a batch check rather than waiting for an automatic refresh.
Note: the latency shown on the proxies page is only the round-trip time to a test target address — it doesn't represent how fast a specific site will actually load. It's heavily affected by the test server, network jitter, and packet loss, so a low number doesn't guarantee a smooth experience, and an occasional spike doesn't mean you need to switch nodes right away.
If a group has no nodes at all, or the node list doesn't match what the subscription describes, the subscription on the profiles page probably hasn't updated or failed to load — go fix it there instead of repeatedly refreshing the proxies page.
The profiles page manages "which configuration file is currently in use." There are three core actions:
The most common symptom of a rule-loading failure is: after updating a subscription, the node list on the proxies page doesn't change, or the rules page shows a rule count of 0. This usually maps to one of the following:
Most clients pop up a notice or leave an error entry in the logs page when an update fails. If nodes "aren't changing," check the update timestamp on the profiles page first, then check the logs page for the specific error — that's far more efficient than blindly reinstalling the client.
The rules page shows the routing rule list that's actually in effect for the current profile. Common rule types include domain matching (DOMAIN-SUFFIX), IP range matching (IP-CIDR), process matching (PROCESS-NAME), and rule-set references (RULE-SET). Rules are matched top to bottom; the moment traffic matches a rule, that rule takes effect immediately and no further rules are checked. There's usually a MATCH catch-all rule at the end that decides where all unmatched traffic goes.
Most of the time the rules page is just for checking, not editing — GUI clients generally don't let you edit rule content directly on this page. Adding, removing, or changing rules has to happen at the subscription source, or in a local config file that you then re-import. If a specific site is routing incorrectly, search for its domain on the rules page first to see which rule it falls under, then decide whether to adjust the rule or switch the proxy group instead.
The Connections page records all currently active and recently ended network connections. Each entry typically includes the destination address, the node used, the matched rule, and the elapsed time. The Logs page records the event stream during runtime — rule-match results, DNS resolution results, subscription update status, TUN mode start/stop, and so on. Used together, they can pin down most connection issues:
debug, reproduce the issue once, and then check the log content.Tip: most clients let you filter connection or log entries by keyword. Searching for the target domain directly is far faster than scrolling through entries one by one.
The settings page groups together options like the system proxy toggle, TUN mode, mixed port, DNS override, and launch-on-startup. These are usually configured once, based on need, right after installation — for example, enabling TUN mode when you need to capture all system traffic, including apps that don't support HTTP/SOCKS proxy settings, or turning on launch-on-startup so it connects automatically every boot. Changes here immediately affect what you see on the proxies and connections pages. If a certain type of traffic keeps bypassing the proxy, check the system proxy and TUN mode status here first, rather than repeatedly tweaking rules or nodes.
First check whether all nodes are timing out at once. If so, it's more likely a local network issue or an outage on the subscription provider's side. If only some nodes are timing out, that's normal node fluctuation — just switch to a working node.
Confirm the target profile is actually shown as "enabled" on the profiles page. In some clients, you need to manually click the refresh button once after switching profiles before the groups and node list sync up.