Tor & I2P

socks.cat runs on the clearnet and as hidden services. The gateway auto-routes .onion and .i2p destinations through local Tor/I2P SOCKS hops when configured.

Gateway (SOCKS5)

Use socks5h:// (remote DNS) so the router sees the real hostname:

# Reach a v3 onion service through your collar + pawprint
curl --proxy socks5h://COLLAR:PAWPRINT@socks.cat:1337 http://example.onion/

# Reach an I2P site
curl --proxy socks5h://COLLAR:PAWPRINT@socks.cat:1337 http://forum.i2p/

When [router].tor / [router].i2p are enabled, the gateway prepends the local Tor or I2P hop automatically for hidden-network hostnames — no extra routing tag needed.

Optional chains (clearnet via Tor/I2P)

Route normal clearnet exits through Tor or I2P with a chain- tag:

# Clearnet exit via Tor
curl -x socks5h://COLLAR-chain-tor:PAWPRINT@socks.cat:1337 https://api.ipify.org

# Clearnet exit via I2P outproxy
curl -x socks5h://COLLAR-chain-i2p:PAWPRINT@socks.cat:1337 https://api.ipify.org

Reach socks.cat over Tor / I2P

socks.cat is published at one vanity address per network, and each one serves both the web dashboard and the SOCKS gateway on the same address — the router detects what you send (a browser request vs. a SOCKS handshake) and routes accordingly. No separate per-service addresses.

Open the dashboard — just visit the address in Tor Browser / an I2P-enabled browser:

http://sockscatvbwpgjzmcggvpskrw5oquwd744tonvoy2vq33wnillnrcdad.onion/
http://sockscatwf7ruzuem4cjyltcgsmpz4wmw2hnaufemeh6unksheqq.b32.i2p/

Use it as your proxy gateway — point a SOCKS5 client at the same address (via your local Tor/I2P proxy), with your collar + pawprint.

curl refuses to resolve a .onion used as its own proxy host (RFC 7686) and cannot chain two SOCKS proxies. Wrap it in torsocks: torsocks tunnels the connection to the onion through your local Tor (which does resolve onions), and the onion serves the gateway on the far side.

# Through Tor — torsocks carries the connection to the onion,
# the onion is your SOCKS5 gateway (auth with collar + pawprint).
torsocks curl -x socks5h://sockscatvbwpgjzmcggvpskrw5oquwd744tonvoy2vq33wnillnrcdad.onion:80 \
     --proxy-user COLLAR:PAWPRINT \
     https://api.ipify.org

# Through I2P — same idea via your I2P HTTP/SOCKS proxy.
# Point your client's SOCKS5 at the .b32.i2p address on the I2P proxy.

To just reach the dashboard/API over Tor (onion as the destination, not the gateway), plain curl over your local Tor works — no torsocks needed:

curl --socks5-hostname 127.0.0.1:9050 http://sockscatvbwpgjzmcggvpskrw5oquwd744tonvoy2vq33wnillnrcdad.onion/

No TLS is used over the hidden networks — Tor and I2P encrypt the transport themselves, so there are no certificate warnings.

Operator-published addresses also live in /.well-known/onion and /.well-known/i2p.