Quick Start

You've installed the client. Now it's time to route your traffic through the decentralized mesh. This guide will get you connected in under 60 seconds.

1. Launch and Authenticate

Open the Tunnely desktop application. On initial launch, you will be prompted to authenticate. Because we operate a zero-knowledge infrastructure, logging in does not tie your network traffic to your identity—it solely validates your active subscription tier with the central cluster to prevent network abuse.

  • Click Connect with Provider in the dashboard.
  • Your default web browser will open to handle a secure OAuth transaction.
  • Once successful, the browser will seamlessly deep-link the authorization token back into the desktop client.

2. Initialize the Connection

In the center of the UI, you will see a large, distinct Connect button. Before clicking it, you can optionally select a geographic region. By default, Tunnely will construct an optimal latency-focused path utilizing the nearest available entry node.

Click the Connect button. The daemon will instantly:

  1. Negotiate a cryptographic handshake with the closest Entry Relay.
  2. Request the optimal server-to-server mesh path to an Exit Relay.
  3. Apply the local WireGuard routing tables to your operating system via virtual interfaces.

Status: Connected

When the central hub pulses green and displays "Connected," your physical IP address is now obfuscated. All system-wide traffic is being routed into the entry node and spat out of the exit node.

3. Verify the Route

To ensure the topology is functioning correctly, navigate to an IP-checking service (such as ifconfig.me or ipleak.net) in your browser.

You should observe that:

  • Your IP address completely differs from your home ISP address.
  • Your location corresponds to the Exit node's geography.
  • There are no DNS leaks (Tunnely forces all DNS requests through its internal sinkhole/resolver proxy).