[简体中文](./README.md) | English

# carton

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`carton` is a desktop client powered by `sing-box`. It aims to stay close to the official SFM experience in interaction flow and information layout, while putting more weight on performance, responsiveness, and a few practical enhancements.

The project currently targets `Windows` and `Linux`. There are no plans to publish a `macOS` version, because SFM already exists on macOS.

Current focus:

- Keep the experience close to official SFM to reduce migration cost
- Prioritize UI responsiveness, startup speed, and long-running resource usage
- Start `sing-box` with your own config and rules, only taking over a small set of toggle-style options
- Add useful enhancements without disrupting the main workflow
- Use a non-Electron / non-Tauri / non-web-tech desktop stack with lower memory usage and higher performance

## Config Override Behavior

`carton` does not directly overwrite your entire `sing-box` config at startup. It builds a runtime config on top of your original file and only changes a small set of fields that are directly tied to desktop-side toggles.
This is intentional because many users strongly dislike third-party GUIs overwriting carefully prepared configs and rules. `carton` tries to touch as little of your hand-written or subscription-generated content as possible.

- `log`: only updates `log.level`; if the original config has no `log` object, `carton` adds a minimal one
- `inbounds`: only touches `mixed` and `tun` inbounds
- For an existing `mixed` inbound, it only updates `listen`, `listen_port`, and `set_system_proxy`; other fields stay as-is
- For an existing `tun` inbound, it only updates `address`, `auto_route`, `strict_route`, and `route_exclude_address`; any extra fields you already configured are preserved
- If the config does not already contain the corresponding `mixed` or `tun` inbound, `carton` adds it at runtime; if `tun` is turned off, the corresponding `tun` inbound is removed

> `carton` is not an official SFM client and is not affiliated with the sing-box team.

## Screenshots

| Dashboard | Groups |
| --- | --- |
| ![Dashboard](./docs/imgs/dashboard.png) | ![Groups](./docs/imgs/group.png) |
| Connections | Profiles |
| ![Connections](./docs/imgs/connection.png) | ![Profiles](./docs/imgs/profile.png) |

## Highlights

### Main workflow close to official SFM

- Six core pages: Dashboard, Groups, Profiles, Connections, Logs, and Settings
- Common actions such as start, stop, status check, and group switching are kept in the main workflow
- Built-in Clash API / WebUI entry to match existing usage habits

### Performance-oriented

- Built with `Avalonia` and `.NET 10`
- Non-Electron, non-Tauri, and non-web-tech desktop framework approach
- One direct motivation is that many real-world apps built on those stacks can easily land at `200MB+` memory usage after startup
- Includes `NativeAOT` publish scripts for faster startup and lower runtime overhead
- Uses on-demand page loading and background page release/refresh control to reduce long-running resource usage

### Config and subscription management

- Create, import, and edit local configs
- Import remote subscriptions with manual update and auto-update intervals
- Save per-profile runtime options before startup
- If you do not have a `sing-box` subscription URL, you can use [`sublink-worker`](https://github.com/7Sageer/sublink-worker); it provides the online tool [`app.sublink.works`](https://app.sublink.works) to convert various subscription formats or protocol links into `sing-box` configs. If you are using an airport subscription provider, set `User Agent` to `clash` or `xray`

### Node and group enhancements

- Read and display outbound groups
- Support node switching, latency testing, and URLTest refresh
- View and switch groups directly from the tray menu
- Optionally disconnect affected connections after node switching

### Practical extras

- System proxy toggle
- Runtime options for TUN, listen port, LAN access, and log level
- Real-time traffic, memory usage, session duration, connections, and logs
- sing-box kernel download, update, custom kernel installation, and kernel switching
- App update channels, backup export/import, and portable data directory switching
- Chinese and English UI with theme settings

## Tech Stack

- `Avalonia UI`
- `.NET 10`
- `CommunityToolkit.Mvvm`
- `sing-box`
- `Velopack`

## Development and Build

### Platforms

- `Windows`
- `Linux`

### Requirements

- `.NET 10 SDK`
- Windows NativeAOT publishing requires `Desktop development with C++` or an equivalent MSVC / Windows SDK toolchain
- If you want to generate the Windows installer, `NSIS` is also required and `makensis` must be available; GitHub Actions installs NSIS automatically

### Local build

```powershell
dotnet build carton.slnx
```

### Development run

```powershell
dotnet run --project src\carton.GUI\carton.GUI.csproj
```

### Windows NativeAOT publish

```powershell
scripts\test-publish-win-aot.bat win-x64 Release
```

Or use the packaging script that also creates the installer:

```powershell
scripts\build-release-win-x64.bat
```

In practice:

- `scripts\test-publish-win-aot.bat` performs the NativeAOT publish only
- `scripts\build-release-win-x64.bat` runs `scripts\build-release-win-x64.ps1` and additionally creates the portable archive and NSIS installer

### Linux NativeAOT publish

```bash
./scripts/test-publish-linux-aot.sh linux-x64 Release
```

This script writes output to `artifacts/publish/<rid>`.

The repository already contains multiple runtime targets, while the current ready-to-use scripts are mainly organized around the Windows AOT build flow.

## Positioning

If you care about:

- an experience that stays close to official SFM
- a more performance-oriented implementation
- a few practical additions beyond the official client without turning the app into something else

then `carton` is being built in that direction.

## License

This project is released under the GNU General Public License v3.0. See [LICENSE](./LICENSE) for details.