The groups a subscription builds for you

A rule never sends traffic to a node. It sends traffic to a group, and the group decides which node handles it. Picking a node is therefore always picking inside some group.

  • The main selector, usually called PROXY or something like Node Select, of type select. Most rules funnel into it, so changing it has the widest blast radius.
  • Regional groups such as HK, JP or SG, holding only the nodes from that region. Rules rarely reference them directly; the main selector lists them as candidates.
  • Streaming and per-service groups. Rules point one set of domains here so those services can be pinned to a fixed exit.
  • An ad-block group that usually contains nothing but REJECT. Matching requests are dropped, neither proxied nor sent out.
  • The fallback group, often named Final or something like Leftovers. The closing MATCH line in rules points at it, so everything no earlier rule claimed ends up there.
SponsoredWhere does the subscription link come from?Our partner provider gives you 1 GB of high-speed Hong Kong data at signup — import it in one click.Get high-speed nodes

A group can point at another group

The proxies list of a group accepts node names and group names alike, and that is how a typical subscription is wired: MATCH goes to the fallback group, the fallback group points at the main selector, the main selector lists regional groups, and only inside those are there real nodes. Choose HK in the main selector and what you actually selected is a group.

proxy-groups:
  - name: PROXY
    type: select
    proxies: [HK, JP, DIRECT]
  - name: HK
    type: select
    proxies: [HK-01, HK-02]
  - name: Final
    type: select
    proxies: [PROXY, DIRECT]
Do not casually set the fallback group to DIRECT. It receives every request no rule claimed, and the symptom becomes "most sites are fine, a few will not open" — nothing you would trace back to this card without opening the connections page. Unless your rule set is deliberately built as a direct-by-default whitelist, keep the fallback following the main selector.

Change one thing, in one place

  1. Day to day, switch nodes only in the main selector. Leave regional and streaming groups on their defaults; fewer changes make a bad result easier to undo.
  2. If one service needs a fixed exit, pin a node inside that service's own group rather than settling for it in the main selector. Everything else stays unaffected.
  3. If a regional group is an automatic latency type, your manual pick gets overwritten by the next test round. To pin it, choose the node in the main selector and skip the regional group.
  4. Entries named after remaining data or an expiry date are notices the provider stuffed into the node list. Selecting one means selecting an address that goes nowhere.

Group names and counts come entirely from the subscription, so a different provider means a different set. Somebody else's screenshot not matching your window is normal; do not hunt for a group with the same name.

New node picked, page still on the old one

Two things stack up here. A group selection only applies to connections opened after it, while connections already running finish on their original path — and browsers and many apps reuse connections, with a keep-alive lasting minutes and a video stream lasting as long as it plays.

So clear the connection list after switching, then force-reload the page. To confirm which node you are actually on, read the Chains column on that connection's row: it lists the groups the connection passed through and the node at the end, which beats guessing from whichever card looks highlighted.