After setup you rarely need the main window. The handful of things you do daily all live in the tray icon's right-click menu.

What is in the menu

Right-click the Clash icon in the notification area - it may be hidden behind the "^" arrow. Typical entries:

  • Dashboard brings the main window back.
  • System Proxy - the checkmark is the system proxy switch.
  • TUN Mode - same idea, provided Service Mode is installed.
  • Start with Windows - the same setting described in Launch at Startup.
  • Quit actually exits. Closing the window only hides it; the process keeps running.

Entries vary a little between builds. Some versions expose the outbound mode here, others only in the main window - if you cannot find it, use the path in Rule, Global and Direct.

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When the tray is genuinely the right tool

Two situations are worth remembering. First, when online banking, a corporate portal or a government site refuses to load: untick System Proxy, do what you need, tick it back. Far faster than opening the window. To confirm the proxy is what broke it, see Enabling and Verifying the System Proxy.

Second, before uninstalling or installing over an existing copy, use Quit. If the process is still alive the installer cannot replace files that are in use and fails partway through - the full order is in Uninstalling and Cleaning Up.

Careful: Quit stops the core too. If the system proxy was not restored properly, the browser will immediately report that it cannot connect to the proxy server. Turn System Proxy off first, then quit.

The icon is gone

  1. Click the "^" on the taskbar to expand hidden icons. Nine times out of ten it was just collapsed.
  2. To keep it visible, set Clash to "always show" in the taskbar settings.
  3. Not there either, but Task Manager still lists a Clash process? The UI process probably crashed while the core kept running. End every related process and start again - see Blank Window and Rendering Problems.