How Amnezia works

What is Amnezia?

A free open-source multi-protocol VPN client with the ability to set up your own VPN server (self-hosted VPN).

How does Amnezia create a VPN on a VPS?

On first connection, a key pair is generated, a CSR is formed, and passed to the server to issue an X.509 certificate.

How does it connect?

After entering the VPS IP, login, and password, the app:

1. Connects via SSH
2. Installs Docker
3. Launches server containers
4. Creates a separate container for each protocol
5. Generates keys and root certificate

Traffic masking

ShadowSocks

SOCKS5 + AEAD cipher. Connection looks like regular HTTPS traffic.

OpenVPN over Cloak

Cloak plugin masks VPN traffic as regular web traffic. Active Probing protection.

XRay Reality

Web traffic masking with active probing protection. Distinguishes clients from censors during TLS handshake.

AmneziaWG

Backward compatible with WireGuard. Randomized packet headers, random bytes appended to auth packets, junk packets before session start.

TIP

For high censorship environments, use AmneziaWG from the first connection.