TOR-INSTANCE-CREAT(8)

📦
version 0.4.9.15 · 9 versions
, in debian trixie

👑 TOR-INSTANCE-CREAT(8) — the tor-instance-create glow-up guide

okay bestie, welcome to the Tor Manual section of the Debian universe 💅 this is tor-instance-create, and it's about to be your new fave little helper. no cap.

✨ NAME ✨

tor-instance-create — set up a shiny brand new tor instance 🦋

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

tor-instance-create instance_name

like... that's it. one argument. she's simple, she's efficient, she's iconic 💖

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so the Tor Debian package is lowkey versatile — it fully supports running multiple instances of the Tor daemon at the same time. which is giving main character energy if you wanna run several relays or bridge relays on one single system, or if you wanna provide a hidden service on top of running a relay. multitasking queen 👑

tor-instance-create is the tool that creates a new instance of Tor on a Debian system. specifically, it creates a new UNIX user with a home directory, plus a mostly empty tor configuration file. spawns a whole little tor baby, fr fr 🐣

the new user and group are named _tor-instance_name. the user's home directory — which is also the DataDirectory of the new tor instance — lives at /var/lib/tor-instances/instance_name. the configuration file for that instance is /etc/tor/instances/instance_name/torrc. logs go to syslog by default. yes, syslog. that's the vibe 🫶

to start this new service, run systemctl start tor@instance_name. stopping, restarting, and reloading the config all work accordingly. and stopping/starting/.. the tor service should affect all instances. the "main" instance — the one that lives in /var/lib/tor and has /etc/tor/torrc as its configuration file — is known to systemd as tor@default. remember that name, she's the OG 👑

😭 okay so real talk: there currently is no tor-instance-remove script. tragic, we know. to remove an instance, you gotta delete the user and its homedirectory — but ONLY once you are fully, completely convinced there are no files or processes on your system still owned by that user. then also remove the corresponding directory tree in /etc/tor/instances. clean up your room bestie, but check under the bed first 💀

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

🎀 AUTHORS 🎀

  • Peter Palfrader

💜 AUTHOR 💜

  • Peter Palfrader — Author.

and that's the whole page, bestie!! go forth and spin up instances like the tech icon you are 👑💅✨

Tor — 10/28/2026 🌸 (yes, that's the source/version and the date, noted with love 🫶)

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