WhiteAesther

Cross-platform desktop control surface for the Aether connection core.

Aether credits and support

The Aether connection core was created by CluvexStudio. Credit for the original core and its networking work belongs to CluvexStudio and the Aether contributors. WhiteAesther provides the desktop interface and integration around the shared Android Aether core.

Please visit CluvexStudio's Telegram channel for updates and information on supporting the original developer's work. Thank you to CluvexStudio for developing Aether.

Working features

• Starts, monitors and stops a real Aether process from the Tauri backend

• Verifies the core executable and reports its exact version before connecting

• Exposes MASQUE H2, MASQUE H3, WireGuard and WARP-in-WARP profile controls

• Maps discovery, validation, fragmentation, reconnect, DNS, routing and Zero Trust settings to validated core arguments

• Streams real process logs and derives connection state, edge and latency from core events

• Retries failed connections on a widening delay, up to twelve attempts, and reports the current attempt

• Shares Android's H2/H3, record shaping, ECH, IPv6, WOM and MIM recovery recipes across discovery and reconnects; Automatic also rechecks alternate carriers

• Pins a specific endpoint with a choice of falling back to discovery when it fails, or reporting the failure rather than silently substituting

• Limits the engine to IPv4 or IPv6 Cloudflare addresses under Addresses. IPv6 only warns when this network has no global IPv6 address, refuses a pinned endpoint of the other family before connecting, and reconnects a live session when changed. Applications inside the tunnel still reach both families

• Imports routing rule lists from local files under Traffic → Routing rules: plain domains, hosts files, addresses and CIDRs, and Clash classical lines or rule-provider payloads. Each import reports what was left out and why (no equivalent, needs a geosite/geoip database, too broad, duplicate, over the limit). Lists hold up to 5,000 rules each and 10,000 across the enabled lists; each can be turned on, off or deleted, and a change reconnects. A destination box shows which rule a name or address meets, worked out locally without a lookup. The rules reach the engine in a generated routes file and mihomo as rules, so they apply under every carrier

• Gives the Cloudflare Worker's local Xray listener a random username and password for each session, so other programs on the machine cannot use it

• Builds a reviewable diagnostics report that redacts addresses by default and carries no Zero Trust credentials

• Persists profiles locally while keeping Access secrets and tokens memory-only

• Ranks reachable gateways by round-trip time without connecting, sweeping the other transport when one finds nothing, and pins the one you choose

• Bundles a target-specific Aether sidecar in Windows, macOS and Linux packages

• Points the operating system's proxy at the SOCKS5 listener while connected, restores it on disconnect, and repairs it on the next launch if the app was killed

A full-device tunnel remains a roadmap item and is labeled as such in the UI.

Development

Requirements: Node.js 24+, pnpm 10+, Rust 1.88 and the platform-specific Tauri prerequisites. The unit tests are TypeScript run directly on Node's test runner, which needs 22.18 or newer for type stripping; 24 is what CI uses.

Builds use the pinned Android Aether 2.4 source with desktop adapters, including BoringSSL 5.3. Prepare and compile the shared core first:

git clone https://github.com/WhiteDNS/WhiteAestherMobile.git aether-source
git -C aether-source checkout --detach 6e2ade9e86c5f66194c66e6be1e23b40677c2db2
node scripts/prepare-core.mjs --checkout aether-source --destination aether-core
cargo build --release --locked --manifest-path aether-core/aether/Cargo.toml

The staging script checks the exact revision, patchset, required capabilities and executable architecture. Windows core builds need the static CRT (-C target-feature=+crt-static). Then run:

pnpm install
pnpm desktop:dev

The staging command verifies the executable with aether --version and copies it to Tauri's target-triple sidecar name. To create an installer:

pnpm desktop:build

The desktop packaging workflow builds Aether and WhiteAesther together on Windows, macOS and Linux. Release builds are pinned to a reviewed Aether commit rather than a moving branch.

Validation

pnpm build
pnpm test
cargo test --manifest-path src-tauri/Cargo.toml --locked

pnpm test runs the frontend unit tests on Node's own test runner, with no test framework installed. It covers the diagnostics report, including that redaction removes every address form the core actually logs and leaves timestamps alone.

The Windows end-to-end smoke test also verifies core discovery, live state events, SOCKS5 exposure, a proxied request and clean shutdown.

Licence

WhiteAesther is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 — see LICENSE. It builds on the Aether connection engine, which is AGPL-3.0, so this client is a derivative work and its source stays public.

Aether is a trademark of CluvexStudio and the Aether project, used here by written permission. See THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md. WhiteAesther is not an official Aether product.

Android and desktop connection parity

See the parity matrix and validation. Earlier integration history remains in the Persian guide, the selected 2.4 backports and the earlier verification evidence.