NeXuS Privoxy Standalone Architecture¶

Why Separate Privoxy?¶

The original setup had Privoxy built into the nexus-tor container, which caused issues: - ❌ Hard to debug (is Tor broken or Privoxy broken?) - ❌ Couldn't restart Privoxy without restarting Tor - ❌ Status monitoring was confusing - ❌ Resource limits affected both services together

Now Privoxy runs as a separate container!

Architecture¶

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Your Browser (localhost:8118)                  │
└─────────────────┬───────────────────────────────┘
                  │
┌─────────────────▼───────────────────────────────┐
│  nexus-privoxy (Standalone Privoxy)             │
│  • Ad blocking (104,983 rules)                  │
│  • Privacy filters                              │
│  • Cookie management                            │
│  • Port: 8118                                   │
└─────────────────┬───────────────────────────────┘
                  │
┌─────────────────▼───────────────────────────────┐
│  nexus-tor (Tor + HAProxy)                      │
│  • 2 Tor instances (load balanced)              │
│  • HAProxy SOCKS: 1080                          │
│  • Built-in HTTP: 8888 (backup)                 │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                  │
                  ▼
            Tor Network

Ports¶

Port	Service	Use This
8118	Privoxy Standalone	✅ RECOMMENDED
8888	Built-in Tor HTTP	Backup only
1080	Tor SOCKS	Direct SOCKS access
2090	HAProxy Stats	Monitoring

Setup¶

1. Build the standalone Privoxy:

cd /home/user/git/NeXuS-NetWork-Stack
podman-compose -f nexus-compose.yaml build privoxy

2. Start everything:

./nexus-shutdown.sh
./nexus-launch.sh

3. Verify Privoxy is separate:

podman ps --filter "name=nexus-privoxy"
# Should show: nexus-privoxy container running

4. Test it:

# Test standalone Privoxy
curl --proxy http://localhost:8118 https://check.torproject.org/api/ip

# Test built-in (backup)
curl --proxy http://localhost:8888 https://check.torproject.org/api/ip

Managing Standalone Privoxy¶

Restart just Privoxy (without affecting Tor):

./nexus-restart-service.sh privoxy

Check Privoxy logs:

podman logs nexus-privoxy
podman logs -f nexus-privoxy  # Follow

Stop just Privoxy:

podman stop nexus-privoxy

Start just Privoxy:

podman start nexus-privoxy

Browser Configuration¶

Firefox:

Settings → Network Settings → Manual proxy configuration
  HTTP Proxy: localhost
  Port: 8118
  ✓ Also use this proxy for HTTPS
  ✓ Proxy DNS when using SOCKS v5

Chrome/Chromium:

chromium --proxy-server="http://localhost:8118"

System-wide (all apps):

export http_proxy=http://localhost:8118
export https_proxy=http://localhost:8118

Troubleshooting¶

Privoxy won't start:

# Check if port 8118 is already in use
sudo netstat -tlnp | grep 8118

# Rebuild Privoxy container
podman-compose -f nexus-compose.yaml build --no-cache privoxy
podman-compose -f nexus-compose.yaml up -d privoxy

Privoxy works but Tor doesn't:

# Restart just Tor (Privoxy stays up)
./nexus-restart-service.sh tor

Switch back to built-in:

# Just use port 8888 instead of 8118
# Change browser proxy to: localhost:8888

Benefits¶

✅ Independent Management - Restart Privoxy without affecting Tor ✅ Easier Debugging - Know exactly which service has issues ✅ Resource Control - Separate CPU/memory limits ✅ Cleaner Monitoring - Status script shows each service clearly ✅ Backup Option - Built-in 8888 still works if standalone fails

Resource Usage¶

Standalone Privoxy is lightweight: - CPU: 0.25 cores max - RAM: 128MB max - Startup: ~2 seconds

Much faster than restarting the whole nexus-tor container!

🌀 Together Everyone Achieves More