# Install tor with Homebrew, apk, chocolatey, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, scoop, zypper Anonymizing overlay network for TCP. Version 0.4.9.11 via Homebrew; verified 2026-06-27. ## Install ```sh sudo av install brew:tor ``` Additional install commands: ### macOS - Homebrew (100%): ```sh brew install tor ``` Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata - MacPorts (94%): ```sh sudo port install tor ``` Evidence: MacPorts ports tree: security/tor/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ### Linux - apk (92%): ```sh sudo apk add tor ``` Evidence: Alpine Linux edge package indexes: tor from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz - Debian apt (92%): ```sh sudo apt install tor ``` Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: tor from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz - dnf (92%): ```sh sudo dnf install tor ``` Evidence: Fedora Rawhide package metadata: tor from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst - Nix (92%): ```sh nix profile install nixpkgs#tor ``` Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/to/tor/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - pacman (92%): ```sh sudo pacman -S tor ``` Evidence: Arch Linux sync databases: tor from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz - zypper (92%): ```sh sudo zypper install tor ``` Evidence: openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: tor from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst ### Windows - Chocolatey (92%): ```sh choco install tor ``` Evidence: Chocolatey community package catalog: tor from http://community.chocolatey.org/api/v2/Packages?$filter=IsLatestVersion&$select=Id&$top=1000&$skiptoken='11','timberwinr' - Scoop (92%): ```sh scoop install main/tor ``` Evidence: Scoop official bucket manifest trees: bucket/tor.json from https://api.github.com/repos/ScoopInstaller/Main/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ## Package facts - **Package key:** brew:tor - **Package manager:** Homebrew - **Package manager page:** - **Version:** 0.4.9.11 - **Source summary:** Anonymizing overlay network for TCP - **Homepage:** - **Repository:** - **Upstream docs:** - **License:** BSD-2-Clause AND BSD-3-Clause AND MIT AND NCSA - **Source archive:** - **Last updated:** 2026-06-27T20:23:40-04:00 - **Generated:** 2026-07-08T18:08:21+00:00 ## Executables - tor (cli) - tor-gencert (cli) - tor-print-ed-signing-cert (cli) - tor-resolve (cli) - torify (cli) - tor (alias) - tor-gencert (alias) - tor-print-ed-signing-cert (alias) - tor-resolve (alias) - torify (alias) ## Dependencies - libevent - libscrypt - openssl@3 ## Build dependencies - pkgconf ## Install behavior - Post-install hook: not defined - Service: declared - Bottle: available on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sonoma, x86_64_linux ## Freshness - Page generated: 2026-07-08 - Package-manager version: 0.4.9.11 - Package-manager updated: 2026-06-27 - Local data: ok - Upstream repository: https://www.torproject.org/ - info: Release/tag comparison is only available for GitHub repositories. ## Project history and usage Tor is the reference implementation for the Tor anonymity network, an overlay network for anonymizing TCP streams. The Tor Project describes its mission around privacy, anti-surveillance, and censorship circumvention, and the core tor README describes Tor as protecting privacy by hiding the connection between a user's internet address and the services they use. ### Project history Tor descends from onion routing research at the U.S. Naval Research Lab. The Tor Project's official history says David Goldschlag, Mike Reed, and Paul Syverson began onion routing work in 1995 to avoid revealing who was communicating with whom, even to a network observer. In the early 2000s, Roger Dingledine began working with Paul Syverson on an NRL onion-routing project; Nick Mathewson joined soon after. The name Tor distinguished this project from other onion-routing work and originally stood for The Onion Routing. The Tor network was initially deployed in October 2002 under a free and open software license. By the end of 2003, the network had about a dozen volunteer nodes. The Electronic Frontier Foundation began funding Dingledine and Mathewson's work in 2004, and The Tor Project, Inc. was founded in 2006 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit to maintain development. Tor's history is also a history of making anonymity usable. The project developed bridges starting in 2007 to help users get around censorship, Tor Browser development began in 2008, and Tor Project history identifies the Arab Spring and the 2013 Snowden revelations as major moments in wider public awareness and use. ### Adoption history The official history says Tor grew from about a dozen volunteer nodes in 2003 to thousands of volunteer-run relays and millions of users worldwide. Its adoption has spanned privacy-conscious technologists, activists, journalists, researchers, relay operators, and users in censored networks. The input package facts show the core tor daemon packaged broadly across Unix-like and cross-platform package ecosystems, including Homebrew, Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora/dnf, Arch/pacman, Nix, MacPorts, Chocolatey, Scoop, apk, and zypper. That packaging breadth is part of how relay operators, researchers, and CLI users install the daemon outside Tor Browser. ### How it is used As a package, tor is used to run the local Tor daemon, operate relays and bridges, provide a SOCKS proxy for local applications, and support tools such as tor-resolve and torify. The core README points users to Tor source releases, verification instructions, support documentation, and relay documentation. For package-nerd workflows, tor is not just an application but a service dependency and network substrate. Users install it from package managers to run background daemons, manage torrc configuration, expose local SOCKS ports, build source releases, test hidden/onion service behavior, and support relay or bridge operations from ordinary Unix service managers. ### Why package nerds care Tor is one of the canonical privacy/networking packages in Unix package ecosystems. It exposes the distinction between the Tor network, the tor daemon, Tor Browser, relay operation, onion services, SOCKS proxying, pluggable transports, and wrapper tools such as torsocks, making it a central package for privacy-aware CLI users and network engineers. The package is also significant because it turns a global volunteer anonymity network into something operators can install, configure, verify, and supervise with familiar package-manager and service-manager tools. ### Timeline - 1995: Onion routing research begins at the U.S. Naval Research Lab. - October 2002: The Tor network is initially deployed and released under a free and open software license. - 2003: The network has about a dozen volunteer nodes by year end. - 2004: The Electronic Frontier Foundation begins funding work on Tor. - 2006: The Tor Project, Inc. is founded as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. - 2007: The project begins developing bridges to help users bypass censorship. - 2008: Development of Tor Browser begins. - 2010-2011: Tor is identified by the project as an important tool during the Arab Spring. - 2013: Snowden revelations increase mainstream concern about mass surveillance and public awareness of tools like Tor. ### Related projects - Related official Tor Project surfaces include Tor Browser, relay and bridge documentation, onion services, the Tor specifications site, torsocks, and newer related isolation work such as oniux. ### Sources - - - - source_facts.package-manager ## Security Notes formula declares a Homebrew service. - **Geiger risk:** orange / medium - formula declares a Homebrew service ## Configuration and credential file locations These source-backed paths show where this package keeps local settings or durable credentials. Automic Vault can use them as review targets for secret scanning, migration, and command approval. ## Configuration files - Unix: @CONFDIR@/torrc, ~/.torrc ## Credential files - Unix: @CONFDIR@/torrc, ~/.torrc ## Source Database Details - **Source Database:** Homebrew formula API - **Tap:** homebrew/core - **Full Name:** tor - **Version Scheme:** 0 - **Revision:** 0 - **Bottle Stable Root URL:** - **Deprecated:** no - **Disabled:** no - **Keg Only:** no - **URL Keys:** stable ## Other Package-Manager Records - Debian apt - tor - 0.4.9.8-0+deb13u1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: tor from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | anonymizing overlay network for TCP | https://www.torproject.org/ - Debian apt - tor-geoipdb - 0.4.9.8-0+deb13u1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: tor-geoipdb from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | GeoIP database for Tor | https://www.torproject.org/ - Nix - tor: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/to/tor/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - Ubuntu apt - tor - 0.4.8.10-1build2: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: tor from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | anonymizing overlay network for TCP | https://www.torproject.org/ - Ubuntu apt - tor-geoipdb - 0.4.8.10-1build2: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: tor-geoipdb from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | GeoIP database for Tor | https://www.torproject.org/ - apk - tor - 0.4.9.9-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: tor from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Anonymous network connectivity | https://www.torproject.org/ - apk - tor-doc - 0.4.9.9-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: tor-doc from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Anonymous network connectivity (documentation) | https://www.torproject.org/ - apk - tor-openrc - 0.4.9.9-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: tor-openrc from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Anonymous network connectivity (OpenRC init scripts) | https://www.torproject.org/ - dnf - tor - 0.4.9.8-1.fc45: normalized package name match | Fedora Rawhide package metadata: tor from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst | Anonymizing overlay network for TCP | https://www.torproject.org - pacman - tor - 0.4.9.9-1: normalized package name match | Arch Linux sync databases: tor from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz | Anonymizing overlay network. | https://www.torproject.org/download/tor/ - zypper - tor - 0.4.9.9-1.1: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: tor from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst | Anonymizing overlay network for TCP (The onion router) | https://www.torproject.org/ - MacPorts - tor: normalized package name match | MacPorts ports tree: security/tor/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - Chocolatey - tor: normalized package name match | Chocolatey community package catalog: tor from http://community.chocolatey.org/api/v2/Packages?$filter=IsLatestVersion&$select=Id&$top=1000&$skiptoken='11','timberwinr' - Scoop - main/tor: normalized package name match | Scoop official bucket manifest trees: bucket/tor.json from https://api.github.com/repos/ScoopInstaller/Main/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ## Related links - [Secret-risk packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/secret-risk-packages/) - Has protected-tool coverage, approval-gate, or non-low Geiger security signals. - [Terminal utility packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/terminal-utilities/) - Matched terminal and command-line workflow metadata. - [Networking and protocol packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/networking-protocol-tools/) - Matched network, protocol, or remote-service metadata. - [Homebrew utility packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew-utility-packages/) - Matched Homebrew package provider. - [libevent](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/libevent/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [openssl@3](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/openssl-3/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [pkgconf](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/pkgconf/) - Build dependency declared by Homebrew. - [onioncat](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/onioncat/) - Popular package that depends on this formula. - [onionprobe](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/onionprobe/) - Popular package that depends on this formula. - [ooniprobe](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/ooniprobe/) - Popular package that depends on this formula. - [i2p](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/i2p/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, networking, overlay-network, privacy. - [dnscrypt-proxy](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/dnscrypt-proxy/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, networking, privacy. - [i2pd](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/i2pd/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, networking, privacy. - [meek](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/meek/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, networking, privacy. - [obfs4proxy](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/obfs4proxy/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, networking, privacy. - [spot](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/spot/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, networking, privacy. - [stubby](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/stubby/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, networking, privacy. - [snowflake](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/snowflake/) - Local package facts share a topical domain. Shared terms: cli, networking, tor. ## Combined YAML source View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/tor.yml](https://github.com/automic-vault/db/blob/main/combined/tor.yml) ## Sources - Nucleus package database - Geiger risk classifier - package-page enrichment - curated configuration and credential file locations - curated package history - package version freshness - av.db category and tag curation - package relationship graph - external package-manager database matches - cross-ecosystem install command graph