free18/v2ray: a free subscription repository for V2Ray, Clash and Shadowrocket nodes

What free18/v2ray actually is, and who it is for

The repository is a distribution point, not software. Its top level holds README.md plus three content files: v.txt, c.yaml, vpn.md, and a stray file literally named "touch .gitignore". Nothing here is compiled or executed. The README describes the project as a daily share of free nodes, free and paid airport recommendations, Telegram proxies, and subscription formats for V2Ray, Clash, Shadowrocket, Quantumult X and Clash .NET. The audience is therefore people who already have a client installed and need something to feed it. If you are looking for a program to install, this is the wrong repository; the README links out to V2RayN, v2rayNG, Clash for Windows, Clash for Android, Clash .NET, WinXray and Shadowrocket rather than shipping any of them. The homepage field points to a YouTube channel, VV科技, and the README says new material is published there first. That tells you where the maintenance attention goes: the repository is the artifact, the channel is the announcement channel.

Two subscription files and what each client expects

The README publishes two subscription endpoints. The general one is a raw file named v.txt on branch main, and the Clash Meta one is c.yaml on the same branch. Both are wrapped in a ghfast.top prefix, which is a GitHub raw-content mirror; the README adds a note that if updates fail, you should refresh while already outside the network, and that Android Clash users should use Clash Meta. That note is the most operationally useful sentence in the file, because it tells you the maintainers expect the plain raw.githubusercontent.com path to be unreliable from inside mainland China and expect protocol support in older Clash builds to be incomplete. The repository also embeds three sample self-hosted links directly in the README: two trojan:// URIs pointing at mfyousheng.nl.eu.org on port 443 with security=tls, type=ws and a path, and vmess:// entries that are base64-encoded JSON. The README warns that these expire and that you should join the Telegram group if they stop working. Treat the embedded samples as illustrations of the format, not as a durable configuration.

Importing the subscription into a client

There is no installer, because there is nothing to install. The workflow is: get a client, then paste a subscription URL. The README lists the client downloads explicitly, for example V2RayN for Windows and v2rayNG for Android, both pointing at the 2dust GitHub releases pages. Once the client is running, you add the subscription URL rather than individual nodes.

# the two subscription URLs as printed in the README
https://ghfast.top/https://raw.githubusercontent.com/free18/v2ray/refs/heads/main/v.txt
https://ghfast.top/https://raw.githubusercontent.com/free18/v2ray/refs/heads/main/c.yaml

In V2RayN the subscription is added from the subscription group settings, and in v2rayNG from the subscription tab; the README does not document the exact menu path, so follow the client's own documentation. What you should see after a successful update is a node list populated with trojan, vmess and similar entries. If the list comes back empty, the README's own advice applies: update while already connected to an outside network. For a single node instead of a whole list, the README shows the raw URI form, which you copy and import directly:

trojan://[email protected]:443?security=tls&type=ws&path=%2FtjwsLhx0SFASG4l9FERJ1g#TG-%40vvkj11

That string is a complete node definition: scheme, UUID, host, port, and query parameters for transport and TLS. The fragment after # is the display label. The README also lists Telegram MTProto proxies in tg://proxy?server=...&port=...&secret=... form and says the usage is to copy the link into Telegram, send it, then tap it.

The free-node model and its failure modes

Free shared nodes have three properties that matter more than speed. First, they are shared: the same exit IP is used by everyone who imported the same list, so any site that rate-limits or blocks by IP will treat you as part of that crowd. Second, they are ephemeral. The README itself says the self-built nodes expire and directs users to a Telegram group for replacements, which means the subscription file is the only thing that stays constant while the endpoints behind it rotate. Third, the trust boundary is undefined. Nothing in the repository states who operates the nodes or what happens to traffic passing through them, and the README does not document logging policy, jurisdiction or operator identity. A client can encrypt the hop to the node, but the node terminates that encryption, so anything unencrypted above it is visible to whoever runs the server. This is the case where the tool is wrong: banking, work accounts, anything with a real identity attached. It is also the wrong tool if you need a fixed egress IP for allowlisting, because the list changes underneath you.

How this differs from running your own server

The obvious alternative is self-hosting a proxy on a VPS you control, and the difference is not one of protocol but of who holds the endpoint. With free18/v2ray you are a consumer of someone else's server: setup cost is one paste, and the price is that you cannot see the server's configuration, cannot audit its logging, and cannot stop it from disappearing. With a self-hosted server you own the IP, choose the cipher and transport, and decide what is logged, at the cost of renting a machine, keeping it patched, and handling the fact that a single dedicated IP is easier to identify and block than a rotating shared one. The repository occupies a middle position for a specific reason: the subscription file format is standardized enough that a client can consume a rotating list without the user touching configuration. That is convenience bought with control, and it is a fair trade only when the traffic is low-stakes. Note also that the README's own client list spans several ecosystems, so the same subscription may be consumed by V2RayN, v2rayNG, Clash Meta and Shadowrocket with different parsing behaviour; the Clash Meta note exists precisely because one of those clients diverges.

Maintenance, licensing and upgrade cost

The last push to the repository was on 2026-09-22, and the repository is not archived. The README does not state a licence, and the repository metadata does not carry one either, so the terms under which the subscription files may be redistributed are simply not declared. That matters if you plan to mirror v.txt or c.yaml into your own project: without a licence you have no stated grant, and the practical consequence is that you should link to the upstream file rather than republish it. Upgrade cost is close to zero in the software sense, because there is no binary to update and no schema migration; the subscription URL is the interface, and the client handles parsing. The real recurring cost is verification. Node lists go stale, so the useful habit is not a monitoring stack but a periodic manual refresh plus a check that the raw file names still exist on branch main. If the maintainers rename v.txt or move off the ghfast.top prefix, every client configured against the old URL fails silently at the next update.

Editorial conclusion

Adopt free18/v2ray if you already run a client such as V2RayN, v2rayNG, Clash Meta or Shadowrocket and you want a subscription URL you can paste in once. Do not adopt it if you need a stable exit IP, a provider accountable for uptime, or any traffic you would not want a stranger to see. Before relying on it, verify two things yourself: that the raw file names still match (v.txt and c.yaml on branch main) and that the client you use supports the protocols in the list, since the README notes that Android Clash users should switch to Clash Meta.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. free18/v2ray on GitHub
2. Issues
3. Project website
4. README