Clash Party: a Mihomo desktop GUI with a bundled Smart Core

What Clash Party is, and who the desktop GUI is actually for

Mihomo (formerly Clash Meta) is a proxy core with a YAML configuration format. Running it means writing rules, proxy groups and DNS settings by hand, then restarting the process whenever you change a line. Clash Party is an Electron application that wraps that core and gives you a window to edit the configuration in. The README describes it as "Another Mihomo GUI" and lists the target features: theme selection, editing of most common Mihomo configuration options, a built-in Smart core alongside the Mihomo core, WebDAV backup and restore, an overwrite system for revising config files, and a Sub-Store integration for subscription management.

The audience is therefore someone who already uses Mihomo and wants a desktop front end, not someone who has never touched a proxy config. The feature list is written for people who know what a rule set is. Nothing in the repository suggests a mobile build, and the package.json build scripts target desktop packaging through electron-builder. If your only device is a phone, this project is not aimed at you.

One structural note that matters more than it should: the README opens with a recommendation for a commercial proxy service, including a discount code and a referral link, before it lists any feature. That is a monetisation choice by the maintainers, and it tells you where the project's incentives sit. It does not change what the software does, but it is the first thing a new reader sees, and it is unusual placement for a technical document.

Smart Core: the AI-selected node overwrite and how it differs from manual rule editing

The headline feature is what the README calls a one-click Smart Core rule overwrite, described as selecting the optimal node automatically based on an AI model. The project links to a dedicated documentation page for it rather than explaining the mechanism in the README, so the selection logic, the model involved and the fallback behaviour when the model is unavailable are not visible from the repository root.

What is visible is the packaging decision: the README states that the Smart core and the Mihomo (Clash Meta) core are both bundled. That is a meaningful architectural choice. A GUI that ships two cores has to decide which one owns the configuration file, how switching between them is represented, and what happens to a config written for one when it is loaded by the other. The README does not answer those questions. The overwrite feature is presented as a single action, and the interpolation between "your subscription" and "a working rule set" is left to the linked documentation.

Treat this as the project's main differentiator and its main unknown at the same time. Automatic node selection is the sort of feature that either removes a real chore or produces results you cannot debug, and which one you get depends on whether the overwrite is transparent about what it changed. The repository does not include a diff view in its feature list, so verifying the result means reading the generated configuration yourself.

Installing Clash Party and a first configuration edit

The README points to the official documentation at clashparty.org for installation and usage, and the repository publishes builds through GitHub releases. The project does not document a package-manager install line in the README, so the release page is the entry point. An aur/ directory exists in the repository root, which indicates Arch Linux packaging is maintained in-tree, but the README does not describe it.

For anyone building from source, the repository is a pnpm workspace with electron-vite. The package.json defines the development scripts, so the sequence below matches what the repository declares:

pnpm install
pnpm run dev

The postinstall step runs electron-builder install-app-deps, so native dependencies are rebuilt for Electron during install. If that step fails, the dev command will not start. The scripts also include a hooks:install target that wires up git hooks from the .githooks directory, run automatically through the prepare script.

Once the application is running, the configuration surface is the point. The README lists support for modifying most common Mihomo (Clash Meta) configuration options, plus an overwrite feature for arbitrary revisions to the config file. A typical first task is changing a rule set or a proxy group and letting the GUI write the YAML rather than editing it by hand. The WebDAV feature is the other one worth setting up early: the README says backup and restore are one-click through WebDAV, but it does not document the URL layout, versioning or conflict resolution. If you run the same account from two machines, that gap is worth testing before you rely on it.

TUN mode without a service, and why that is a platform-specific claim

The README lists "out-of-the-box TUN without service mode" as a feature. TUN mode routes traffic at the network layer rather than through a system proxy setting, which normally requires elevated privileges on desktop operating systems. A GUI that offers TUN without installing a background service is solving a real friction point, because the alternative is an installer that asks for administrator rights and leaves a daemon behind.

The claim is platform-dependent, and the README does not break it down by operating system. Elevation requirements differ across Windows, macOS and Linux, and the repository's build scripts are separated by target (build:win is defined explicitly in package.json). Nothing in the README states which platforms get the service-free path or what the application does when it lacks the privileges to create the interface. That is the kind of detail that decides whether the feature works on your machine, and it is not in the repository root.

If TUN mode is the reason you are considering Clash Party, read the documentation page for it before installing, and check whether your platform is covered. The feature list is a statement of intent, not a compatibility matrix.

Where Clash Party is the wrong choice

The clearest limitation is scope. This is an Electron desktop application. The README lists no Android, iOS or headless server build, and the repository's packaging scripts are desktop-oriented. If you want a proxy client on a phone or on a router, Clash Party does not address that, and no amount of GUI polish changes it.

The second is weight. Electron bundles a browser runtime. For a tool whose job is to manage a configuration file and supervise a core process, that is a large dependency for the functionality delivered, and it is a deliberate trade: you get a consistent UI across platforms and a TypeScript codebase, at the cost of memory and install size. Users who want a small footprint will find the core plus a text editor lighter.

The third is the documentation gap around the Smart Core overwrite. The README delegates the explanation to an external page and describes the feature in one line. If you need to understand exactly which rules were rewritten before you trust the result, the repository alone will not tell you. That is not a defect in the software, but it is a reason to be cautious about enabling an automatic rewrite on a configuration you depend on.

Clash Verge as the alternative, and the difference in approach

The obvious comparison is Clash Verge, the other well-known Mihomo desktop GUI, and it is the comparison people search for. Both wrap the same underlying core and both present a desktop window for editing configuration. The difference visible from this repository is where each puts its effort.

Clash Party's distinctive additions are the bundled Smart core with its automatic node selection, the Sub-Store integration for subscription management, and the WebDAV backup path. Those are opinionated features that do work on your behalf. Clash Verge, by contrast, is generally positioned as a more direct front end to the core's own configuration model, without an automatic selection layer on top. If you want to read and control every rule yourself, the second model is easier to reason about. If you want the GUI to make selection decisions for you, Clash Party is the one that tries.

Neither approach is strictly better. Automatic selection removes a repetitive task and adds a component whose behaviour you have to trust. Manual configuration is slower and fully inspectable. The choice depends on whether you consider node selection a chore or a decision. Note also that Clash Party's README embeds a paid proxy recommendation, which some users will read as a conflict of interest in a tool that selects nodes automatically; the Clash Verge repository does not do this in what is available here.

Licence, maintenance and what an upgrade costs

Clash Party is GPL-3.0. For individual desktop use that changes nothing. If you fork it or redistribute a modified build, the copyleft terms apply to the derivative work, and the LICENSE file in the repository root is the authoritative text. Nothing here is legal advice, and the practical obligations depend on how you distribute.

The repository is not archived, and the last push was on 2026-08-14, which is recent. Releases are frequent: v2.0.0 on 2026-07-07, v2.0.1 on 2026-08-11, and v2.0.2 on 2026-08-14. The package.json version reads 2.0.3, so a further release is in preparation. That cadence means upgrade cost is mostly the cost of re-verifying your configuration after a jump. The changelog.md file exists in the repository root and is the place to check what moved between versions.

The real upgrade risk is the bundled cores. When the Smart core or the Mihomo core is updated, the configuration semantics can shift, and any overwrite the application applied to your config may be regenerated differently. The README documents no migration path or config-version marker, so a major version bump is a moment to diff your configuration rather than assume it survived intact.

Editorial conclusion

Adopt Clash Party if you want a desktop Mihomo client whose configuration editing goes beyond a subscription URL field, and if you are comfortable with the GPL-3.0 obligations that come with redistributing it. Do not adopt it if you need a mobile or headless client: the repository is an Electron desktop application, and the README lists no Android or CLI build. Before installing, verify two things on the project's own documentation site: which core the Smart Core overwrite will select for your subscription, and whether the WebDAV restore path works against your provider, because the README documents backup and restore in one line and nothing about conflict handling.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. Official documentation
2. Official README
3. Project repository
4. Release notes