[[!meta title="Viewing the status and circuits of Tor"]]

The Tor status icon and <span class="application">Onion
Circuits</span> allow you to view the status of Tor.

[[!toc levels=1]]

Tor status icon
===============

The current status of Tor appears as an onion-shaped icon in the
notification area:

[[!img doc/first_steps/introduction_to_gnome_and_the_tails_desktop/tor-status.png link="no"]]

  - [[!img tor-connected.png alt="Onion-shaped icon" link=no class=symbolic]]
    You are connected to Tor.

  - [[!img tor-disconnected.png alt="Onion-shaped icon crossed out" link=no class="symbolic"]]
    You are not connected to Tor.

<div class="tip">

When you are not connected to Tor, all connections to the Internet are blocked by default.

</div>

<a id="circuits"></a>

<span class="application">Onion Circuits</span>
===============================================

<span class="application">Onion Circuits</span> displays information about
the current Tor circuits and connections.

To open <span class="application">Onion Circuits</span>, click on the
Tor status icon and choose <span class="guimenuitem">Open Onion
Circuits</span>.

<!-- Note for translators: the entry guard in use when you take the screenshot
onion-circuits.png is in a position to identify you. You might prefer to leave it
untranslated.-->

[[!img tor_status/onion-circuits.png link=no]]

The circuits established by Tor are listed in the left pane. A Tor circuit is
made of three relays:

  - The first relay or *entry guard*. If you configured a [[Tor bridge|first_steps/startup_options/bridge_mode]], your bridge is the first relay.
  - The second relay or *middle node*.
  - The exit node.

When you connect to
a destination server, for example when visiting a website, the connection appears in the list below the circuit
it uses.

In the example above, the connection to
<span class="code">check.torproject.org</span> goes through the relays
<span class="guilabel">Unnamed</span>,
<span class="guilabel">betGamersTorRelay</span>, and the exit node
<span class="guilabel">hessel0</span>.

If you click on a circuit, technical details about the relays of the circuit appear in the right pane.

[[!img doc/about/warning/htw2-tails.png link=no alt="Schematics of a connection to Tor with the client, the three relays, and the destination server."]]
