The #tor-project channel is where Tor people discuss and coordinate daily Tor work. It has fewer members than #tor and is more focused on the work at hand. You are also welcome to join this channel. To access #tor-project, your nickname (nick) must be registered and verified.

Here's how to reach #tor-project and other registered channels.

Register your nickname

1. Log onto #tor. See How can I chat with Tor Project teams?

2. Then, click on the word "Status" at the top left of the screen.

3. In the window at the bottom of the page, type: /msg nickserv REGISTER yournewpassword youremailaddress

4. Hit enter.

If all goes well, you will receive a message that you are registered.

The system may register you as your nick_ instead of your nick.

If so, just go with it but remember you are user_ and not user.

Every time you log on to IRC, to identify your registered nick, type:

/nick yournick

/msg nickserv IDENTIFY YourPassWord

How to verify your nickname

After registering your nickname, to gain access to the #tor-project and other protected channels, your nickname must be verified.

1. Go to https://services.oftc.net/ and follow the steps in the 'To verify your account' section

2. Go back to the IRC webpage where you are logged in and type:

   /msg nickserv checkverify

3. Click ENTER.

4. If all is well, you will receive a message that says:

*!NickServ*checkverify

Usermodechange: +R

!NickServ- Successfully set +R on your nick.

Your nick is verified!

Now, to join #tor-project, you can just type:

/join #tor-project and hit enter.

You will be allowed into the channel. If so, Congratulations!

However, if you get stuck, you can ask for help in the #tor channel.

You can toggle back and forth between channels by clicking on the different channel names at the top left of the IRC window.

For a long time, the Tor community has been running many day-to-day activities using the IRC network known as OFTC. IRC has worked out well for us, and our community on IRC has been evolving over the years with new people joining in and new channels appearing for specific needs in the organization.

Matrix bridge

The Tor community is opening up its day-to-day conversations by bridging our IRC community to the Matrix network. For regular Tor users, it means that you can chat with us using a friendly App like Element. The #tor:matrix.org room or the #tor IRC channel are connected: whichever platform you chose, your message will be shared on both platforms.

To join the conversation with Tor contributors on Matrix, you need a Matrix account. Several providers can get you one. One of these is the Matrix.org Foundation, which allows people to register an account for free. You can register an account on app.element.io.

Once you have a Matrix account, you can either join the Tor Matrix Space to browse the Tor rooms, or directly join the #tor:matrix.org user support room.

OFTC IRC network

Alternatively, if you want to use IRC you can use OFTC's web IRC client:

1. Open OFTC webchat

2. Fill in the blanks:

   NICKNAME: Anything you want, but choose the same nickname (nick) every time you use IRC to talk to people on Tor. If your nick is already being used, you will get a message from the system and you should choose another nick.

   CHANNEL: #tor

3. Click Enter

Congratulations! You're on IRC.

After a few seconds, you will automatically enter #tor, which is a chatroom with Tor developers, relay operators and other community members. There are some random people in #tor as well.

You can ask questions in the empty bar at the bottom of the screen. Please, don't ask to ask, just ask your question.

People may be able to answer right away, or there may be a bit of a delay (some people are listed on the channel but are away from their keyboards and record channel activities to read later).

If you want to chat with someone specific, start your comment with their nick and they will typically receive a notification that someone is trying to contact them.

OFTC often doesn't allow people to use their webchat over Tor. For this reason, and because many people end up preferring it anyway, you should also consider using an IRC client.

Tor relies on the support of users and volunteers around the world to help us improve our software and resources, so your feedback is extremely valuable to us (and to all Tor users).

Feedback template

When sending us feedback or reporting a bug, please include as many of these as possible:

• Operating System you are using
• Tor Browser version
• Tor Browser Security Level
• Step by step of how you got to the issue, so we can reproduce it (e.g. I opened the browser, typed a url, clicked on (i) icon, then my browser crashed)
• A screenshot of the problem
• The log

How to Reach Us

There are several ways to reach us, so please use what works best for you.

Tor Forum

We recommend asking for help on the Tor Forum. You will need to create an account to submit a new topic. Before you ask, please review our discussion guidelines. At the moment, for the fastest response, please write in English. If you found a bug, please use GitLab.

GitLab

First, check if the bug is already known. You can search and read all the issues at https://gitlab.torproject.org/. To create a new issue, please request a new account to access Tor Project's GitLab instance and find the right repository to report your issue. We track all Tor Browser related issues at Tor Browser issue tracker. Issues related to our websites should be filed under the Web issue tracker.

Telegram

If you need help installing or troubleshooting Tor Browser and the Tor Forum is blocked or censored where you are, you can reach out to us on Telegram https://t.me/TorProjectSupportBot. A Tor support specialist will assist you.

WhatsApp

You can reach our support team with a text message to our WhatsApp number: +447421000612. This service is only available for text messages; videos or calls are not supported.

Signal

You can get help by sending a text message to our Signal number: +17787431312. Signal is a free and privacy-focused messaging app. This service is only available for text messages; videos or calls are not supported. After sending a message, our support agents will guide you and help troubleshoot your issue.

Email

Send us an email to frontdesk@torproject.org.

In the subject line of your email, please tell us what you're reporting. The more specific your subject line is (e.g. "Connection failure", "feedback on website", "feedback on Tor Browser, "I need a bridge"), the easier it will be for us to understand and follow up. Sometimes when we receive emails without subject lines, they're marked as spam and we don't see them.

For the fastest response, please write in English, Spanish, and/or Portuguese if you can. If none of these languages works for you, please write in any language you feel comfortable with, but keep in mind it will take us a bit longer to answer as we will need help with translation to understand it.

Blog post comments

You can always leave comments on the blog post related to the issue or feedback you want to report. If there is not a blog post related to your issue, please contact us another way.

IRC

You can find us in the #tor channel on OFTC to give us feedback or report bugs/issues. We may not respond right away, but we do check the backlog and will get back to you when we can.

Learn how to connect to OFTC servers.

Email Lists

For reporting issues or feedback using email lists, we recommend that you do so on the one that is related to what you would like to report. A complete directory of our mailing lists can be found here.

For feedback or issues related to our websites: ux

For feedback or issues related to running a Tor relay: tor-relays

Report a security issue

If you've found a security issue, please email security@torproject.org.

If you want to encrypt your mail, you can get the OpenPGP public key for this address from keys.openpgp.org. Here is the current fingerprint:

  pub   rsa3072/0x3EF9EF996604DE41 2022-11-15 [SC] [expires: 2024-12-11]
      Key fingerprint = 835B 4E04 F6F7 4211 04C4  751A 3EF9 EF99 6604 DE41
  uid Tor Security Contact <security@torproject.org>
  sub   rsa3072/0xF59EF1669B798C36 2022-11-15 [E] [expires: 2024-12-11]
      Key fingerprint = A16B 0707 8A47 E0E1 E5B2  8879 F59E F166 9B79 8C36

If you wish to participate in our bug bounty program, please be aware, submitting a security issue to a third-party website carries certain risks that we cannot control, as a result we'd prefer the report directly.