Parsing Vless, Vmess, Shadowsocks Links

This article describes parsing different proxy links into xray outbound configs. Using tools like hopsayer's vless link parser , we can create tool to parse free proxy lists and run xray with resulting config.

1. VLESS

Link Format: vless://UUID@HOST:PORT?params#NAME

Parsing Steps:

1. Extract UUID (user ID) from before @
2. Extract host and port from between @ and ?
3. Parse query parameters (encryption, flow, type, security, sni, host, path, etc.)
4. Extract fragment as display name

Xray Outbound Mapping:

{
  "protocol": "vless",
  "settings": {
    "vnext": [{
      "address": host,
      "port": port,
      "users": [{
        "id": UUID,
        "encryption": params.get("encryption", "none"),
        "flow": params.get("flow"),  # For XTLS
        "security": "auto"
      }]
    }]
  },
  "streamSettings": create_stream_settings(params),
  "tag": unique_tag
}

2. VMESS

Link Format: vmess://BASE64_ENCODED_JSON

Parsing Steps:

1. Base64 decode the entire payload
2. Parse as JSON containing: {add, port, id, net, type, host, path, tls, sni, alpn, fp, ps}
3. Map field names (supports both short and long names)

Xray Outbound Mapping:

{
  "protocol": "vmess",
  "settings": {
    "vnext": [{
      "address": vmess_config["add"],
      "port": vmess_config["port"],
      "users": [{
        "id": vmess_config["id"],
        "alterId": vmess_config.get("aid", 0),
        "security": vmess_config.get("scy", "auto")
      }]
    }]
  },
  "streamSettings": create_stream_settings(params),
  "tag": unique_tag
}

3. Trojan

Link Format: trojan://PASSWORD@HOST:PORT?params#NAME

Parsing Steps:

1. Extract password from before @
2. Extract host and port from between @ and ?
3. Parse query parameters (type, security, sni, etc.)
4. Defaults: type=tcp, security=tls

Xray Outbound Mapping:

{
  "protocol": "trojan",
  "settings": {
    "servers": [{
      "address": host,
      "port": port,
      "password": password,
      "level": 0
    }]
  },
  "streamSettings": create_stream_settings(params),
  "tag": unique_tag
}

Key Difference: Uses servers array instead of vnext (like VLESS/VMESS).

4. Shadowsocks

Link Format: ss://BASE64(METHOD:PASSWORD)@HOST:PORT#NAME

Parsing Steps:

1. Detect encoding type (fully encoded vs partially encoded)
2. Base64 decode to get METHOD:PASSWORD@HOST:PORT
3. Extract method (encryption), password, host, and port
4. Extract fragment as name

Xray Outbound Mapping:

{
  "protocol": "shadowsocks",
  "settings": {
    "servers": [{
      "address": host,
      "port": port,
      "method": encryption_method,
      "password": password,
      "uot": False,
      "level": 0
    }]
  },
  "streamSettings": {
    "network": "tcp",
    "security": "none"
  },
  "tag": unique_tag
}

Key Difference: Shadowsocks uses simple TCP/no security for streamSettings (doesn't use create_stream_settings()).