Using Tor with ZeroNet on Heroku

This tutorial will let you 1. create a hidden service for your ZeroNet proxy on Heroku, so you can access your proxy not only through a clearnet URL like “XXX.com” but also via a Tor URL “XXX.onion”. Example: http://dcntrli7i2ytw57h.onion (can also be visited from clearnet by a Tor proxy, e.g., http://dcntrli7i2ytw57h.onion.link) 2. enable Tor support for ZeroNet connections on Heroku. Example: http://dcentral.herokuapp.com/1HeLLo4uzjaLetFx6NH3PMwFP3qbRbTf3D (check the Tor Status at the upper right corner, the “TOR: ERROR” should be “TOR: AVAILABLE”)

First of all, you should know how to deploy ZeroNet to Heroku. Read this tutorial if you don’t.

To run your ZeroNet proxy on Heroku as a hidden service, you can use this Tor Hidden Service Buildpack for Heroku:
https://github.com/hernanex3/heroku-buildpack-tor
For example, in your Heroku app directory, add the buildpack,

heroku buildpacks:add https://github.com/hernanex3/heroku-buildpack-tor.git

Insert “./tor/bin/run_tor” to your Procfile, e.g.,

web: ./tor/bin/run_tor python zeronet.py --ui_ip "*" --ui_port ${PORT}

And deploy again to update.

Note, it seems that the “run_tor” command of the “heroku-buildpack-tor” buildpack has a problem with the original Python commands for running ZeroNet with some arguments. In particular, the variable “$PORT” is not recognized by the “exec” bash command used in the buildpack, so it will not be able to start ZeroNet correctly. To solve this problem, use ${PORT} instead of $PORT as shown above. Another simple way to solve this problem is adding a “&” before your command to run ZeroNet, i.e., change the above Procfile to

web: ./tor/bin/run_tor &python zeronet.py --ui_ip "*" --ui_port $PORT

Then, you need to add the config variables “HIDDEN_PRIVATE_KEY” and “HIDDEN_DOT_ONION” (your .onion web URL), so you can access your proxy by the .onion URL through Tor.
Tips: some tools to generate your .onion key and URL: https://modernbombayjhf3.onion.link/https://timtaubert.de/blog/2014/11/using-the-webcrypto-api-to-generate-onion-names-for-tor-hidden-services/

If you want your proxy only be accessible over Tor, change your app type from “web” to something else, e.g., modify the Procfile to

torweb: ./tor/bin/run_tor python zeronet.py --ui_ip "*" --ui_port ${PORT}

Besides, you may encounter a “Forbidden Invalid host:” error when you visit your .onion URL, and the reason is ZeroNet has a ui_host restriction, see also https://github.com/HelloZeroNet/ZeroNet/issues/1073. To let the ZeroNet UI be accessible through both the clearnet URL (e.g., http://dcentral.herokuapp.com) and .onion URL (e.g., http://dcntrli7i2ytw57h.onion), you must add the parameter “ui_host” and change your Procfile to

web: ./tor/bin/run_tor python zeronet.py --ui_ip "*" --ui_port ${PORT} --ui_host dcentral.herokuapp.com dcntrli7i2ytw57h.onion

However, in order to enable Tor support for your ZeroNet connections, as instructed in https://zeronet.readthedocs.io/en/latest/faq/#how-to-make-zeronet-work-with-tor-under-linux, you must enable Tor control port 9051, which cannot be done directly.

So to solve all the problems with Tor, I suggest you fork the buildpack https://github.com/hernanex3/heroku-buildpack-tor and customize the compile script to satisfy your needs. An example fork:
https://github.com/BruceJawn/heroku-buildpack-tor Check the file “bin/compile” at https://github.com/BruceJawn/heroku-buildpack-tor/blob/master/bin/compile, in which I added several lines for ZeroNet, e.g., to generate the “zeronet.conf” file,

echo"Setting up ZeroNet"

cat>${HOME}/zeronet.conf << EOZ

[global]

ui_ip = *

ui_port = \${PORT}

homepage = \${mysiteaddress}

ui_host = 

\${HIDDEN_DOT_ONION}

\${CLEARNET_URL}

tor = \${USE_TOR}

\${ZERONET_CONFIG}

EOZ

and to use Tor control port

echo"controlPort 9051">>$HOME/tor/etc/tor/torrc

echo"CookieAuthentication 1">>$HOME/tor/etc/tor/torrc

To try my fork, in your Heroku app directory, add the buildpack,

heroku buildpacks:add https://github.com/BruceJawn/heroku-buildpack-tor.git

change your Procfile to

web: ./tor/bin/run_tor python zeronet.py

and deploy.

Note in my fork, I added the config var $CLEARNET_URL which can be used to specify the clearnet URL for your proxy. If you want to set up a public proxy without user restrictions, or a private proxy, you can set the config var $mysiteaddress to the default HelloZero address “1HeLLo4uzjaLetFx6NH3PMwFP3qbRbTf3D”, or just remove the following line for specifying the homepage (which is used for hosting your zsite only) in “bin/compile”

homepage = \${mysiteaddress}

You also need to add the config var $ZERONET_CONFIG. If you want to disallow users to add new sites, you can set the config var $ZERONET_CONFIG to “multiuser_no_new_sites”, otherwise, set it empty.
Finally, you should add the config var $USE_TOR, and set its value to “disable”, “enable” or “always” depending on how you want to use Tor.