sing-box/docs/configuration/shared/pre-match.md

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icon: material/new-box

Pre-match

!!! quote "Changes in sing-box 1.13.0"

:material-plus: [bypass](#bypass)

Pre-match is rule matching that runs before the connection is established.

How it works

When TUN receives a connection request, the connection has not yet been established, so no connection data can be read. In this phase, sing-box runs the routing rules in pre-match mode.

Since connection data is unavailable, only actions that do not require connection data can be executed. When a rule matches an action that requires an established connection, pre-match stops at that rule.

Supported actions

reject

Reject with TCP RST / ICMP unreachable.

route

Route ICMP connections to the specified outbound for direct reply.

bypass

!!! question "Since sing-box 1.13.0"

!!! quote ""

Only supported on Linux with `auto_redirect` enabled.

Bypass sing-box and connect directly at kernel level.

For all other contexts, bypass with outbound behaves like route action.