We Built Our First Isolated Tor v3 Onion Service for MyZubster 🧅
An open-source experiment in privacy, Docker isolation, and decentralized infrastructure.
At MyZubster, we're exploring how independent contributors can build and operate interoperable services without relying on a single centralized infrastructure.
Today, we reached a new technical milestone: our first isolated Tor v3 Onion pilot successfully completed the Tor bootstrap process and displayed its experimental web page.
This is a small but meaningful step toward our broader vision.
What We Built
The pilot uses a deliberately minimal architecture:
Tor Browser
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v
Tor v3 Onion Service
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v
Isolated HAProxy
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Static MyZubster Pilot Page
The environment includes:
- A dedicated Tor container running Tor 0.4.9.11
- An isolated HAProxy container
- Separate Docker networks
- A persistent volume for the Onion service identity
- A static experimental page
- No intended access to MyZubster production APIs, wallets, or payment services
The proxy was configured to return HTTP 200 for the homepage and HTTP 404 for /api and /admin.
Our First Successful Tor Bootstrap
During the initial tests, we encountered Docker permission errors when Tor attempted to switch to its dedicated system user.
After adjusting the container capabilities, Tor started successfully.
The logs eventually confirmed:
Bootstrapped 100% (done): Done
We also generated a dedicated Onion v3 address:
http://lrkjukwcbn7ftl7nkhuaefarwqymxx6xzopt77qa7mc4uinbdxrzn4id.onion
The experimental page displays:
MyZubster Onion Pilot
Experimental Tor v3 service.
Isolated technical pilot without API or payment access.
This demonstrates an initial working proof of concept. It is not yet a production-ready, independently security-audited deployment.
Why Does This Matter?
MyZubster is exploring a model where contributors can connect their own projects, services, skills, and infrastructure.
Our longer-term goals include:
- Independent infrastructure nodes
- Interoperability between contributor projects
- Privacy-conscious access through Tor
- Verifiable contributions and digital contributor passports
- Community-driven governance and resource sharing
Decentralization is not simply adding a blockchain or an Onion address.
It requires real operational independence, reproducible deployments, clear security boundaries, and contributors who can maintain services without depending on a single administrator.
What's Next? Contributor-Led Development
We're inviting @wasim-builds to help advance the next phase of this Tor/HAProxy pilot.
The proposed work includes:
- Reproducible Docker Compose configuration
- Network isolation and threat-model documentation
- Meaningful health checks and rollback procedures
- End-to-end Tor Browser testing
- Recovery tests after container restarts or network changes
- Independent code review
This is an opt-in open-source contribution proposal, not a confirmed paid assignment.
You can follow the technical discussion here:
MyZubster GitHub — Tor Onion Pilot #1584
Contributor Operations and DAO Pilots #1605
Join the Experiment
We're looking for developers interested in Tor, Docker, networking, privacy engineering, and interoperable open-source infrastructure.
You don't need to operate a VPS or join a DAO to contribute.
Start with a review, a reproducible test, documentation, or a small pull request.
The goal isn't to claim we've already decentralized everything. It's to build and verify one independent component at a time.
Explore the project:
MyZubster — Connecting people, knowledge, projects, and independent infrastructure.
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