Reduce your ping. Free. Forever.
LightSpeed is a zero-cost global network optimizer for multiplayer games. It routes your game traffic through an optimized proxy tunnel, bypassing slow ISP paths to reduce and stabilize your ping - no subscriptions, no usage fees, no infrastructure bills.
How? Your ISP routes game packets through congested paths chosen for cost, not speed. LightSpeed tunnels them through a proxy node with high-speed backbone connections to game server regions. The result is lower, more stable latency - typically 10-40ms improvement depending on your location and the game server.
LightSpeed now runs a community relay network: eight sponsor-funded relays in Los Angeles, New Jersey, Singapore, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Mumbai, Madrid, and Sydney. Clients discover them automatically through a signed registry (https://shibbityshwab.github.io/lightspeed/registry.json) with the operator's key compiled in, so there is nothing to configure. The GUI picks the fastest relay for you on first run, and self-hosting your own proxy is still fully supported. See the Community Relay Network guide for details.
# Download the latest release
# https://github.com/ShibbityShwab/lightspeed/releases/latest
# Option 1: Interactive demo (no proxy needed)
./lightspeed --demo
# Option 2: Jump straight in (auto-selects the fastest community relay)
./lightspeed --start-interceptor --game rust
# Option 3: Probe the community relays first
./lightspeed --probe-proxies
# Or point at your own proxy
./lightspeed --start-interceptor --game rust --proxy YOUR_PROXY_IP:4434📖 Full User Guide → | CLI Reference →
| Game | CLI Flag | Anti-Cheat | Auto-Detect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rust | --game rust |
EAC | ✅ |
| Counter-Strike 2 | --game cs2 |
VAC | ✅ |
| CS:GO Legacy | --game csgo |
VAC | ✅ |
| Fortnite | --game fortnite |
EAC + BattlEye | ✅ |
| Dota 2 | --game dota2 |
VAC | ✅ |
| Apex Legends | --game apex |
EAC | ✅ |
| Valorant | --game valorant |
Riot Vanguard | ✅ |
| Overwatch 2 | --game ow2 |
Blizzard Warden | ✅ |
| League of Legends | --game lol |
Riot Vanguard | ✅ |
| PUBG: Battlegrounds | --game pubg |
BattlEye | ✅ |
| MapleStory | --game maplestory |
BlackCipher (NGS) | ✅ |
| Genshin Impact | --game genshin |
None | ✅ |
| Rocket League | --game rocketleague |
EAC | ✅ |
| World of Tanks | --game wot |
None | ✅ |
| Dead by Daylight | --game deadbydaylight |
EAC | ✅ |
| Bodycam | --game bodycam |
None | ✅ |
| Roblox | --game roblox |
Byfron (Hyperion) | ✅ |
| Project Zomboid | --game zomboid |
None | ✅ |
| WARDOGS | --game wardogs |
Elytra (kernel) | ✅ |
| Minecraft | --game minecraft |
None | ✅ |
| Hunt: Showdown | --game hunt |
Easy Anti-Cheat | ✅ |
| Rainbow Six Siege | --game rainbowsix |
BattlEye + R6 Shieldguard | ✅ |
- Automatic proxy selection - probes all configured proxies and picks the fastest; the GUI auto-selects the fastest relay on first run with an "Auto (fastest)" checkbox
- Community relay auto-discovery - finds the eight community relays via the signed registry with zero config, or point at your own with
--registry <url> - RTT saved - measures the client's direct (ICMP) game-server round trip against the tunnelled round trip so you can see the estimated saving, with the caveat that the two are different instruments
- Does it help me? -
--diagnosemeasures one server's direct and relayed path over a few seconds and prints a plain saved/not-helped verdict, with no telemetry required - ML-based route prediction - 11-feature Random Forest model learns from your connection patterns
- Multipath FEC - XOR-based Forward Error Correction that recovers a lost packet from parity with ~25% bandwidth overhead at the default block size
- TCP tunnel fallback - client↔proxy leg over TCP (
--tcp) for networks that block UDP
- Kernel-level MITM - nftables/iptables (Linux), pfctl (macOS), WinDivert (Windows)
- Per-process targeting - auto-detects your game process and its UDP connections
- IP-transparent - game servers always see your real IP (not a VPN)
- Zero-cost self-hosting - deploy your own proxy on any Linux VPS (~500KB RAM)
- Prometheus + Grafana - built-in monitoring stack
- Cross-platform - Windows, Linux, macOS (Intel + Apple Silicon)
LightSpeed ships three packages. You only need one:
| You want to… | Download | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Play on Windows (recommended) | lightspeed-gui-...-windows-msvc.msi (or .zip) |
Everything included - GUI + engine + WinDivert driver. No separate client needed. |
| Play on Linux | lightspeed-gui-...-linux-gnu.tar.xz (or lightspeed-client) |
GUI + engine, or the CLI for power users. |
| Play on macOS | lightspeed-client-... |
CLI client. The GUI compiles for macOS but is untested on real hardware. |
| Host a proxy node | lightspeed-proxy-... |
Only if you're running a relay server on a VPS. |
Why is there both a "client" and a "gui"? The GUI (
lightspeed-gui) is a standalone app that already contains the client engine. Grab it for the easiest experience. The CLI (lightspeed-client) is for headless/power users and for macOS, where the GUI is untested. You never need to install both.
| Platform | Command |
|---|---|
| macOS and Linux | brew tap ShibbityShwab/lightspeed https://github.com/ShibbityShwab/lightspeed && brew install ShibbityShwab/lightspeed/lightspeed (current at the latest release) |
| Windows (Scoop) | scoop bucket add ShibbityShwab https://github.com/ShibbityShwab/scoop-bucket && scoop install lightspeed (bucket is current at 1.6.14) |
| Windows (Chocolatey) | choco install lightspeed (live; 1.6.14 submitted and pending moderation - the feed still serves 1.6.3 until a moderator approves) |
| Windows (winget) | not published yet: winget install ShibbityShwab.LightSpeed will fail until the first manifest merges. Use the MSI from Releases. |
| Arch Linux | yay -S lightspeed-bin (AUR, prepared but not yet published; Arch registration is closed) |
Windows package managers are catching up. The Scoop bucket now serves the current release, and Chocolatey has 1.6.14 submitted and pending moderation (the feed still serves 1.6.3 until a moderator approves). winget has no published manifest yet - the first submission is awaiting a Microsoft moderator. For Windows, the MSI or
.zipfrom Releases is always current. macOS and Linux users get the current version from Homebrew.
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://github.com/ShibbityShwab/lightspeed/releases/latest/download/lightspeed-client-installer.sh | shDownload from Releases - Windows, Linux, macOS. The website offers one-click downloads that pick the right artifact for your OS and CPU.
git clone https://github.com/ShibbityShwab/lightspeed.git
cd lightspeed
cargo build --release
# Run the client
./target/release/lightspeed --demo
# Or run the proxy
./target/release/lightspeed-proxy --config proxy/proxy.tomlRequirements: Rust 1.88+ (1.95+ for the GUI), libpcap-dev (Linux), Npcap SDK (Windows).
# Pull from GitHub Container Registry
docker pull ghcr.io/shibbityshwab/lightspeed-proxy:latest
docker run -d -p 4434:4434/udp -p 8080:8080 lightspeed-proxy
# Or build from source
docker build -f infra/docker/Dockerfile -t lightspeed-proxy .
docker run -d -p 4434:4434/udp -p 8080:8080 lightspeed-proxy# Build
cargo build --release --workspace --exclude lightspeed-gui
# Test
cargo test --workspace --exclude lightspeed-gui
# Lint
cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets --exclude lightspeed-gui
# Security audit
cargo auditlightspeed/
├── client/ # CLI client (packet capture, routing, interceptor)
├── client-gui/ # Windows GUI tray app (egui)
├── proxy/ # UDP relay server (proxy mesh node)
├── protocol/ # Shared tunnel protocol (header, FEC, control)
├── infra/ # Docker, monitoring, deploy scripts
├── docs/ # Documentation
└── web/ # GitHub Pages landing page
| Document | Description |
|---|---|
| User Guide | Step-by-step setup and usage |
| CLI Reference | All commands and flags |
| FAQ | Common questions |
| Troubleshooting | Fix common issues |
| Bufferbloat Guide | Fix latency on your own router (SQM/CAKE) |
| Deploy Proxy | Self-hosting guide |
| Community Relay Network | Run + publish a relay for others |
| Operator Key Succession | Registry trust model, key rotation and recovery |
| Architecture | System design |
| Protocol | Wire protocol spec |
| Supported Games | Game profiles |
| Privacy | Telemetry policy |
| Glossary | Terminology |
- Token-based authentication for all data-plane sessions
- Rate limiting per client (packets/sec, bytes/sec)
- Destination validation - blocks RFC 1918, localhost, multicast
- Anti-amplification - inbound/outbound byte ratio tracking
- Unencrypted by design - game traffic remains inspectable (anti-cheat compatible)
Since 1.6.5, LightSpeed shares anonymous aggregate latency statistics on by default so the community can see real ping improvements. Only percentiles (p50/p95/p99), jitter, FEC counters, and the direct-vs-tunnelled round-trip difference (the "RTT saved" metric) are sent to your own relay. No IP addresses, tokens, identifiers, or packet contents are ever collected, and the relay suppresses any cell with fewer than 3 reports (k=3).
Turn it off any time with --no-telemetry, telemetry = false in lightspeed.toml, or the "Share anonymous latency stats" checkbox in the GUI.
- v0.1.0 - MVP: UDP tunnel, proxy server, QUIC control, security hardening
- v0.2.0 - FEC (XOR parity), WARP integration, redirect mode, live proxy mesh
- v0.3.0 - Prometheus + Grafana, CI/CD pipeline, pre-built binaries
- v0.4.0 - 9-game support, session telemetry, Windows GUI, recvmmsg batched I/O
- v0.5.0 - Linux interceptor CLI, cross-platform GUI, Docker, MockInterceptor
- v1.0.0 - Public stable release: installer wizard + self-hosted proxy model
- v1.6.5 - Eight-relay community network, on-by-default anonymous telemetry with opt-out, and the "RTT saved" metric
We welcome contributions! See CONTRIBUTING.md and the issue tracker.
Free for non-commercial use. Commercial use requires a paid license. See LICENSE.
⚡ Built with Rust. Self-hosted on any VPS. Zero cost. Forever.