Voidly Probe Lite

Lightweight censorship monitoring node for Raspberry Pi, VPS, and headless Linux.

Zero dependencies — just Node.js. Tests 62 domains for DNS/TCP/TLS/HTTP blocking and reports results to the Voidly Censorship Index.

Quick Start

git clone https://github.com/voidly-ai/probe-lite.git
cd probe-lite
node probe.mjs --register --country US

Replace US with your ISO country code (e.g., DE, GB, IN, IR, BR).

Raspberry Pi Setup

1. Install Node.js

# Option A: NodeSource (recommended)
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

# Option B: If that doesn't work
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs npm

Verify: node --version (needs 18+)

2. Download and run

git clone https://github.com/voidly-ai/probe-lite.git
cd probe-lite
node probe.mjs --register --country US

You should see output like:

╔══════════════════════════════════════╗
║     Voidly Probe Lite v1.0           ║
║     Censorship monitoring node       ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════╝
  Platform: linux arm
  Hostname: raspberrypi
  Interval: 300s
  Domains:  62
✅ Registered as pi-raspberrypi-a1b2c3d4 (country: US)

[10:30:00 AM] Probing 20 domains...
  ✅ 18 accessible  🚫 2 blocked  ⚠️  0 errors
  🚫 telegram.org — tcp-reset (90%)
  🚫 signal.org — dns-timeout (50%)
  📡 Results submitted to relay

3. Run 24/7 (auto-start on boot)

# Edit the service file to match your install path and username
nano voidly-probe.service
# Change User=pi and WorkingDirectory=/home/pi/probe-lite if needed

# Install and enable
sudo cp voidly-probe.service /etc/systemd/system/
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable voidly-probe
sudo systemctl start voidly-probe

# Check it's running
sudo systemctl status voidly-probe

# View logs
journalctl -u voidly-probe -f

Options

Flag	Default	Description
--register	—	Register as a new probe node (run once)
--country US	XX	Your ISO country code
--interval 300	300	Seconds between probe cycles (5 min default)

After the first run with --register, your node ID is saved to .probe-config.json. Future runs don't need --register again:

node probe.mjs   # uses saved config

What It Tests

62 domains across 6 categories:

Category	Domains	Examples
Social Media	12	x.com, facebook.com, youtube.com, tiktok.com
Messaging	8	whatsapp.com, telegram.org, signal.org
News	12	bbc.com, nytimes.com, aljazeera.com
Privacy/VPN	10	torproject.org, protonvpn.com, mullvad.net
Human Rights	8	amnesty.org, hrw.org, eff.org
Tech	12	google.com, wikipedia.org, github.com

Each domain is tested for:

• DNS blocking — NXDOMAIN, DNS timeout, poisoned responses
• TCP blocking — Connection reset, refused, timeout
• TLS interference — Certificate errors, TLS reset, MITM
• HTTP blocking — Status 451, suspicious redirects, block pages

Results rotate through all 62 domains (20 per cycle) and are submitted to the Voidly relay.

Troubleshooting

"command not found: node" — Install Node.js (see step 1 above)

"Submission failed" — Your probe still works locally. Results will be submitted when the relay is reachable. Check your internet connection.

All domains show as blocked — Your network might actually be blocking them, or your DNS is misconfigured. Try nslookup google.com to verify DNS works.

Permission denied — Make sure the script is executable: chmod +x probe.mjs

Want to change your country code? — Delete .probe-config.json and re-run with --register --country XX

How It Helps

Every probe cycle contributes data to the Voidly Censorship Index — a live ranking of internet censorship across 119+ countries. More nodes = better data = more accurate censorship detection.

Join the probe network: voidly.ai/probes

Requirements

• Node.js 18+ (no npm packages needed)
• Internet connection
• Works on: Raspberry Pi (ARM), Linux (x64/ARM), macOS, Windows

License

MIT