Global Mode or Rule Mode? Understand the Difference First

Global mode is the simplest and most straightforward: every network request on your device, regardless of the site or app, is routed through your selected node. Its advantage is predictable behavior — you won't run into confusing situations where "this works but that doesn't" — which makes it a great choice for beginners who aren't yet familiar with rule configuration.

The downside is that sites/services you could already reach locally will also be routed through the node, which can make things a bit slower compared to only using the node when needed — though this has little impact on most everyday use cases.

Rule mode (sometimes called PAC mode) uses a preset or custom rule list to decide whether each request should go "direct" (over your local network) or "proxy" (through the node). This way, only traffic that actually needs the node goes through it, while everything else connects directly — usually giving a better overall speed experience.

The downside is that the rule list may not cover every scenario — a site can occasionally be misclassified, causing access issues that require manually adjusting the rules to fix. This can be a bit more troublesome for beginners to troubleshoot.

• Just getting started and not yet familiar with the client: Use global mode first. It's the most intuitive, and if you run into an issue, it's easier to tell whether it's a node problem or a rule problem.
• Already comfortable and want better speed: Try switching to rule mode, watch for any sites that behave oddly, and adjust the rules for those specific cases.
• A site won't open in rule mode: Temporarily switch back to global mode to check whether it's a rule-matching issue. See Connection Troubleshooting for detailed steps.

The exact label varies slightly between clients, but it's generally easy to find. Desktop clients (like v2rayN) usually show options like "Global Mode" or "PAC Mode" at the top of the main window or in the system tray's right-click menu — just click to switch instantly. Mobile clients (like v2rayNG) typically put this near the connection toggle, in a settings icon — also a simple tap to switch, no reconnecting needed. If you can't find it right away, try searching the settings menu for "proxy mode" or "routing mode" — that should get you there.

Yes. Rule mode is essentially a customizable rule list. If you notice a specific site/app is consistently misclassified (e.g., a site that should connect directly is being routed through the proxy, or vice versa), most clients let you manually add a custom rule to mark that domain as "direct" or "proxy" without affecting how other rules are evaluated. After a few tweaks like this, rule mode usually ends up fitting your actual usage habits better than the default rule list, balancing both speed and coverage.

One thing worth noting: custom rules don't replace the entire default rule list — they act as higher-priority supplementary rules, while the default list still handles everything else you haven't set manually. So this is a gradual process, and you don't need to worry that one change will affect other sites that were already working fine.

Strictly speaking, there's no difference in "node forwarding speed" between global and rule mode — both go through the same node and the same route, and the actual bottleneck depends on the node's bandwidth and line quality, not the mode you choose. Rule mode feels "faster" mainly because locally reachable traffic skips the extra hop through the node, cutting out unnecessary forwarding — this is especially noticeable when accessing local network devices or ordinary sites/services that don't need a proxy in the first place, where direct connections respond noticeably faster. If most of what you access requires the node anyway, the perceived speed difference between the two modes will be minimal.

Don't stress over which mode to pick when you're just starting out. Get everything working first with global mode, confirm the node itself connects and works properly, and only then consider switching to rule mode for further optimization. That way, if you hit an issue with a specific site after switching, you'll immediately know it's a new problem introduced by rule mode — rather than mixing it up with the more basic question of whether the node itself works, which saves you unnecessary confusion.