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What is mosdns?

irinesistiana/mosdns — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-05-18

★ 3,624GoAudience · ops devopsComplexity · 3/5Setup · moderate

In one sentence

A Go-based DNS forwarder that supports encrypted DNS protocols and can also act as a DNS proxy or server.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((mosdns))
    What it does
      DNS forwarding
      DNS proxy
      DNS server
    Encrypted protocols
      DNS over HTTPS
      DNS over TLS
      DNS over QUIC
    Deployment
      Prebuilt binaries
      Docker image
    Docs
      Short README
      External wiki

Code map

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filefunction / class

What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Forward DNS queries through encrypted DNS-over-HTTPS, DNS-over-TLS, or DNS-over-QUIC.

USE CASE 2

Run mosdns as a DNS proxy or standalone DNS server on a home or company network.

USE CASE 3

Deploy mosdns in a container using the provided Docker image.

USE CASE 4

Filter or cache DNS traffic by sitting mosdns between devices and upstream DNS servers.

What is it built with?

GoDocker

How does it compare?

irinesistiana/mosdnsx-motemen/ghqoliver006/redis_exporter
Stars3,6243,6243,625
LanguageGoGoGo
Setup difficultymoderateeasymoderate
Complexity3/52/53/5
Audienceops devopsdeveloperops devops

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

README is minimal and mostly in Chinese, configuration details live on an external wiki, not in the repo.

No license information is stated in the explanation.

So what is it?

mosdns is a DNS forwarder written in Go. DNS is the system that translates human-readable website names, like "example.com," into the numeric addresses that computers use to reach servers. A DNS forwarder sits between your device and the DNS servers it queries, receiving requests and passing them onward, often with additional filtering, caching, or protocol translation applied in the process. This project supports several encrypted DNS transport protocols, including DNS-over-HTTPS, DNS-over-TLS, and DNS-over-QUIC. Traditional DNS queries travel as plain text by default, meaning anyone on the network path between your device and the DNS server can read or alter the responses. The encrypted variants prevent that by wrapping DNS traffic inside secure connection types, making queries and responses visible only to the intended endpoints. It can also function as a DNS proxy and DNS server, not just a forwarder, giving it flexibility in how it fits into a network setup. Pre-compiled binaries are available for download through the GitHub releases page, and a Docker image is available for those who prefer containerized deployments. The README for this project is short and written primarily in Chinese. It directs readers to an external wiki for feature descriptions, configuration details, and tutorials. Practical usage instructions and configuration examples are not included in the README itself.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Explain how mosdns encrypts DNS traffic using DNS-over-HTTPS or DNS-over-TLS.
Prompt 2
How do I deploy mosdns using its Docker image?
Prompt 3
What's the difference between using mosdns as a forwarder versus a full DNS server?
Prompt 4
Where do I find configuration examples and tutorials for mosdns?

Frequently asked questions

What is mosdns?

A Go-based DNS forwarder that supports encrypted DNS protocols and can also act as a DNS proxy or server.

What language is mosdns written in?

Mainly Go. The stack also includes Go, Docker.

What license does mosdns use?

No license information is stated in the explanation.

How hard is mosdns to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated moderate, with roughly 30min to a first successful run.

Who is mosdns for?

Mainly ops devops.

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