anti-AD is an ad-blocking filter list designed for Chinese-language internet regions that works with network components including AdGuardHome, dnsmasq, Surge, Pi-Hole, Clash, mihomo, smartdns, and sing-box.
The tool addresses ad blocking and privacy protection by operating at the domain name resolution layer. It aggregates well-known hosts files, ad filter lists, and adblock lists, then deduplicates and processes them through several optimization techniques: removing expired domains, applying easylist optimizations for fuzzy matching, and implementing enhanced blacklist and whitelist mechanisms. This approach aims to produce a high-accuracy filter list capable of blocking advertisement domains, in-app ads, set-top box ads, and domains involved in logging collection and data analytics that could expose personal information.
Developers should choose this tool if they operate services or networks serving Chinese-language users and want to deploy ad blocking and privacy protection at the DNS or network level rather than in individual applications. The tool is compatible with multiple common ad-filtering formats, making it suitable for integration into existing network infrastructure. It works particularly well for environments like home networks, corporate networks, or ISP-level filtering where centralized domain blocking is preferred.
The project maintains an active development cycle with regular updates to the filter lists and ongoing refinement of detection accuracy. The codebase includes PHP components for list processing and generation. The tool is actively maintained with attention to keeping the filter lists current and effective against evolving advertising and tracking domains in the Chinese internet ecosystem.
