I ran into the same 403 problem when trying to download the docker-compose.yml file with wget. It seems to be caused by the anti-DoS protection on Tor’s GitLab rather than by AlmaLinux or Docker itself. What worked for me was simply creating the compose file manually instead of downloading it: *** services: snowflake-proxy: network_mode: host image: containers.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snowflake:latest container_name: snowflake-proxy restart: unless-stopped # For a full list of Snowflake Proxy CLI parameters see # https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snowf... #command: [ "-ephemeral-ports-range", "30000:60000" ] watchtower: image: nickfedor/watchtower container_name: watchtower volumes: - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock command: snowflake-proxy *** I then ran: *** docker compose config docker compose up -d snowflake-proxy *** and the Snowflake proxy started successfully. So if you’re seeing the same 403, I’d suggest skipping the wget step for now and creating the file by hand. I tried this on AlmaLinux 9.8 and it works. Also opening the link with a normal browser works after waiting for 5 seconds, that's how I got the file. ~ Mike On 21.08.2026 16:24, John Thompson via tor-relays wrote:
Repeated blacklisting while running a tor relay has persuaded me to try a snowflake proxy instead. I want to run a stand-alone proxy on Almalinux-9.8. Following the instructions on https://community.torproject.org/relay/setup/snowflake/standalone/docker/, I have installed docker, but cannot complete the next step, downloading the docker-compose.yml configuration file:
$ wget -O docker-compose.yml https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snowf... --2026-08-21 09:17:57-- https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snowf... Resolving gitlab.torproject.org (gitlab.torproject.org)... 2620:7:6002:0:266:37ff:feb8:3489, 204.8.99.149 Connecting to gitlab.torproject.org (gitlab.torproject.org)|2620:7:6002:0:266:37ff:feb8:3489|:443... connected. HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 403 Forbidden 2026-08-21 09:17:57 ERROR 403: Forbidden.
Is there a fix?