create a Packet Tunnel Provider and have it setup a local VPN connection without an external VPN server. is it possible?

my idea is to create a Packet Tunnel Provider and have it setup a local VPN connection without an external VPN server.

I don’t understand you’re requirements here. How can your packet tunnel provider create a VPN connection without a VPN server? By definition, VPN uses the public Internet to privately tunnel traffic from one place to another, and you can’t do that without having the other place. Are you planning to do some sort of peer-to-peer VPN? Or is your goal to use the VPN architecture to do something that’s not VPN?

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Quinn “The Eskimo!”
Apple Developer Relations, Developer Technical Support, Core OS/Hardware

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can i use localhost as VPN server for Packet Tunnel Provider for macOS?

and my goal is to read the content of the packets.

my goal is to read the content of the packets.

DTS doesn’t support ‘off label’ use of NetworkExtension providers. Our experience is that such use yields problems, both during development and in terms of future compatibility. Fortunately, you have some alternatives on macOS:

• If you just want to look at packets, use BPF.

• If you also want to block or modify packets, you should look at the new features we’re introducing in macOS 10.15 beta. See WWDC 2019 Session 714 Network Extensions for the Modern Mac for the details.

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Quinn “The Eskimo!”
Apple Developer Relations, Developer Technical Support, Core OS/Hardware

let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@apple.com"