rendezvous point

the rendezvous point is the relay where a tor client and an onion service finally meet - chosen by the client, known to neither side's real identity.

once an onion service accepts your introduction request, the actual conversation happens at a rendezvous point. the client picks that relay - any random relay will do - and includes it in the introduce message sent through the introduction point.

the service builds its own three-hop circuit out to the rendezvous point and presents the one-time secret from the introduction. when both halves arrive, the rendezvous point splices the circuits together and pure relayed traffic flows.

the elegance is in what nobody knows: the rendezvous point knows two circuits met there but not who is on either end. the client does not know where the service lives, and the service does not know where the client is. there is no direct connection to intercept because there is no direct connection at all.

this meeting-in-the-middle design is also why onion browsing feels sluggish compared to the regular web - your effective path is your three-hop circuit plus the service's three-hop circuit, six relays in series. latency variance is normal, not a red flag by itself.