<p>Selective detecting and tracking of HClO is crucial for reflecting related oxidative stress process and environmental safety. In this research, we present the red emissive carbon dots (CDs) with advantageous optical performances including high fluorescent stability, strong intensity and advanced quantum yield. The CDs showed excellent selectivity and sensitivity towards HClO with superior anti-interference performance and outstanding detection limit, indicating the CDs based fluorescent nanoprobe is not only highly suitable for detecting HClO in complicated water samples by solution, but also serve as prospective fluorescent filer paper sensor for fast detection. The low cytotoxicity and favorable biocompatibility are extremely demanded for sensing and imaging exogenous and endogenous HClO in living cells, and encourages the CDs as powerful imaging tool to unveil the mystery of HClO participant oxidative stress process, which would be beneficial for early diagnosis and therapeutics of related diseases.</p><p><?noindent??><b>Clinical Trial Number</b> Not applicable.</p> Graphical Abstract <p></p>