Environment variables

Most command-line tools and HTTP libraries can take the proxy from environment variables. Set them once and every tool in that shell uses NyxonProxies, with no change to your code. The catch is that tools disagree on the details, so this page sticks to settings that work everywhere.

The variables#

The value is the address of the gateway. For the HTTP port it starts with http://, even in HTTPS_PROXY: the client asks the gateway for a tunnel and runs TLS to the site inside it. Writing https:// there makes the client try TLS with the gateway itself, which fails.

Linux and macOS#

export https_proxy="http://USERNAME:[email protected]:8080"
export HTTPS_PROXY="$https_proxy"
export http_proxy="$https_proxy"
export HTTP_PROXY="$https_proxy"
export no_proxy="localhost,127.0.0.1,::1"
export NO_PROXY="$no_proxy"
curl https://api.ipify.org

Tools disagree on whether the upper-case or the lower-case name wins, so set both to the same value. Add the lines to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc to keep them for new shells.

Windows#

In PowerShell, for the current window:

$env:HTTPS_PROXY = "http://USERNAME:[email protected]:8080"
$env:HTTP_PROXY = $env:HTTPS_PROXY
curl.exe https://api.ipify.org

In Command Prompt, for the current window:

set HTTPS_PROXY=http://USERNAME:[email protected]:8080
set HTTP_PROXY=%HTTPS_PROXY%
curl https://api.ipify.org

Windows ignores the case of variable names, so one of each is enough. To keep a variable for future windows, use setx. It does not change the window you run it in:

setx HTTPS_PROXY "http://USERNAME:[email protected]:8080"

Which tools read them#

Browsers use their own or the system proxy settings instead. See the guides under Browsers and devices in the sidebar.

Rules that work everywhere#

• Always set HTTPS_PROXY. With only HTTP_PROXY set, most clients send requests to HTTPS sites directly, from your own IP.
• Do not rely on ALL_PROXY. curl, Requests, HTTPX and git use it; aiohttp, urllib, Node.js and Go ignore it.
• Write NO_PROXY domains with a leading dot. .example.com works in every client. *.example.com is ignored by most of them.
• List local addresses one by one. localhost does not cover 127.0.0.1, and ranges such as 127.0.0.0/8 work in some tools only. Use localhost,127.0.0.1,::1.
• Remember the lower case for curl. curl reads http_proxy only in lower case.
• Percent-encode special characters in the password, such as @ as %40, or change the proxy password.

Tools with their own setting#

Some tools also have a setting of their own, handy when only one tool should use the proxy.

git, with Basic authentication sent straight away:

git config --global http.proxy http://USERNAME:[email protected]:8080
git config --global http.proxyAuthMethod basic

git config --global --unset http.proxy removes the setting again.

pip, for one command:

pip install --proxy http://USERNAME:[email protected]:8080 requests

npm:

npm config set https-proxy http://USERNAME:[email protected]:8080

Check that it works#

A skipped proxy fails silently: the request just leaves from your own IP. After any change, run curl https://api.ipify.org in the same shell and check that the address is not yours.