Three steps: create an account and choose a plan, retrieve your proxy credentials from the dashboard (gateway hostname, port, username, password), and configure your tool with these connection details. For residential proxies, append targeting parameters to your username. For ISP proxies, use the specific IP and port assigned to you.

With the Requests library, pass a proxies dictionary with your proxy URL. For aiohttp, use a ProxyConnector. For Scrapy, set HTTP_PROXY and HTTPS_PROXY settings. The proxy URL format is protocol://username:password@host:port. Replace credentials with your Hex Proxies dashboard values.

For Puppeteer, pass --proxy-server as a launch argument, then authenticate with page.authenticate(). For Playwright, configure proxy in the browser context options. Both support HTTP and SOCKS5 proxies. For rotating IPs, create a new context per request. For sticky sessions, reuse the same context.

Use the -x or --proxy flag: curl -x http://username:password@gateway:port https://target-site.com. For SOCKS5: curl --socks5 user:pass@gateway:port url. You can also set HTTP_PROXY and HTTPS_PROXY environment variables. Test with: curl -x your-proxy https://httpbin.org/ip.

In Chrome: Settings > System > Open proxy settings. In Firefox: Settings > Network Settings > Manual proxy configuration. Enter the gateway hostname and port. Extensions like FoxyProxy or SwitchyOmega allow quick switching between proxy profiles.

Standard format: protocol://username:password@hostname:port. For residential proxies with targeting: http://user-country-US:pass@gate.hexproxies.com:7777. The username field can include parameters for country, city, session, and rotation settings.

Make a request through your proxy to httpbin.org/ip, ipinfo.io, or whatismyipaddress.com. If the returned IP differs from your real IP and matches expected location, your configuration is correct. Also verify response time and that target sites return expected content.

For per-request rotation, connect without a session parameter — each request automatically gets a different IP. For timed rotation, include a session ID in your username: user-session-abc123. Change the session ID to force a new IP. Generate random session IDs per rotation cycle for programmatic control.

No, Hex Proxies requires no software installation. Our proxies work through standard HTTP and SOCKS5 protocols supported natively by virtually all tools and languages. Connect to our gateway endpoints using dashboard credentials. No proprietary client needed.

The proxy establishes a CONNECT tunnel for HTTPS targets. The SSL handshake happens directly between your client and the target — the proxy does not intercept encrypted traffic. Certificate errors are usually client configuration issues, not proxy-related.

Yes, set HTTP_PROXY and HTTPS_PROXY environment variables in your Dockerfile or docker-compose.yml, or pass them with the -e flag at runtime. For applications inside containers, configure the proxy at the application level.

With axios, use the proxy config option. With node-fetch, use https-proxy-agent. For SOCKS5, use socks-proxy-agent. Always handle connection errors and implement retry logic for production workloads.

Specific ports for HTTP/HTTPS and SOCKS5 are provided in your dashboard after signup. These ports are consistent across all plans. Ensure these ports are open in your firewall.

Two methods: username/password embedded in the proxy URL (supports inline targeting), or IP whitelist authorization in your dashboard (simpler for fixed infrastructure). Both methods can be used simultaneously.

Proxy chaining is possible through client-side configuration using tools like proxychains on Linux. Each additional hop increases latency, so chaining is only recommended when the added privacy outweighs performance cost.