Use curl

Use curl to make a request through an HTTP or SOCKS5 proxy and inspect a connection before configuring a larger application. Set PORTS_PROXY_URL to your assigned proxy URL, including its scheme, hostname, and port. Supply the full rp1_... key as PORTS_PROXY_KEY.

Configure the proxy transport

Proxy URL format	Behavior
http://HOST:PORT	HTTP proxy over plaintext TCP
https://HOST:PORT	HTTP proxy with TLS to the proxy
socks5h://HOST:PORT	SOCKS5 with the destination hostname resolved by the exit

These show formats only. Use your assigned endpoint, without embedded credentials, and keep the assigned port. A standard socks5h:// connection uses plaintext TCP to the proxy, so it cannot be pointed directly at an HTTPS proxy’s TLS-only port.

For SOCKS5, use socks5h:// rather than curl’s locally resolving socks5:// mode. The gateway requires a hostname and rejects destination IP addresses. --socks5-hostname HOST:PORT is curl’s equivalent remote-DNS option. See the curl options reference.

Request an HTTPS URL

curl --proxy "$PORTS_PROXY_URL" \
  --proxy-user "v1_rotate:$PORTS_PROXY_KEY" \
  --connect-timeout 10 \
  --max-time 30 \
  https://example.com/

--proxy identifies the proxy; --proxy-user supplies the routing username and full key for HTTP Basic or SOCKS5 username/password authentication. The final URL is the destination and must contain a hostname. curl opens an HTTP CONNECT or SOCKS5 tunnel, then negotiates TLS with the HTTPS destination. Keep certificate verification enabled. The timeouts here are example client settings. curl options reference.

The password is the complete secret shown when you created a key. Keep it out of source control, shared logs, and pasted diagnostics. Command arguments can be visible to other processes; use your environment’s protected credential-loading method for unattended execution.

Select a country

Change the username while keeping the same endpoint and password.

curl --proxy "$PORTS_PROXY_URL" \
  --proxy-user "v1_rotate_countries_US:$PORTS_PROXY_KEY" \
  --connect-timeout 10 \
  --max-time 30 \
  https://example.com/

The route requires an eligible United States exit. A valid country code is a filter, not a guarantee that an exit is currently available. See routing.

Reuse a sticky route

curl --proxy "$PORTS_PROXY_URL" \
  --proxy-user "v1_sticky_session_checkout-42:$PORTS_PROXY_KEY" \
  --connect-timeout 10 \
  --max-time 30 \
  https://example.com/

Use the same session ID for connections that belong together. Sticky sessions permit failover when the selected exit becomes unavailable. v1_fixed_session_checkout-42 requests a route that does not fail over. See sessions before choosing between them.

Inspect a failure

For a local investigation, add --verbose to see connection stages. Redact proxy credentials and any destination credentials before sharing output. An error during proxy negotiation, authentication, or tunnel setup happens before the destination response; an HTTP error after tunnel establishment can come from the destination. SOCKS5 setup errors are not HTTP statuses or JSON error codes. See errors and troubleshooting.

On Windows PowerShell, use curl.exe, read variables as $env:PORTS_PROXY_URL and $env:PORTS_PROXY_KEY, and put the command on one line.