Proxy Port

Send your own traffic through FourA's exits from any client that accepts a proxy URL: a browser, a download tool, a scraper you already run. The proxy port opens a tunnel to the target you name and copies bytes both ways, so it carries what the JSON API doesn't: streams, large downloads, and whole browser sessions.

Connecting

Credentials come from the dashboard. Create a proxy user under Proxy in the sidebar and you get a generated username and password. They're separate from your API key on purpose: a proxy handshake travels in the clear on every connection, and a proxy user can be rotated without touching your API integration. See Proxy Users.

curl -x http://USERNAME:PASSWORD@proxy.foura.ai:34004 https://example.com

import requests

proxy = "http://USERNAME:PASSWORD@proxy.foura.ai:34004"
r = requests.get("https://example.com", proxies={"https": proxy, "http": proxy})
print(r.status_code)

The port speaks CONNECT only. An https:// target is tunnelled by every client. A plain http:// target works when your client tunnels it too (curl: --proxytunnel); a client that forwards the plain request to the proxy instead gets 405 Method Not Allowed.

Options Ride in the Username

Everything after the credential is a list of -key-value pairs, in any order:

USERNAME-network-premium-country-de-session-a1

Values are lowercase words. A dash inside a value starts a new option, so -city-new-york reads as two options and is refused. An unknown key is refused too, never dropped: a misspelt -contry-de comes back as a 400 that names the supported keys, rather than being served from the wrong country.

Every option except network, fallback, and session accepts any, which clears a value saved on the proxy user for this one connection.

Three combinations are refused with a 400 rather than partly honoured:

• state, city, asn, os, or lifetime on the shared network. The shared network is chosen by country and nothing finer; add -network-premium to target a city.
• -fallback-premium together with -network-premium. A fallback has nothing to do on the network it falls back to.
• Finer targeting with a fallback armed. A fallback may or may not fire, so a city it could only sometimes honour is refused.

Sessions

On the shared network, a named session keeps the same exit for as long as you keep using it, on a sliding ten-minute window. If that exit stops working, the session moves to another one rather than failing. A browser driven through the port should always carry a session name: a page load opens dozens of connections, and without a session each one leaves from a different address.

On the premium network, a named session holds its address for lifetime minutes, or the network's default when you don't set one.

Saved defaults

Targeting saved on a proxy user in the dashboard applies to every connection made with it, so the username can stay short. Anything you put in the username wins for that one connection, and any takes a saved value back. A saved premium default spends only when your plan allows it; otherwise the connection is served from the shared network and the tunnel still opens.

CONNECT headers

A client that can add headers to the CONNECT request may send the same options as headers. A header wins over the same option in the username.

curl -x http://USERNAME:PASSWORD@proxy.foura.ai:34004 \
  --proxy-header "X-Foura-Country: de" \
  https://example.com

Responses

A tunnel that opens answers 200 Connection established. Every refusal made after your credentials are checked carries an X-Foura-Error header with a one-line reason, so read that header before anything else.

Limits

• Tunnels open at once and tunnel openings a minute come from your plan, and they are counted for the account rather than per proxy user: issuing a second credential does not buy a second allowance. Your numbers are on Usage & Limits.
• Finding an exit takes up to 45 seconds before the port gives up with a 502. A session that already has an exit usually connects in well under a second.
• A tunnel with no bytes in either direction is closed after two idle minutes.
• When the port is updated, tunnels that are already open get just under three minutes to finish and are then closed, while new connections keep opening. A long download or stream should reconnect when its tunnel closes.
• A proxy user you disable or delete in the dashboard stops authenticating within a minute.

Metering

Bytes through the port count toward the bandwidth on your Usage & Limits page, and bytes through a premium exit count toward your premium traffic as well: the same bytes, reported twice, never added together. When a tunnel opens, the traffic of premium exits the port tried but didn't use counts as premium traffic too. Unused shared-network tries aren't counted, and nothing is counted when no tunnel opens.

The standard traffic the port may use is your plan's. On a plan sold by credits the port has its own included gigabytes, and the Billing page sells more of them; on a plan sold by traffic it draws on the same pool as the API. When that runs out, new connections are refused until the period resets or you add more, and the usage mails say when.

Once the premium allowance is spent, the three ways onto that network are answered differently, on purpose. A connection that names -network-premium is refused with a 403 saying so, because a caller who asked to spend and was quietly served from somewhere else would keep asking and reconcile a premium line that never appears. A fallback is not taken, and a premium default saved on the proxy user is downgraded to the shared network, which still opens the tunnel: neither of those chose to spend on this connection.

Related

• Proxy Users: Create proxy users and build a connection string in the dashboard
• Proxy Request: The JSON API alternative, with retries and validation built in
• Reuse a Proxy Across Requests: Keeping one exit on the JSON API
• Usage & Limits: Bandwidth and premium traffic against your plan