Wget Proxy Setup: Step by Step

1. Put the proxy and the password in a file only you can read:

cat > ~/.wgetrc <<'EOF'
use_proxy = on
http_proxy = http://gate.proxyfield.io:7000
https_proxy = http://gate.proxyfield.io:7000
proxy_user = <login>-country-us
proxy_password = <password>
no_proxy = localhost,127.0.0.1
EOF
chmod 600 ~/.wgetrc

2. Test it: wget -qO- https://api.ipify.org prints the proxy's IP, not your machine's. -qO- sends the page to the terminal instead of a file.
3. Download as usual. Every wget run now goes through the proxy. To change the location for one run, pass only the username: wget --proxy-user="<login>-country-de" URL; wget still takes the password from the file.

The proxy URL starts with http:// even for https:// sites: that is how wget talks to the proxy, and the site's TLS runs through a tunnel. The system-wide file is /etc/wgetrc (sometimes /usr/local/etc/wgetrc); wget reads it first, then yours, and the WGETRC variable or --config=FILE points it at another file.

For a one-off test on a machine where you don't mind the password in history, everything also fits on one line: wget -qO- -e https_proxy=http://gate.proxyfield.io:7000 --proxy-user="<login>-country-us" --proxy-password="<password>" https://api.ipify.org.

A password typed on the command line lands in your shell history, and while wget runs, anyone on the machine can read it in the process list (ps), as the GNU Wget manual's security notes warn. Where each method leaves the password:

The variable route, for scripts or a shared machine where you don't want a file:

read -rsp "Proxy password: " PF_PASS; echo
https_proxy="http://<login>-country-us:${PF_PASS}@gate.proxyfield.io:7000" wget -qO- https://api.ipify.org

History records ${PF_PASS}, not its value. Encode special characters in the password inside the URL (@ becomes %40). The allowlist route: add the machine's IP in your ProxyField account, then wget -e https_proxy=http://gate.proxyfield.io:<port> URL needs no login, where <port> is the port you set up in the dashboard.

In bash with HISTCONTROL=ignorespace (or ignoreboth), a command that starts with a space is not saved to history, but it still shows in ps; it is a fallback, not a fix. Option reference: GNU Wget, HTTP options.

Both. Wget picks the variable by the scheme of the URL you download: http_proxy for http:// URLs, https_proxy for https:// URLs. With only http_proxy set, HTTPS downloads go direct, which is the most common reason wget seems to ignore the proxy. Set both to the same http://gate.proxyfield.io:7000.

GNU Wget has no SOCKS support: http_proxy and https_proxy take HTTP proxies only. ProxyField serves HTTP, HTTPS and SOCKS5 on the same gate.proxyfield.io:7000 with the same login, so wget simply uses the HTTP side. When the job must go over SOCKS5, you have two routes.

proxychains4 + wget, when you need wget's recursive downloads. Write a config file with the gateway's IP address (getent hosts gate.proxyfield.io prints it; proxychains expects an IP in [ProxyList]):

# pf-socks.conf  (chmod 600: it holds the password)
strict_chain
proxy_dns
[ProxyList]
socks5 <gateway IP> 7000 <login>-country-us <password>

proxychains4 -q -f ./pf-socks.conf wget -qO- https://api.ipify.org

proxy_dns resolves host names through the proxy. proxychains forwards TCP connections only, which is all wget uses. Installing it and the system-wide config are on Linux proxy setup.

curl, for single files: it speaks SOCKS5 natively, and socks5h:// resolves the host name through the proxy:

curl -x "socks5h://<login>-country-us:${PF_PASS}@gate.proxyfield.io:7000" -o file.zip https://example.com/file.zip

SOCKS5 in general: SOCKS5 proxies; curl's options: cURL with a proxy.

For wget -r or --mirror on a site that ties a session or cookie to the IP, put a session id and a session time in the username; the password stays in the file:

wget --proxy-user="<login>-country-us-session-mirror01-ttl-86400" \
  --recursive --level=5 --no-parent --continue \
  --wait=1 --random-wait --limit-rate=2m \
  https://example.com/docs/

1. wget -qO- https://api.ipify.org prints the exit IP; it should not be your machine's.
2. wget -qO- https://ipinfo.io/json shows the IP's city and country.
3. Without -q, wget's output shows Connecting to gate.proxyfield.io ...:7000... connected. when the proxy is in use, and the site's host when it isn't.
4. env | grep -i proxy and cat ~/.wgetrc show what wget will read.

wget --no-proxy URL ignores every proxy setting for one run. For hosts that should always skip it, list them in no_proxy (no_proxy=localhost,127.0.0.1,.internal). To stop entirely, unset http_proxy https_proxy and remove the lines from .wgetrc.

BusyBox wget (Alpine and many Docker images) reads http_proxy and https_proxy but has far fewer options than GNU Wget: no --proxy-user, so put the login in the proxy URL, and test it. For the full option set, install GNU Wget (apk add wget). On Windows, set the same variables in the shell (set https_proxy=http://<login>:<password>@gate.proxyfield.io:7000), or see Windows proxy setup. From Python, prefer the requests library over calling wget: see Python with a proxy.

The gateway's own error responses: 407 Proxy Authentication Required for a wrong login or password, an IP not on the allowlist or a malformed location, 402 Payment Required when no traffic is left and 502 Bad Gateway when no exit could be connected; a restricted site gets no separate response, and a 403 comes from the site itself. HTTP status codes are explained in proxy errors. Our 24/7 live chat helps with setup and integration.

For requests, headers and APIs rather than downloads, cURL with a proxy has more options. Use ProxyField for lawful work such as public web data collection and testing: public pages only, and follow each site's terms.

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