Bring a proxy connection into Python.

Prerequisites

Use Python 3 and an isolated virtual environment. The example uses the Requests package with an HTTP proxy endpoint.

Install Requests in your virtual environment. Set the proxy environment variables in the process that runs your script. The example URL-encodes the username and password for special characters.

python -m pip install requests

Environment variables

Keep these values in your server process environment. Do not put proxy passwords or keys in browser code, public repositories or screenshots.

PROXY_HOST

Assigned proxy hostname, without a protocol prefix

PROXY_PORT

The port assigned for the chosen protocol

PROXY_USERNAME

Proxy username, separate from your website email

PROXY_PASSWORD

Proxy password, separate from the account password or API key

Make a request

The example uses an HTTP proxy to reach an HTTPS target. A SOCKS5 endpoint requires a compatible client and its assigned port; an HTTP proxy URL is not interchangeable with SOCKS5.

import os
from urllib.parse import quote
import requests

user = quote(os.environ["PROXY_USERNAME"], safe="")
secret = quote(os.environ["PROXY_PASSWORD"], safe="")
host = os.environ["PROXY_HOST"]
port = os.environ["PROXY_PORT"]
proxy = f"http://{user}:{secret}@{host}:{port}"
response = requests.get("https://httpbin.org/ip",
    proxies={"http": proxy, "https": proxy}, timeout=30)
response.raise_for_status()
print(response.text)

Check the result

Run the script once and check the returned exit IP. HTTP errors raise an exception, and requests have a 30-second timeout. Add application-specific error handling before scheduling larger tasks.

Troubleshooting