Proxy setup in Selenium (Python)

A step-by-step guide to connecting Prokso proxies in Selenium (Python). It takes a few minutes.

Step 1. Get the proxy details from your dashboard

Open your plan and copy the host gw.prokso.com, port, username and password. Port 823 is HTTP and 824 is SOCKS5 (both give a new IP for every request); ports 10000–20000 keep one IP (sticky session) for up to 120 minutes and work as both HTTP and SOCKS5 (each port is a separate address). Set the country in the username: username__cr.ua.

Step 2. Add your IP to the IP whitelist

Chrome doesn't accept a username and password in --proxy-server, so the simplest way is to open your plan page in the dashboard and, in the IP whitelist (no password) block, add the IP of the computer or server that runs the script (up to 5 addresses). The proxy then lets you in without a password.

Step 3. Pass the proxy to Chrome

Run pip install selenium and set the proxy with --proxy-server: host gw.prokso.com and a port. To keep one IP for the whole browser session, use a sticky port from 10000–20000 so pages don't load from different IPs.

# pip install selenium   (the computer's IP is added to the IP whitelist)
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By

opts = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
opts.add_argument("--proxy-server=http://gw.prokso.com:10001")
driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=opts)
driver.get("https://api.ipify.org")
print(driver.find_element(By.TAG_NAME, "body").text)
driver.quit()

Step 4. If you need username and password authentication

If the IP whitelist doesn't fit (say, your server IP changes often), you can route traffic through selenium-wire, which adds the username and password for you. Note that this project is no longer maintained, so it may break on newer Selenium versions.

# pip install selenium-wire   (no longer maintained)
from seleniumwire import webdriver

sw = {"proxy": {"http": "http://USERNAME:PASSWORD@gw.prokso.com:823",
                "https": "http://USERNAME:PASSWORD@gw.prokso.com:823"}}
driver = webdriver.Chrome(seleniumwire_options=sw)
driver.get("https://api.ipify.org")
print(driver.page_source)
driver.quit()

Step 5. Check which IP the script sees

Run the example: the Selenium-driven Chrome opens https://api.ipify.org and the script prints the IP — it should be the proxy's IP. Your regular browser has no proxy, so the My IP page there will show your own address.

If the server's address changes

Access by IP is convenient as long as your computer or server has a permanent external address. With home internet and some cloud servers the address changes, and the proxy stops letting the script in. The telltale sign: everything worked yesterday, and today Chrome shows a login prompt. Check the current address with the curl https://prokso.com/ip command without a proxy and update it on the plan page.

How to cut traffic use

Turn off image loading in the Chrome settings and run the browser without a window: images are not needed for data collection.

opts = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
opts.add_argument("--proxy-server=http://gw.prokso.com:10001")
opts.add_argument("--headless=new")
# do not load images: saves most of the page weight
opts.add_experimental_option("prefs", {"profile.managed_default_content_settings.images": 2})
driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=opts)

Waits and timeouts

Pages open more slowly through a proxy than they do directly. Instead of fixed-length pauses, use explicit waits with WebDriverWait: the script will continue as soon as the element appears. The overall load limit is set by driver.set_page_load_timeout(): set it with some margin, for example 60 seconds.

If the page does not open

• A login prompt appears. The script's IP has not been added to access by IP, or it has changed.
• ERR_PROXY_CONNECTION_FAILED. Check the host and port in --proxy-server.
• ERR_TUNNEL_CONNECTION_FAILED. The proxy refused the connection: most often the plan has run out of traffic.
• TimeoutException. The page did not finish loading in time: increase the limit or check whether the site itself is responding.