How do I use proxies with Playwright?

You can use proxies with Playwright by configuring them when you launch the browser, or per browser context in some cases.

1) Set a proxy when launching the browser

This is the most common approach.

JavaScript / TypeScript

import { chromium } from 'playwright';

const browser = await chromium.launch({
  proxy: {
    server: 'http://proxy.example.com:3128',
    username: 'myuser',
    password: 'mypassword',
  }
});

const page = await browser.newPage();
await page.goto('https://example.com');

Python

from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright

with sync_playwright() as p:
    browser = p.chromium.launch(
        proxy={
            "server": "http://proxy.example.com:3128",
            "username": "myuser",
            "password": "mypassword",
        }
    )
    page = browser.new_page()
    page.goto("https://example.com")

2) Proxy for a browser context

This is useful when you want separate proxies for different contexts.

JavaScript / TypeScript

const browser = await chromium.launch();

const context = await browser.newContext({
  proxy: {
    server: 'http://proxy.example.com:3128',
    username: 'myuser',
    password: 'mypassword',
  }
});

const page = await context.newPage();
await page.goto('https://example.com');

Python

browser = p.chromium.launch()
context = browser.new_context(
    proxy={
        "server": "http://proxy.example.com:3128",
        "username": "myuser",
        "password": "mypassword",
    }
)
page = context.new_page()
page.goto("https://example.com")

3) Proxy syntax

Common formats for server:

• http://host:port
• https://host:port
• socks5://host:port

Example:

proxy: { server: 'socks5://127.0.0.1:1080' }

4) Proxy authentication

If your proxy requires authentication, include:

proxy: {
  server: 'http://proxy.example.com:3128',
  username: 'user',
  password: 'pass',
}

5) Environment variables

Playwright does not rely on HTTP_PROXY / HTTPS_PROXY automatically for browser traffic the way some HTTP clients do. For browser navigation, prefer Playwright’s proxy option.

6) Notes

• The proxy applies to browser traffic, not necessarily to all system/network requests.
• If you need different proxies for different sessions, use separate browser contexts or separate browser instances.
• For playwright.request / APIRequestContext, proxy settings can be configured separately if needed.

If you want, I can show:

• a rotating proxy setup,
• how to use proxies with Playwright Test,
• or examples for Chromium/Firefox/WebKit specifically.