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Developer Guide

Mobile Proxy with cURL & wget

The fastest way to test a mobile proxy is from the shell. curl -x tunnels a single request, --socks5 switches transport, and http_proxy env vars make every CLI tool route through the proxy. This guide covers all of it, plus rotation.

6 min read·CLI·Last updated: May 2026

Prerequisites

  • →
    curl (7.x+) and wget installed (curl --version).
  • →
    A mobile proxy slot, HTTP/SOCKS5 ports, username, password and API key from mobileproxies.org.
  • →
    A POSIX shell (bash/zsh) for the env-var examples.

Step-by-Step Configuration

STEP 01

Export credentials

# Keep secrets out of shell history; source a .env if you prefer
export MP_HOST=proxy.mobileproxies.org
export MP_HTTP_PORT=8000
export MP_SOCKS_PORT=1080
export MP_USER=u_4a9c
export MP_PASS=p_2X7q
export MP_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY
export MP_SLOT=us-mob-01
STEP 02

curl over HTTP (-x and -U)

# Credentials embedded in the proxy URL
curl -x "http://$MP_USER:$MP_PASS@$MP_HOST:$MP_HTTP_PORT" \
     https://example.com

# Or keep them separate with -U / --proxy-user
curl --proxy "http://$MP_HOST:$MP_HTTP_PORT" \
     -U "$MP_USER:$MP_PASS" \
     https://example.com
STEP 03

curl over SOCKS5

# --socks5 resolves DNS locally; --socks5-hostname resolves
# on the proxy (preferred, avoids DNS leaks)
curl --socks5-hostname "$MP_USER:$MP_PASS@$MP_HOST:$MP_SOCKS_PORT" \
     https://example.com
STEP 04

wget and environment variables

# wget — explicit proxy + credentials
wget -e use_proxy=yes \
     -e http_proxy="http://$MP_HOST:$MP_HTTP_PORT" \
     -e https_proxy="http://$MP_HOST:$MP_HTTP_PORT" \
     --proxy-user="$MP_USER" \
     --proxy-password="$MP_PASS" \
     -O page.html https://example.com

# Or set env vars once — curl, wget, git and most tools honor these
export HTTP_PROXY="http://$MP_USER:$MP_PASS@$MP_HOST:$MP_HTTP_PORT"
export HTTPS_PROXY="$HTTP_PROXY"
curl https://example.com      # now goes through the proxy
wget -O - https://example.com # so does wget

Verify It Works

Ask api.ipify.org for the egress IP through the proxy. It should be a carrier-owned mobile IP, never your machine's real address.

curl -s -x "http://$MP_USER:$MP_PASS@$MP_HOST:$MP_HTTP_PORT" \
     https://api.ipify.org
# -> 100.42.x.x  (a mobile ASN, not your home/office IP)

Rotate the IP

Request a fresh carrier IP with a POST to the switch endpoint. This call goes direct (no -x) and authenticates with your API key. Then re-check the egress IP:

# Trigger a rotation
curl -s -X POST \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer $MP_API_KEY" \
     "https://buy.mobileproxies.org/api/v1/proxies/$MP_SLOT/switch"

sleep 4 # let the new IP bind

# Confirm the IP changed
curl -s -x "http://$MP_USER:$MP_PASS@$MP_HOST:$MP_HTTP_PORT" \
     https://api.ipify.org

To list your slots: curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $MP_API_KEY" https://buy.mobileproxies.org/api/v1/proxies

Troubleshooting

curl: (56) Received HTTP code 407 from proxy

Bad or missing credentials. Double-check the user:pass in the -x URL, or pass them with -U. A special character in the password may need percent-encoding (@ → %40).

Requests ignore your env vars

curl reads lowercase http_proxy/https_proxy and uppercase HTTPS_PROXY. Set both cases to be safe, and clear NO_PROXY if your target host is listed there.

SOCKS5 leaks DNS

Use --socks5-hostname rather than --socks5 so the target hostname is resolved on the proxy side instead of your local resolver.

Related Guides

Reference

SOCKS5 vs HTTP Proxy

When to use --socks5 vs -x http

Reference

IP Rotation Best Practices

When and how often to call switch

Reference

API Documentation

Full switch and list endpoint reference

Developer Guide

Axios Proxy Setup in Node.js

Why the built-in proxy option breaks on HTTPS

Developer Guide

Node.js Fetch Proxy (undici)

ProxyAgent and setGlobalDispatcher for fetch

Test Mobile IPs From Your Shell

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