Quick Start
Get your first proxy running in under 5 minutes.
This guide takes you from zero to a working Proxies.ai proxy in under 5 minutes. You'll create a proxy, store your first secret, generate a credential, and make your first proxied request.
Create a proxy
Log in to the Proxies.ai dashboard and click New Proxy. Give it a name, choose a region, and pick a mode:
- Auto-auth — clients send
Authorization: Bearer {$VAR}placeholders; Proxies.ai fills in real values - Firewall — full TLS interception with per-request CEL rule evaluation
Or via API:
curl -X POST https://proxies.ai/api/proxies \
-H "Authorization: Bearer cifp_your_api_key" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"name":"my-first-proxy","mode":"auto-auth","region":"sjc"}'Prefer the terminal?
Install the Proxies.ai CLI and run cifp proxy create my-first-proxy --region sjc --mode auto-auth instead of using the dashboard.
Store a secret
Copy your proxy ID from the dashboard (e.g. proxy-abc123def456), then store a secret. The value is encrypted and only accessible inside the proxy.
curl -X POST https://proxies.ai/api/proxies/proxy-abc123def456/secrets \
-H "Authorization: Bearer cifp_your_api_key" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"name": "OPENAI_API_KEY",
"value": "sk-proj-your-real-openai-key",
"description": "OpenAI production key"
}'Generate a proxy credential
Proxy credentials (username + password) are what your clients use to authenticate with the proxy itself. The plaintext password is only returned once on creation.
curl -X POST https://proxies.ai/api/proxies/proxy-abc123def456/credentials \
-H "Authorization: Bearer cifp_your_api_key" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"description":"my-agent"}'
# Response:
# {
# "username": "proxy-abc123def456-u1a2b3",
# "password": "CIFPrand0mGeneratedPassword",
# "id": "..."
# }Save the password — it won't be shown again.
Make your first proxied request
Use the proxy URL and the credential you just generated. Send Authorization: Bearer {$OPENAI_API_KEY} — Proxies.ai will replace it with the real key before forwarding.
curl -x https://proxy-abc123def456.proxy.cifp.vril.dev:3128 \
-U "proxy-abc123def456-u1a2b3:CIFPrand0mGeneratedPassword" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer {\$OPENAI_API_KEY}" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
https://api.openai.com/v1/modelsProxies.ai resolves $OPENAI_API_KEY from its encrypted store and forwards the real key to OpenAI. Your agent never sees the real key.
That's it!
Your proxy is running and intercepting requests. Check the Access Logs tab in the dashboard to see the request flow.