How to Set Up Proxies in Java (HttpClient)

import java.net.*;
import java.net.http.*;

Authenticator.setDefault(new Authenticator() {
    protected PasswordAuthentication getPasswordAuthentication() {
        return new PasswordAuthentication("user", "pass".toCharArray());
    }
});

HttpClient client = HttpClient.newBuilder()
    .proxy(ProxySelector.of(new InetSocketAddress("host", port)))
    .build();

HttpRequest req = HttpRequest.newBuilder(URI.create("https://httpbin.org/ip")).build();
System.out.println(client.send(req, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString()).body());

The modern java.net.http.HttpClient takes the proxy via ProxySelector.of, while credentials go through a default Authenticator because the client has no inline proxy-auth field. For proxy auth over HTTPS tunnels you must also start the JVM with -Djdk.http.auth.tunneling.disabledSchemes="" or Basic auth is silently stripped. Build one client per exit endpoint when rotating, since HttpClient instances are immutable once configured.

Java (HttpClient) works cleanly with rotating backconnect endpoints — point it at a single gateway host and the provider rotates the exit IP for you.

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