---
title: "Forward proxy"
url: https://proxy.wiki/glossary/forward-proxy/
type: Glossary Term
author: "proxy.wiki editorial"
published: 2026-08-19
updated: 2026-08-29
site: proxy.wiki
topics: ["Proxy fundamentals"]
license: CC BY 4.0 — quote freely with attribution to https://proxy.wiki/
---

# Forward proxy

> A proxy that acts for the client. It sits between you and the internet and hides your address from destinations.

**A forward proxy acts on behalf of the client.** It sits between a user and the wider internet, receives outbound requests, and reissues them from its own address. This is what people normally mean by “a proxy”.

## The direction that defines it

The distinction is whose side the intermediary is on. A forward proxy is deployed by, or for, the party making the request. The destination server usually has no relationship with it and often cannot tell it is there.

## Typical uses

- Concealing the client’s address from the destination.

- Enforcing an outbound policy on a corporate network.

- Distributing requests across many addresses in a [pool](/glossary/proxy-pool/) so that no single address is used enough to be blocked.

- Reaching content that is restricted by region, via [geo-targeting](/glossary/geo-targeting/).

## Commonly confused with

A [reverse proxy](/glossary/reverse-proxy/) faces the opposite way: it is deployed by the owner of a server, and clients connect to it believing it is the origin. If you are hiding the client, it is forward. If you are fronting the server, it is reverse.

## Forward and reverse, side by side

|  | Forward proxy | Reverse proxy |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Deployed by | The client, or the client’s network | The owner of the server |
| Configured in | The client | DNS, so clients need no setup |
| Hides | The client from the server | The server from the client |
| Knows the destination | From the request | From its own routing rules |

Read the table by asking one question: whose identity does the intermediary protect? That answer names the type every time.

## How a client is pointed at one

Three mechanisms are common, and they differ in how widely they apply.

- **Per-request configuration** in code. The narrowest and the most predictable.

- **Environment variables** such as `http_proxy`. Process-wide and inherited by children, which is convenient and easy to over-apply. [The behaviour differs between clients](/guides/proxy-environment-variables/).

- **System or PAC configuration.** Browsers and native Windows stacks read this rather than the environment.

A transparent proxy is a fourth case. The network redirects traffic to it with no client configuration at all, so the client may not know it exists.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is a forward proxy the same as an anonymous proxy?

No. Forward describes the direction, not the disclosure. A forward proxy can add headers such as X-Forwarded-For that reveal the original client address, which makes it forward but not anonymous.

### Do I need to configure every application separately?

Usually yes. A forward proxy applies only where it is configured. Environment variables cover processes that inherit them, but browsers, service managers and containers each read their own configuration.

### What is a transparent proxy?

One the network redirects traffic to without any client setup. The client believes it connects directly. Corporate and ISP networks use these for filtering and caching.

## Sources

1. [RFC 9110: HTTP Semantics, intermediaries and forwarding](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9110.html)