I could not see any requests from my localhost server

localhost:3000 requests not showing in Proxyman? Capture localhost traffic from Google Chrome with Automatic Setup, or use /etc/hosts or localhost.proxyman.io.

1. Problem

I develop a local NodeJS, Ruby, or Python backend at http://localhost:3000, but when I visit http://localhost:3000 in Google Chrome or Safari, there is no traffic in the Proxyman app.

Why does this happen? By default, on macOS, localhost requests don't go through the system HTTP proxy. Therefore, Proxyman doesn't record any traffic.

localhost traffic doesn't appear in Proxyman by default

2. Solution

2.1 ✅ New solution for v6.3.0

From Proxyman macOS v6.3.0, Proxyman can:

• Capture http://localhost:3000 or any localhost traffic in Google Chrome / Firefox without changing the /etc/hosts file
• Works with a single click
• Tutorial: How to capture HTTP localhost traffic from Google Chrome

How to do it

1. In Proxyman, open the Setup menu -> Automatic Setup… -> In the Web Browsers section, click Google Chrome…
2. A new Google Chrome window appears.
3. Done. Visit http://localhost:3000 and Proxyman captures it.

Capture localhost traffic from Google Chrome

2.2 Old solution

There are two solutions. Follow either one of them.

Solution 1: Map localhost to a domain name in /etc/hosts

1. Open the /etc/hosts file with Vim or VS Code.

$ sudo vim /etc/hosts

2. Add a domain name for both IPv4 and IPv6 (you can replace proxyman.debug with any name)

127.0.0.1 proxyman.debug
::1 proxyman.debug

Add proxyman.debug in /etc/hosts

3. Save the file with sudo permission.

4. Access your localhost server at http://proxyman.debug:3000 (replace 3000 with your localhost port).

5. Enjoy debugging!

info

If you use local as a suffix, for example proxyman.local, make sure to remove *.local from the Bypass Proxy List (how to do it).

Solution 2: Use localhost.proxyman.io instead of localhost

Proxyman uses Cloudflare and sets the DNS of localhost.proxyman.io to 127.0.0.1 (localhost). As a result, Proxyman can capture the local traffic as usual ✅

For example:

Old URL	New URL
Old URL	New URL
localhost:3000	localhost.proxyman.io:3000
localhost:8080	localhost.proxyman.io:8080
...	...