Introduction

proxybroker is a Rust library and command-line tool that finds, checks, and serves public HTTP(S) and SOCKS4/5 proxies. It scrapes proxy lists from many providers, verifies that each proxy actually works, classifies its anonymity level, and can run a local rotating proxy server in front of the working set.

It is a from-scratch Rust/tokio rewrite of proxybroker2 (Python/asyncio), which is itself the maintained successor to the original ProxyBroker. All three are Apache-2.0; this crate is a derivative work carrying the same licence. See the Data & Licensing chapter for attribution and a statement of changes.

Why it exists

There was no Rust equivalent that shipped a real library API. The project is library-first: everything the CLI does is available as public types, and the proxybroker binary is a thin shell over the library. You can embed the broker, the checker, the pool, and a drop-in rotating connector directly in your own async Rust program.

Highlights

The three core verbs

Everything centres on three commands (mirrored by Broker methods):

A minimal find:

proxybroker find --types HTTP HTTPS --limit 10

The same thing as a library:

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
use proxybroker::{Broker, FindQuery, Proto, TypeSpec};
use futures_util::StreamExt;

let broker = Broker::builder().build();
let mut stream = broker.find(
    FindQuery::builder()
        .types(vec![TypeSpec::any(Proto::Http)])
        .limit(10)
        .build(),
).await?;
while let Some(proxy) = stream.next().await {
    println!("{}", proxy.addr());
}
}

Alongside the three verbs, the CLI also offers check (verify a list of proxies you already have) and, behind build features, top (a live terminal dashboard) and mcp (serve the live pool over MCP stdio).

How this book is organized

• Getting Started — install the CLI or library, then run the quick-start commands.
• CLI Reference — every subcommand and flag: overview & global options, grab, find, check, serve, top, mcp, and output formats.
• Library Guide — using the crate from Rust: the broker & queries, the Proxy type, the pool & selection, persistence, the rotating connector, and worked examples.
• Architecture — how it works inside: the module map, providers & scraping, the checking pipeline, geolocation & ASN, and the feature flags.
• Reference — data & licensing and observability.
• Project — roadmap, deferred backlog, the systematic refactor design record, and contributing.