Working behind a corporate proxy usually means editing several configuration files by hand: VS Code settings, the Git config, the npm config, and the environment variables your terminals inherit. Keeping them aligned, and remembering to turn them all off again, is tedious and error-prone. otak-proxy reduces the workflow to a single status-bar click after initial setup and keeps VS Code, Git, npm, and new integrated terminals in step, with an Auto mode that follows your system proxy in the background.

Quick Start

Auto Mode

1. Install from the VS Code Marketplace.
2. Click the status bar to switch to Auto.
3. otak-proxy applies the system proxy to VS Code, Git, npm, and new integrated terminals.
4. Click the status bar again to switch Off and clear managed proxy settings.

Optional Fallback Proxy

1. Install the extension.
2. Run otak: Configure Manual Proxy.
3. Enter a fallback proxy URL (for example: http://proxy.example.com:8080).

The configured URL is used as an Auto fallback when the system proxy is unavailable. If your proxy URL includes credentials, read Security & Privacy before allowing writes to VS Code, Git, or npm configuration files.

Capabilities

• Two-state toggle: Off and Auto, cycled from the status bar.
• Auto mode: reads the system proxy and applies changes in the background.
• Optional fallback proxy: uses a configured proxy URL when the system proxy is unavailable.
• Status-bar control: switch modes without leaving your editor.
• Connection test: checks whether a proxy can be reached before enabling it.
• Automatic connection testing: in Auto mode, periodically verifies that the active proxy is still reachable.
• Diagnostics and safe remediation: records sanitized diagnostics, retries eligible apply failures once, and suppresses repair loops when another tool keeps rewriting settings.
• Credential-aware storage: stores proxy credentials in VS Code SecretStorage where available and keeps sync/global state sanitized.
• Windows diagnostics: reads WinINET/WinHTTP/PAC/WPAD state without mutating Windows settings; WinHTTP reset is available only as a user-approved command.
• Multi-instance sync: shares proxy settings across all open VS Code/Cursor windows so they stay in step.
• Integrated terminals: sets HTTP_PROXY and HTTPS_PROXY for new VS Code terminals.
• URL display setting: hide the proxy URL in the status bar when needed.
• Localized interface: UI follows your VS Code display language across 16 languages.

How It Works

Status Bar

Click the proxy indicator to cycle through states:

Off -> Auto -> Off

Older saved Manual states are migrated to Auto when loaded. A configured proxy URL can still be used as the Auto fallback.

Status Indicators

• Proxy: Off — Proxy is disabled
• Auto: http://... — Synced with the system proxy
• Auto (Fallback): http://... — The system proxy is unavailable; using the configured fallback proxy
• Auto: OFF — No proxy is currently available

When otakProxy.showProxyUrl is false, the URL is replaced with Configured (for example, Auto: Configured). The detailed status bar hover tooltip remains enabled by default. The otak-proxy status bar items are placed on the left side so their tooltips do not cover right-side VS Code notifications. Set otakProxy.statusBarTooltip to false to hide hover tooltips.

Auto Detection Scope

Auto detection uses otakProxy.detectionSourcePriority, such as environment variables, VS Code settings, and platform proxy settings. Platform-specific behavior can differ between local Windows, macOS, Linux, WSL, containers, and remote extension hosts. Windows registry and WinHTTP actions are available only when the extension host is running on local Windows.

Integrated Terminal Environment

When the proxy is enabled, otak-proxy sets these variables for newly created VS Code integrated terminals:

• HTTP_PROXY / HTTPS_PROXY
• http_proxy / https_proxy on non-Windows hosts

Existing terminals keep their current environment. Open a new terminal for the updated values to take effect. When otakProxy.terminalOffMaskingEnabled is enabled and proxy mode is Off, otak-proxy masks inherited proxy variables for new terminals by replacing them with empty values; this avoids VS Code-launched tools accidentally continuing to use a proxy inherited from the editor process.

Settings

Common Settings

{
  "otakProxy.proxyUrl": "http://proxy.example.com:8080",
  "otakProxy.pollingInterval": 30,
  "otakProxy.enableFallback": true,
  "otakProxy.showProxyUrl": true,
  "otakProxy.statusBarTooltip": true,
  "otakProxy.autoTestEnabled": true,
  "otakProxy.testInterval": 60,
  "otakProxy.credentialTargetPolicy": "ask"
}

For stricter corporate environments, prefer:

{
  "otakProxy.credentialTargetPolicy": "blockPlaintextTargets"
}

Advanced Settings

{
  "otakProxy.syncEnabled": true,
  "otakProxy.syncInterval": 1000,
  "otakProxy.detectionSourcePriority": ["environment", "vscode", "platform"],
  "otakProxy.maxRetries": 3,
  "otakProxy.diagnosticsEnabled": true,
  "otakProxy.automaticRemediationEnabled": true,
  "otakProxy.hostUserLockEnabled": true,
  "otakProxy.automaticRetryEnabled": true,
  "otakProxy.remediationDelayedRetryMs": 2000,
  "otakProxy.remediationFlapWindowMs": 600000,
  "otakProxy.remediationFlapMaxAttempts": 2,
  "otakProxy.remediationFlapCooldownMs": 600000,
  "otakProxy.notificationCooldownMs": 600000,
  "otakProxy.slowDiagnosticsTtlMs": 300000,
  "otakProxy.terminalOffMaskingEnabled": true,
  "otakProxy.notificationLevel": "warnings",
  "otakProxy.windowsActionsEnabled": false,
  "otakProxy.legacyEnvFirstAutoDetection": true
}

Commands

Access via the Command Palette (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+P):

• otak: Toggle Proxy
• otak: Test Proxy
• otak: Import System Proxy
• otak: Configure Manual Proxy
• otak: Toggle Proxy URL Visibility
• otak: Diagnose Proxy State
• otak: Reset WinHTTP Proxy

Security & Privacy

Local Configuration Changes

• VS Code: writes the global http.proxy setting through the VS Code configuration API.
• Git: writes global http.proxy and https.proxy with git config --global.
• npm: writes user-level proxy and https-proxy with npm config set.
• Integrated terminals: sets HTTP_PROXY and HTTPS_PROXY for new terminals, and lowercase variants on non-Windows hosts.
• Off clears the proxy entries managed by otak-proxy. Deactivating or uninstalling the extension does not guarantee cleanup by itself; switch Off before uninstalling, or use the recovery commands in Troubleshooting.

Credentials

• No account or API key is required.
• If your proxy requires credentials, use an authenticated proxy URL only when necessary. otak-proxy stores the credential part in VS Code SecretStorage where available and keeps global state and sync payloads sanitized.
• Applying an authenticated proxy to VS Code, Git, or npm may still require writing credentials to those tools' plaintext configuration files (settings.json, .gitconfig, .npmrc) because those tools read their own config files.
• Use otakProxy.credentialTargetPolicy to control those writes: ask prompts locally, allowPlaintextTargets allows them, and blockPlaintextTargets blocks them. Use blockPlaintextTargets when your organization forbids credentials in tool config files.
• Passwords, authorization headers, npm tokens, Git extra headers, command output, copied diagnostics, control characters, and sync payloads are redacted before they are logged or displayed.

Network Activity

• otak-proxy sends no telemetry and does not transmit usage data.
• Connection tests verify proxy reachability by sending HTTP CONNECT requests through the configured proxy to the default test hosts www.github.com, www.microsoft.com, and www.google.com.
• If the proxy URL contains credentials, the test sends a Proxy-Authorization header to the configured proxy. Test results, logs, and diagnostics redact credentials and authorization headers.
• The extension reads local environment variables, VS Code settings, Git config, npm config, and supported platform proxy settings for diagnostics and Auto detection.

Diagnostics and Remediation Behavior

Run otak: Diagnose Proxy State to inspect the current proxy state. Diagnostics are read-only by default: they collect sanitized observations from VS Code, terminal environment settings, Git config, npm config, execution context, and supported Windows proxy sources. Slow command-based diagnostics are cached for otakProxy.slowDiagnosticsTtlMs to avoid repeated Git/npm/Windows process launches.

Diagnostics also check convergence between the selected state and the actual tool settings:

• In Auto with an active proxy, diagnostics report a managed proxy mismatch when VS Code, Git, or npm does not match the expected proxy URL.
• In Off or Auto: OFF, diagnostics report a managed proxy residual when VS Code, Git, or npm still has a proxy configured.
• In remote, WSL, container, or web-like extension hosts, unsupported local Windows checks are reported as capability limits instead of being forced.

When otak-proxy starts in Off or Auto: OFF, it also uses the disable path so stale managed VS Code, Git, or npm proxy entries can be detected and cleared instead of being silently left behind.

When otakProxy.automaticRemediationEnabled is enabled, otak-proxy performs only bounded safe remediation after apply operations. It retries one eligible apply failure or residual/mismatch convergence issue after otakProxy.remediationDelayedRetryMs, then runs fresh diagnostics. Repeated non-converging repairs are suppressed by the flap window and cooldown settings. Host/user locks prevent overlapping writers from multiple windows. Disruptive Windows actions, such as WinHTTP reset, still require an explicit user command and otakProxy.windowsActionsEnabled.

Language Support

The interface follows your VS Code display language — 16 languages covering all G20 countries:

English · 日本語 · 简体中文 · 繁體中文 · 한국어 · Tiếng Việt · Español · Português (BR) · Français · Deutsch · हिन्दी · Bahasa Indonesia · Italiano · Русский · العربية · Türkçe

Requirements

• VS Code 1.97.0 or newer
• Cursor is supported when it is compatible with the required VS Code extension API version.
• Git available on PATH (git --version)

Installation

Install from the VS Code Marketplace, or run:

ext install odangoo.otak-proxy

npm install
npx --yes @vscode/vsce package
code --install-extension otak-proxy-3.1.4.vsix

Troubleshooting

• Proxy not working: make sure the URL starts with http:// or https://, then run Test Proxy.

• Settings appear correct but tools still use the old proxy: run otak: Diagnose Proxy State. Existing terminals and some VS Code process-level proxy flags require a new terminal, window reload, or full VS Code restart.

• Proxy settings remain after switching Off or uninstalling: switch otak-proxy Off first, then run otak: Diagnose Proxy State. If settings still remain, check and remove only the entries you want otak-proxy to stop managing:

  git config --global --get http.proxy
  git config --global --get https.proxy
  git config --global --unset http.proxy
  git config --global --unset https.proxy
  npm config get proxy
  npm config get https-proxy
  npm config delete proxy
  npm config delete https-proxy
  

  Also check VS Code User Settings for http.proxy and clear it if it should no longer be set.

• Git not detected: make sure Git is installed and available on PATH (git --version).

• Auto mode does not detect changes: check your system proxy settings and adjust otakProxy.pollingInterval.

• Remote/WSL/Container windows: Windows registry and WinHTTP actions are only available when the extension host is local Windows. Remote hosts are diagnosed as remote/workspace targets and unsupported Windows actions are skipped.

Related Extensions

More VS Code extensions by odangoo:

License

Released under the MIT License.