Proxy URLs
If you’ve ever needed your frontend code to call an API that blocks cross-origin requests, or wished you could put HTTPS in front of an insecure internal server, Proxy URLs solve both problems.
ProxyBox acts as a pass-through: your application makes a request to a ProxyBox URL, and ProxyBox forwards it to the target server on your behalf. The response comes back through ProxyBox with the right CORS headers already attached.
Why This Matters
Section titled “Why This Matters”CORS-Protected APIs
Section titled “CORS-Protected APIs”Browser security prevents your frontend JavaScript from calling APIs on different origins unless those APIs explicitly allow it with CORS headers. Many APIs — especially internal or third-party ones — don’t set these headers, which means your frontend gets blocked even though the request itself is perfectly valid.
With a Proxy URL, your frontend calls ProxyBox instead. ProxyBox makes the request server-side (where CORS doesn’t apply), gets the response, and passes it back to your browser with the correct headers. Your frontend code works without a dedicated backend or CORS proxy.
Wrapping Insecure Endpoints
Section titled “Wrapping Insecure Endpoints”Plenty of devices and internal servers only speak plain HTTP — legacy equipment, internal tools, IoT devices. Modern browsers increasingly refuse to make insecure requests from HTTPS pages. ProxyBox wraps these in TLS: your browser talks HTTPS to ProxyBox, and ProxyBox talks HTTP to the target. The insecure hop stays on your local network.
Reaching Internal Servers
Section titled “Reaching Internal Servers”Combine Proxy URLs with the .cloud tunnel and you can reach internal servers from anywhere. A cloud application can query a local API, pull data from an on-premises system, or interact with network equipment — all through a single secure ProxyBox URL.
URL Structure
Section titled “URL Structure”A Proxy URL encodes the target server directly in the path:
https://pbx-<id>.pbxz.io/proxy-https/ecs-iot.com:443/api| Part | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ProxyBox Domain | https://pbx-<id>.pbxz.io | Your ProxyBox address (.io for local, .cloud for remote). |
| Route Type | /proxy-https | proxy-https for HTTPS targets, proxy-http for plain HTTP targets. |
| Target Host | ecs-iot.com | Domain or IP of the server you’re reaching. |
| Target Port | :443 | Port on the target server. |
| Target Path | /api | The path to forward to on the target server. |
The full pattern:
https://{proxybox}/{route-type}/{host}:{port}/{path}Examples
Section titled “Examples”Forward an HTTPS request to https://ecs-iot.com:443/api through ProxyBox jrdn:
https://pbx-jrdn.pbxz.io/proxy-https/ecs-iot.com:443/apiWrap a local HTTP server running on 192.168.1.50:8080 in TLS:
https://pbx-jrdn.pbxz.io/proxy-http/192.168.1.50:8080/dashboardReach an internal server from anywhere using the .cloud tunnel:
https://pbx-jrdn.pbxz.cloud/proxy-http/192.168.1.50:8080/api/data