Scriptable local traffic workbench for inspecting and rewriting HTTP traffic
Intercept, inspect, and rewrite HTTP, HTTPS, and WebSocket traffic with interactive captures and Lua automation, using a terminal-first TUI or a browser dashboard. Proxelar, created by Emanuele Micheletti, targets developers, QA engineers, and network admins who need local traffic debugging. It includes a Rust-native engine, session persistence, and six capture modes, and it supports headless operation for scripted workflows, making it suitable for debugging APIs and automating network tests.
What Proxelar does and how it fits developer workflows
Proxelar captures live traffic for inspection and modification. It offers interactive interception to pause requests and responses and edit methods, URIs, headers, or bodies before forwarding. The tool exposes a Terminal User Interface, a web-based GUI, plain terminal output, and a headless REST API, which lets developers pick a workflow for manual debugging, automated testing, or integration into CI pipelines.
How it affects system resources and operational footprint
Proxelar runs as a single binary with a Rust-native core that keeps resource overhead low. The project emphasises a lightweight footprint and portability by shipping a single-binary distribution and Docker image. Session persistence stores captures as versioned JSON, which avoids rerunning long probes. These design choices let the tool run on a developer workstation without the bulk of larger security suites.
Is it safe to inspect encrypted traffic and automate changes?
Proxelar includes a built-in HTTPS MITM engine with local CA generation and per-host certificates for encrypted inspection. It supports read-modify-write via Lua hooks (on_request and on_response) so automation happens inside script boundaries. WebSocket frames appear with direction, opcode, and payload previews. For workflows that modify live traffic, the tool exposes explicit interception and scripting points rather than silent inline edits.
Who should adopt Proxelar and a practical tip
Proxelar suits developers and QA engineers who need a scriptable, terminal-first proxy that captures complex traffic patterns. Use the headless REST API or Lua hooks for repeatable test setups, and save session captures to JSON before running transformations. Recommended.
