# Using Hardhat 3 with a HTTP proxy

Description: How to use Hardhat 3 with an HTTP proxy

Note: This document was authored using MDX

  Source: https://github.com/NomicFoundation/hardhat-website/tree/main/src/content/docs/docs/cookbook/http-proxies.mdx

Hardhat sends its requests through a proxy when one is configured in the environment. This applies to things like JSON-RPC requests, mainnet forking, downloading compilers and verifying contracts.

Set `https_proxy` for HTTPS requests and `http_proxy` for HTTP ones. The uppercase `HTTPS_PROXY` and `HTTP_PROXY` work too:

```sh
export HTTPS_PROXY=http://proxy.example.com:8080
```

## Excluding hosts

Use `NO_PROXY` or `no_proxy` to reach some hosts directly. It takes a list of entries separated by commas or spaces:

```sh
export NO_PROXY=example.com,.internal.dev,staging.example.com:8080
```

Each entry also covers its subdomains, so `example.com` excludes `api.example.com` as well. You can write an entry as `.example.com` or `*.example.com` if you prefer. Adding a port restricts the entry to that port.

Set `NO_PROXY` to `*` to turn proxying off entirely.

Requests to `localhost` and other loopback addresses are never proxied, so a local node stays reachable without any extra configuration.