explainers

A clean IP is an address no site has flagged yet: off every blocklist, no abuse history, owned by a real ISP, and low fraud score. What that means and how to check yours.

An IP fraud score rates how risky your address looks, usually 0 to 100 where lower is better. What sets it, what counts as good, and how a clean proxy reads near zero.

Every AI coding tool, Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, Cline and the rest, raises the same proxy question, and the answer is always two answers. The tool's own connection to its model rarely needs a proxy, and never to hide you. The code and agents you build with it often do. This explainer draws the line once, so the per-tool guides can skip it.

On Janitor AI, Chub and SillyTavern, a 'proxy' is usually a language-model endpoint, not an IP address. This explainer separates the three things the word means in AI roleplay (a model endpoint, an HTTP reverse proxy for exposing your own server, and a network proxy that changes where you connect from), shows which symptom points to which one, and quotes the warnings each platform prints about proxies you do not run.

Since 25 July 2025 the UK's Online Safety Act, and since 2025-2026 Australia's eSafety rules, have made AI sites choose between age checks and switching a country off. Civitai blocked the UK and later Australia, Janitor AI blocked the UK and then moved to verification, Chub fenced the UK and left Australia, SpicyChat walls adult content by IP, PolyBuzz verifies UK users. What each site says, what an address changes, and why verifying beats a proxy for adults.

Using a proxy is legal in most countries. Whether that particular proxy is yours to use, and whether what you do through it is lawful, are separate questions with different answers.

ISP vs mobile proxies: ISP is a fast static IP registered to a home ISP for logins, mobile is a rotating 4G/5G carrier IP for the hardest targets. Which to use.

These three get ranked as if hiding were a single scale. They are different trust models. Who can see what in each one, where each genuinely wins, and where each is the wrong tool.

Residential, datacenter, ISP, mobile, rotating, static, shared, dedicated, HTTP, SOCKS5. Four independent questions decide which you need, and most people only ask one of them.

White label proxy reselling means selling someone else's network under your brand while they run the infrastructure. How the model works mechanically, what it can and cannot do for you, and the questions that separate good programs from traps.

A solver API generates the payload an anti-bot script would have produced, over plain HTTP, so you skip the browser. Where it sits between a CAPTCHA solver, a scraping API, and your own proxy.

Proxy anonymity grades explained: what transparent, anonymous, and elite proxies leak, the X-Forwarded-For and Via headers that set the grade, and how to test yours.

CGNAT puts thousands of subscribers behind one public IP. How carrier-grade NAT works, the shared 100.64.0.0/10 space, and why it makes mobile IPs hard to block.

HTTP vs HTTPS proxy explained: an HTTPS proxy is not a proxy for HTTPS sites, it is a proxy you reach over TLS. What CONNECT tunneling does, what stays exposed, and when it matters.

IPv4 vs IPv6 proxies: why IPv4 is scarce and trusted, why IPv6 is cheap and abundant, the reach gotcha that catches people, and how sites block a whole IPv6 subnet at once.

What is a backconnect proxy? A single gateway you connect to that routes back through a pool of exit nodes. Why it is called backconnect, how it differs from a proxy list, and when to use it.

What is a datacenter proxy? An IP owned by a hosting company, not a home. Why it is fast and cheap, why defended sites flag it on sight, and when it is the right pick.

What is a proxy? A server that makes web requests for you, so the site sees its IP instead of yours. How proxies work, the types that matter, and what a proxy is not.

What is proxy rotation? Automatically changing the IP your requests exit from so no single address trips a rate limit or ban. How it works, the triggers, and its limits.

A forward proxy sits in front of clients and hides them; a reverse proxy sits in front of servers and hides them. The exact difference, why it matters, and how one request hits both.

SOCKS4, SOCKS4a, and SOCKS5 compared at the byte level: authentication, IPv6, remote DNS, and UDP. What each version can and cannot do, and why SOCKS5 is the one to use.

Sticky sessions hold one exit IP for a timed window; rotating sessions change the IP every request. How each is implemented, why logins break when the IP moves, and which to use.

What is a rotating proxy? One gateway address that exits through a different IP on a schedule you control. How backconnect rotation works, what it defeats, and when it is the wrong tool.

An ASN identifies the network that owns a block of IP addresses. What an Autonomous System is, how ASNs are assigned, and why anti-bot systems check yours before anything else.