Glossary · Protocols & authentication
Sticky session
A rotating-proxy feature that keeps you on the same exit IP for a set duration so a multi-step task can complete without the address changing underneath it.
A sticky session is rotation with a pause button. On a pool that would otherwise hand you a new address every request, a sticky session pins one exit IP to you for a window, a few minutes, up to some limit, so that a sequence of requests all appear to come from the same visitor.
It exists because continuity and rotation are in tension. Logging in, filling a cart, walking through a checkout, all of it breaks if the address jumps between steps, and yet the whole value of a rotating pool is that the address does jump. The sticky session is how one pool serves both needs.
The duration is the dial. Long enough to finish the task, short enough to move on afterwards, and providers expose it as a setting or a session identifier you attach to the connection so the gateway knows to hold your address.
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