--- layout: "docs" page_title: "Commands: Connect Proxy" sidebar_current: "docs-commands-connect-proxy" description: > The connect proxy subcommand is used to run the built-in mTLS proxy for Connect. --- # Consul Connect Proxy Command: `consul connect proxy` The connect proxy command is used to run Consul's built-in mTLS proxy for use with Connect. This can be used in production to enable a Connect-unaware application to accept and establish Connect-based connections. This proxy can also be used in development to connect to Connect-enabled services. ## Usage Usage: `consul connect proxy [options]` #### API Options <%= partial "docs/commands/http_api_options_client" %> <%= partial "docs/commands/http_api_options_server" %> #### Proxy Options * `-sidecar-for` - The _ID_ (not name if they differ) of the service instance this proxy will represent. The target service doesn't need to exist on the local agent yet but a [sidecar proxy registration](/docs/connect/proxies.html#sidecar-proxy-fields) with `proxy.destination_service_id` equal to the passed value must be present. If multiple proxy registrations targeting the same local service instance are present the command will error and `-proxy-id` should be used instead. * `-proxy-id` - The [proxy service](/docs/connect/proxies.html#proxy-service-definitions) ID on the local agent. This must already be present on the local agent. * `-log-level` - Specifies the log level. * `-pprof-addr` - Enable debugging via pprof. Providing a host:port (or just ':port') enables profiling HTTP endpoints on that address. * `-service` - Name of the service this proxy is representing. This service doesn't need to actually exist in the Consul catalog, but proper ACL permissions (`service:write`) are required. This and the remaining options can be used to setup a proxy that is not registered already with local config [useful for development](/docs/connect/dev.html). * `-upstream` - Upstream service to support connecting to. The format should be 'name:addr', such as 'db:8181'. This will make 'db' available on port 8181. When a regular TCP connection is made to port 8181, the proxy will service discover "db" and establish a Connect mTLS connection identifying as the `-service` value. This flag can be repeated multiple times. * `-listen` - Address to listen for inbound connections to the proxied service. Must be specified with -service and -service-addr. If this isn't specified, an inbound listener is not started. * `-service-addr` - Address of the local service to proxy. Required for `-listen`. * `-register` - Self-register with the local Consul agent, making this proxy available as Connect-capable service in the catalog. This is only useful with `-listen`. * `-register-id` - Optional ID suffix for the service when `-register` is set to disambiguate the service ID. By default the service ID is "-proxy" where `` is the `-service` value. In most cases it is now preferable to use [`consul services register`](/docs/commands/services/register.html) to register a fully configured proxy instance rather than specify config and registration via this command. ## Examples The example below shows how to start a local proxy for establishing outbound connections to "db" representing the frontend service. Once running, any process that creates a TCP connection to the specified port (8181) will establish a mutual TLS connection to "db" identified as "frontend". ```text $ consul connect proxy -service frontend -upstream db:8181 ``` The next example starts a local proxy that also accepts inbound connections on port 8443, authorizes the connection, then proxies it to port 8080: ```text $ consul connect proxy \ -service frontend \ -service-addr 127.0.0.1:8080 \ -listen ':8443' ```