How It Works

DevProxy keeps the network-facing pieces on the host operating system and leaves your app process alone.

The model

• Your app runs natively, in WSL, or in a container if the host can reach it
• DevProxy registers a stable .local hostname
• The hosts file maps that hostname to 127.0.0.1
• Caddy terminates HTTPS with tls internal
• Caddy proxies the request back to the local port

Attach-first workflow

DevProxy is designed for attach mode. You start the server yourself, then register the port with devproxy add.

Lifecycle

For a service named api.myapp on port 8000, DevProxy:

1. Derives api.myapp.local
2. Stores service metadata in the platform data directory
3. Writes the DevProxy-managed hosts entry
4. Generates the Caddyfile
5. Validates the Caddyfile
6. Reloads Caddy, or starts it if needed

Managed files

The registry, Caddyfile, and managed hosts block are the only persistent files DevProxy owns.