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Greyproxy Troubleshooting

Service Won't Start​

Check the service status​

greyproxy service status

# Linux — view logs
journalctl --user -u greyproxy -f

# macOS — view logs
tail -f ~/Library/Logs/greyproxy.log

Port already in use​

If another process is using port 43080, 43051, 43052, or 43053, greyproxy will fail to start.

# Linux/macOS — find what's using a port
lsof -i :43080

Either stop the conflicting process, or run greyproxy with a custom config on different ports:

greyproxy serve -C ~/greyproxy-custom.yml

See Configuration for port settings.

Binary not found after greyproxy install​

install copies the binary to ~/.local/bin/greyproxy. Make sure that directory is on your PATH:

echo $PATH | grep -o '\.local/bin'
# If empty, add it:
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

Add to your shell profile (.bashrc, .zshrc, etc.) to make it permanent.

Dashboard Not Loading​

Check greyproxy is running​

greyproxy service status
# or
curl http://localhost:43080/api/health

If it returns {"status":"ok"}, the service is up. If not:

greyproxy service start

CORS or browser security errors​

The dashboard is served over plain HTTP on localhost — this is intentional for a local tool. If your browser is blocking it, try:

  • Using http:// not https:// in the URL
  • Disabling HTTPS-only mode for localhost in your browser settings

Dashboard loads but shows no data​

This is normal on a fresh install — no rules or traffic yet. Start routing traffic through greyproxy (via greywall or by setting ALL_PROXY=socks5://localhost:43052) and make some network requests.

Traffic Not Being Routed Through Greyproxy​

Verify greywall is configured to use greyproxy​

Check your greywall config (~/.config/greywall/greywall.json):

{
  "network": {
    "proxyUrl": "socks5://localhost:43052",
    "dnsAddr": "localhost:43053"
  }
}

Run greywall check to verify greyproxy is detected and running.

Verify proxy settings manually​

# Test SOCKS5 proxy directly
curl --proxy socks5h://localhost:43052 https://example.com

# Test HTTP proxy
curl --proxy http://localhost:43051 https://example.com

If these fail but greyproxy is running, the port might be blocked by a local firewall.

On macOS: some traffic bypasses the proxy​

On macOS, greywall sets HTTP_PROXY, HTTPS_PROXY, and ALL_PROXY environment variables. Applications that don't respect proxy environment variables (certain native binaries, some Go programs with direct socket calls) will bypass greyproxy.

This is a macOS limitation — there is no user-accessible network namespace. On Linux, greywall uses a TUN device to capture all traffic regardless of application behavior.

Rules Not Taking Effect​

Rule was added but traffic still blocked​

Rules take effect immediately without restarting greyproxy. If traffic is still blocked after adding an allow rule, check:

  1. The rule pattern matches the destination — use the pattern syntax guide
  2. There's no deny rule that matches first (deny rules are checked before allow rules)
  3. The destination hostname is correct — check the Logs tab in the dashboard for the exact hostname being requested
# Check what rules currently exist
curl http://localhost:43080/api/rules | jq .

DNS name not resolving​

If you're routing DNS through greyproxy (localhost:43053) and DNS lookups are failing:

# Test DNS resolution through greyproxy
dig @localhost -p 43053 example.com

If DNS fails but the proxy itself is up, check whether the upstream DNS server is reachable from the host.

Database Issues​

greyproxy.db is corrupted or missing​

The database is created automatically on first start. If it's corrupted:

# Stop greyproxy
greyproxy service stop

# Remove the database (rules and logs will be lost)
rm ~/.local/share/greyproxy/greyproxy.db   # Linux default
# or wherever your config sets db:

# Restart — a fresh database will be created
greyproxy service start

Database location​

The default database path is ./greyproxy.db relative to the working directory when greyproxy starts (for the installed service, this is typically the home directory). Override with the db field in your config:

greyproxy:
  db: "/var/lib/greyproxy/greyproxy.db"

Logs and Diagnostics​

View request logs​

# Via API
curl http://localhost:43080/api/logs | jq .

# Via dashboard
# Open http://localhost:43080 → Logs tab

Enable verbose logging​

Run in foreground with debug output:

greyproxy serve -C greyproxy.yml  # runs in foreground, logs to stdout

Check greywall → greyproxy integration​

# Verify greywall can see greyproxy
greywall check

# Run a command with monitor mode to see proxy decisions
greywall -m -- curl https://example.com

Getting Help​

If you're still stuck, open an issue on GitHub with:

  • Output of greyproxy service status
  • Output of greywall check (if applicable)
  • The request logs from curl http://localhost:43080/api/logs
  • Your greyproxy config (with any sensitive values removed)