Proxies & VPN

Most streaming services are geo-restricted, region-priced, or simply refuse to hand over a manifest from the "wrong" country. unshackle routes its traffic through a proxy so the service sees the location you choose instead of your own. You can point it at a single proxy URL, or configure one of several proxy providers (commercial VPNs and self-hosted tunnels), then ask for a country by its two-letter code and let unshackle pick a working server for you.

The --proxy flag controls proxying, and a query is resolved to a real proxy URL by the providers unshackle supports: basic static proxies, Gluetun (documented in the most detail, since it is the most flexible), ExpressVPN, NordVPN, Proton VPN, Hola, Surfshark, and Windscribe.

Where proxies are configured

All provider configuration lives under the top-level proxy_providers: key in your unshackle.yaml. Each provider has its own sub-key, and the keys inside it map directly onto that provider's settings. See the Configuration file page for where the file lives and how it is loaded.

The --proxy flag

Proxying is controlled at download time by three options on the dl command:

Option	Effect
--proxy	The proxy to use. Either an explicit URI, or a query that unshackle resolves against your configured providers.
--no-proxy	Force all proxy use off. No providers are initialised and no proxy query is resolved.
--no-proxy-download	Use the proxy for the manifest, licence, and authentication, but bypass it for the segment downloads themselves.

Explicit proxy URI

unshackle dl --proxy http://user:pass@1.2.3.4:8080 EXAMPLE 81234567

Resolve a US server from your configured providers

unshackle dl --proxy us EXAMPLE 81234567

Target a specific provider

unshackle dl --proxy nordvpn:us EXAMPLE 81234567

Set a default proxy in config

Like every dl flag, --proxy can be given a default in your configuration so you do not have to pass it on every command. See Downloading for how dl options and config defaults interact.

--no-proxy-download

Segment downloads are usually the largest share of traffic, and a residential-grade VPN proxy is often the slowest link in the chain. --no-proxy-download lets you keep the proxy where it matters (passing the geo-check for the manifest and the licence) while pulling the actual audio and video segments over your normal connection for full speed.

Proxy the manifest and licence, download segments direct

unshackle dl --proxy gb --no-proxy-download EXAMPLE 10a1234

When this is unsafe

Some services tie segment delivery (CDN tokens, per-segment geo-checks) to the same region as the manifest. On those services, bypassing the proxy for downloads will cause segment fetches to fail or return the wrong region. If downloads break with --no-proxy-download, remove it.

How proxy resolution works

The value you pass to --proxy is interpreted in one of three ways. unshackle checks them in order.

flowchart TD
    A["--proxy value"] --> B{"Looks like a URI?<br/>http:// https:// socks"}
    B -- yes --> C["Use it verbatim"]
    B -- no --> D{"Has a provider prefix?<br/>provider:query"}
    D -- yes --> E["Ask that one provider<br/>for the query"]
    D -- no --> F["Ask every provider in order,<br/>first match wins"]

1. An explicit URI. Anything shaped like http://..., https://..., or a socks... URI is used exactly as given. unshackle logs Using explicit Proxy: ... and does no lookup.
2. A provider-prefixed query: provider:query, for example nordvpn:us or gluetun:windscribe:us. unshackle finds the provider whose name matches the prefix (case-insensitive) and asks only that provider to resolve the remainder. If no such provider is loaded, or it returns no proxy, the download errors.
3. A bare query: a region like us, gb, us:seattle, or us1234. unshackle asks each loaded provider in order and uses the first proxy any of them returns.

The query is matched against a region grammar (a two-letter country code, optionally followed by a server number and/or a :city or -city part), lowercased, and then handed to the provider. The exact forms each provider accepts are documented in its section below.

Provider load order

When you run a download without --no-proxy, unshackle instantiates every configured provider once, in this fixed order, and that same order is used for bare-query resolution:

Basic → ExpressVPN → NordVPN → Proton VPN → Surfshark → Windscribe → Gluetun → Hola

So if you have both Basic and NordVPN configured and run --proxy us, a us entry in your Basic config wins because Basic is tried first. To skip ahead to a specific provider, prefix the query (--proxy nordvpn:us).

Auto-loading providers

Most providers only load when you configure them under proxy_providers:. Three are special: ExpressVPN and Proton VPN also load automatically once their cached session file exists on disk (even with no YAML), and Hola loads automatically whenever the hola-proxy binary is found on your PATH.

Connection feedback

After a provider resolves a query, unshackle prints a line so you can confirm where you came out:

• Gluetun reports the verified exit IP, country, and city of the container.
• ExpressVPN and Proton VPN print a location summary such as (USA - New York, #3 of 5): .214.
• Other providers log the resolved proxy URL.

Basic (static proxies)

The Basic provider is pure static configuration, with no accounts and no network calls. You list proxy URLs per country code, and unshackle serves them back when you query that country. This is the right choice when you already have proxy endpoints (from a proxy seller, your own servers, or a corporate gateway).

Under each two-letter country code you can put either a single proxy string or a list of them:

unshackle.yaml

proxy_providers:
  basic:
    us: http://user:pass@1.2.3.4:8080
    de:
      - http://a.example:8080
      - socks5://b.example:1080

Query forms:

Query	Meaning
us	A proxy for the US. If several are listed, one is chosen at random.
us2	The 2nd entry in the US list (1-based).

• If a country has a single proxy string, that proxy is always returned.
• If it has a list and you give a plain country code, one is picked at random; append an index (de1, de2) to pin a specific entry.
• Each URL is normalised (a missing scheme defaults to http) and validated, so a malformed URI is rejected up front rather than failing mid-download.

unshackle dl --proxy de2 EXAMPLE 81234567

Gluetun

Gluetun is unshackle's most flexible proxy backend, and the one to reach for if you want one configuration to cover many VPN providers. Instead of returning a remote proxy URL, Gluetun launches a local Docker container running the qmcgaw/gluetun image. That container establishes a WireGuard or OpenVPN tunnel to your chosen VPN provider and exposes a plain HTTP proxy on localhost, which unshackle then routes traffic through. When the download finishes, the container is torn down automatically.

This means you get access to the 50+ VPN providers that Gluetun supports, using your own VPN subscription, through a single uniform interface, with no per-provider integration in unshackle itself.

Docker is required

Gluetun needs a working Docker installation on your PATH. If Docker is not found, the provider fails to load with an error linking to the install docs. The container also needs the NET_ADMIN capability and access to /dev/net/tun to bring up the tunnel. unshackle requests both automatically.

Query format

Gluetun uses a nested selector: the provider prefix picks Gluetun, and the rest names the VPN provider and the region.

gluetun:<vpn-provider>:<region>

A Windscribe US exit via Gluetun

unshackle dl --proxy gluetun:windscribe:us EXAMPLE 81234567

A NordVPN Germany exit via Gluetun

unshackle dl --proxy gluetun:nordvpn:de EXAMPLE 81234567

After unshackle strips the leading gluetun:, the provider receives exactly provider:region (two colon-separated parts; anything else is an error). The <vpn-provider> must be one you have configured under gluetun.providers, and friendly names are normalised to Gluetun's identifiers (for example pia and privateinternetaccess both map to private internet access).

Configuration

Each VPN provider you want to use gets an entry under providers:, carrying its VPN type, credentials, and how your region aliases map onto Gluetun's server selectors.

unshackle.yaml

proxy_providers:
  gluetun:
    providers:
      windscribe:
        vpn_type: wireguard
        credentials:
          private_key: YOUR_WIREGUARD_PRIVATE_KEY
          addresses: YOUR_WIREGUARD_ADDRESS
          preshared_key: YOUR_PRESHARED_KEY
        server_countries:
          us: US
          uk: GB
        server_cities: {}
        server_hostnames: {}
        extra_env: {}
      nordvpn:
        vpn_type: wireguard
        credentials:
          private_key: YOUR_WIREGUARD_PRIVATE_KEY
        server_countries:
          us: US
          de: DE

    # Global settings (all optional)
    base_port: 8888
    auto_cleanup: true
    container_prefix: unshackle-gluetun
    auth_user: null
    auth_password: null
    verify_ip: true

Per-provider keys:

Key	Purpose
vpn_type	wireguard (default) or openvpn.
credentials	The secrets for the tunnel; see the credential rules below.
server_countries	Maps your region alias (e.g. us) to Gluetun's country value (e.g. US).
server_cities	Optional. Maps an alias to a Gluetun city.
server_hostnames	Optional. Maps an alias directly to a specific server hostname.
extra_env	Optional. Raw environment variables merged into the container last, for any Gluetun setting not covered above.

Credential rules by VPN type:

WireGuardOpenVPN

• private_key is always required.
• surfshark, mullvad, and ivpn also require addresses.
• windscribe additionally requires both addresses and preshared_key (preshared_key may be an empty string, but the key must be present).
• NordVPN and Proton VPN need only private_key.

• Requires username and password.

Which vpn_type should I pick?

WireGuard is the default because it can be faster, but it needs the fiddlier credential setup above (private keys, and for some providers addresses and a preshared key). OpenVPN is the simplest to configure (just a username and password) at the cost of some speed. If you are getting started or hitting credential trouble, OpenVPN is the path of least resistance; switch to WireGuard when you want the extra throughput.

Global keys:

Key	Default	Purpose
base_port	8888	The first local port to expose proxies on. Additional containers take the next free ports.
auto_cleanup	true	Remove containers on exit. If false, containers are only stopped, not deleted.
container_prefix	unshackle-gluetun	Prefix for Docker container names.
auth_user / auth_password	null	Optional HTTP-proxy credentials. If set, the local proxy requires auth and the credentials are embedded in the proxy URL.
verify_ip	true	After connecting, verify the container's real exit IP and region.

Region selection

For a given query region, Gluetun resolves the server like this:

1. An explicit entry in server_hostnames, server_cities, or server_countries for that alias always wins.
2. A us1239-style query (country code + number) with no explicit mapping is turned into a provider-specific server hostname (for example us1239.nordvpn.com for NordVPN, us-1239.prod.surfshark.com for Surfshark).
3. A bare two-letter code is expanded to the full country name Gluetun expects.

A few providers (Windscribe, VyprVPN, VPN Secure) select by region rather than country, and Windscribe region names are translated automatically. For instance us becomes US East and uk/gb become United Kingdom.

Container lifecycle

Understanding what Gluetun does behind the scenes helps when something goes wrong:

1. Image check. qmcgaw/gluetun:latest is pulled if it is not already present.
2. Reuse. If a container for this exact provider:region is already running (from a concurrent unshackle session), it is adopted instead of starting a new one. Stopped or dead containers with the same name are pruned first.

Expect a slow first request, then instant reuse

Bringing up a fresh tunnel takes roughly 10 to 30 seconds for the first request to a given provider:region. This is the VPN handshake and readiness wait, not a hang. Every subsequent request that reuses that same container is effectively instant. A slow first run is normal.

1. Port allocation. A free local port is chosen starting from base_port.
2. Start. The container is launched bound to 127.0.0.1:{port}. Credentials are passed through a temporary, 0600-permission env-file (never as -e flags), which is overwritten and deleted immediately after.
3. Readiness wait. unshackle polls the container logs (up to 60 seconds) until both the HTTP proxy is listening and the VPN reports a completed connection. Fatal errors like authentication failed or invalid credentials abort early, and recent logs are attached to the error to help you diagnose it.
4. IP verification. When verify_ip is on, unshackle queries the container's exit IP and checks the country matches what you asked for, raising a region mismatch error if it does not.
5. Proxy handed back. You get http://localhost:{port} (or with auth credentials if configured).

Cleanup and Ctrl+C

Containers are cleaned up via an atexit handler on normal exit. Gluetun deliberately does not install its own signal handlers, so Ctrl+C continues to work as you expect. If a run is killed hard (e.g. kill -9) a container can be left behind; with auto_cleanup: true the next run adopting that name will still work, or you can remove it manually with docker rm -f.

Troubleshooting

Common Gluetun issues

• RuntimeError about Docker not found. Install Docker and confirm docker is on your PATH.
• invalid credentials / authentication failed in the readiness wait. Your WireGuard/OpenVPN credentials are wrong or in the wrong fields. Double-check private_key, addresses, and (for Windscribe) preshared_key.
• Region mismatch error. The VPN connected but exited in a different country than requested. Check your server_countries mapping, or set verify_ip: false if you are intentionally using a nearby region.
• Timeout after 60 seconds. The tunnel never came up. Inspect the container logs (docker logs <container>) for the underlying VPN error.

ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN mirrors the ExpressVPN Android TV app: it signs in through Express's OAuth 2.0 device-login flow, obtains proxy-capable locations from Express's API, and returns an authenticated HTTPS proxy. The device login runs once; after that the cached refresh token keeps the session alive headlessly.

Enable it and run a download interactively once:

unshackle.yaml

proxy_providers:
  expressvpn:
    enable: true

With enable: true and an interactive terminal, unshackle prints a code and a URL to enter it at. Once approved, the tokens are cached and reused automatically, so later runs need no terminal. ExpressVPN also auto-loads once its token cache exists, so you can drop enable after the first login, but you can keep a YAML block to pin regions or servers:

unshackle.yaml (optional)

proxy_providers:
  expressvpn:
    region_map:
      us: ny-02       # prefer New York, server 02 for the US
      gb:             # empty = smart random location
    server_map:
      myserver: usny-newyork-2

Default file location:

File	Default path
Token cache	{cache}/vpn/expressvpn_tokens.json

Where {cache} is your configured cache directory.

Query forms:

Query	Meaning
us	A smart, random US location.
us-ny	US, New York.
us-ny-2 / us-ny2	US, New York, the 2nd server.
usny-newyork-2	A full location slug.
hostname.expressprovider.com	A direct endpoint hostname.

The resolved proxy is an HTTPS proxy on port 443. On success, unshackle prints a location summary such as (USA - New York, #3 of 5): .214.

Cache safety

ExpressVPN's token cache is written with 0600 permissions so the refresh token is never briefly world-readable.

NordVPN

NordVPN uses your Service Credentials, not your normal NordVPN login. Generate them from the NordVPN dashboard under manual setup; they are a long random username/password pair, not your email and password.

unshackle.yaml

proxy_providers:
  nordvpn:
    username: YOUR_SERVICE_USERNAME
    password: YOUR_SERVICE_PASSWORD
    server_map:                # optional: pin specific server IDs
      us: 1234
      us:seattle: 5678

Required keys: username, password. unshackle validates them up front: the combined username and password must be exactly 48 alphanumeric characters (case-insensitive), and the username must not contain an @. If validation fails, you have almost certainly used your login credentials instead of your service credentials.

server_map is optional and maps a region (or code:city) to a pinned NordVPN server ID. Its main use is tuning: for a given streaming service one specific server often performs noticeably better than NordVPN's recommended pick, so hard-coding that server for a day or two is a handy workaround until it degrades and you swap in another.

Use gb, not uk, for the United Kingdom

Query the UK as gb. unshackle uses the Alpha-2 country code gb deliberately to stay consistent with its other regional/country-code systems and avoid the language-vs- country-code confusion that uk invites.

Query forms:

Query	Meaning
us	A recommended US server.
us1234	The specific server us1234.
us:seattle	A recommended server in Seattle.
228	A NordVPN numeric country ID.

The returned proxy is HTTPS on port 89 (NordVPN disabled its plain-HTTP proxies on port 80 in 2021).

unshackle dl --proxy nordvpn:us:seattle EXAMPLE 81234567

Proton VPN

Proton VPN supports two authentication methods, and unshackle can work with either. Note that free Proton accounts work but are limited to Proton's free-tier exit countries.

TV login (recommended)Exported cookies

A self-sustaining, refreshable session obtained through Proton's TV device-login flow. This is the only method that can refresh itself headlessly, so it keeps working without re-exporting anything. Enable it and run a download interactively once:

unshackle.yaml

proxy_providers:
  protonvpn:
    enable: true

With enable: true and an interactive terminal, unshackle prints a code and asks you to enter it at account.proton.me/vpn/tv/code. Once approved, the session is cached and reused automatically.

Export your account.proton.me session cookies (the AUTH-<UID> cookie) to the Proton cookie file. This method is access-only: it cannot refresh, so you must re-export when it expires.

The AUTH-<UID> cookie is HttpOnly

This is the single most common cause of a failed Proton cookie import: the required AUTH-<UID> cookie is HttpOnly, and many one-click cookie-export extensions silently skip HttpOnly cookies by default. If your import "doesn't work," use an exporter that explicitly includes HttpOnly cookies.

Why this session can't refresh, and lapses after ~24h

Proton rotates browser refresh tokens and ties them to the live browser, so a headless refresh is impossible. unshackle therefore deliberately uses only the cookie's short-lived access token and never attempts a refresh, which is why the session lapses at Proton's ~24h TTL and must be re-exported. This is exactly why TV login is preferred for set-and-forget use.

Default file locations:

File	Default path
Cookies	{cookies}/vpn/protonvpn.txt
Session cache	{cache}/vpn/protonvpn.json

Proton VPN auto-loads if its cookie file exists. Like ExpressVPN, its cached session is written with 0600 permissions.

Cache vs cookie precedence

If both a TV-login cache and a cookie file exist, the cache is preferred unless the cookie file is newer. Cookies are read fresh every run and never written back to the cache. So to deliberately force use of the cookie session, just re-save (re-export) the cookie file so its modification time is newer than the cache.

Query forms (after the protonvpn: prefix):

Query	Meaning
us	A random US server (paid tiers preferred over free).
us12	Proton US server #12.
us:ny	A server in New York.

The returned proxy is HTTPS on port 4443 (or port 443 for Secure Core servers). Secure Core and Tor servers are excluded from selection because they are too slow for a plain proxy. On success, unshackle prints a summary such as (Name - City): server-host.

Proton server numbers aren't sequential

When pinning a server with protonvpn:deNN, don't guess a low number. A country may expose non-contiguous IDs like #203, #813, and so on. Copy the number from a previous run's log line (e.g. DE#203) instead.

Hola

Hola requires no configuration at all. It uses the hola-proxy binary, and auto-loads whenever that binary is found on your PATH. If you query Hola but the binary is missing, the provider raises an error telling you to install it.

Install hola-proxy, then just query a country

unshackle dl --proxy hola:us EXAMPLE 81234567

Query forms: a two-letter country code (e.g. us, gb). unshackle asks hola-proxy for available proxies in that country and picks one at random, returning an HTTP proxy.

Temporary bans

Hola's free tier can rate-limit or temporarily ban you if queried too aggressively. If you see a temporary ban detected error, wait before retrying. Hola currently uses only datacenter proxies.

Surfshark

Surfshark, like NordVPN, uses Service Credentials rather than your login. Generate them from the Surfshark manual-setup page.

unshackle.yaml

proxy_providers:
  surfsharkvpn:
    username: YOUR_SERVICE_USERNAME
    password: YOUR_SERVICE_PASSWORD
    server_map:                # optional
      us: 1234

Required keys: username, password, validated with the same 48-character rule as NordVPN (combined username+password must be 48 alphanumeric characters, case-insensitive, no @). server_map optionally pins server IDs per region.

Query forms:

Query	Meaning
us	A random US server.
us-bos	A specific server.
us:seattle	A random server in Seattle.

The returned proxy is HTTPS on port 443.

Windscribe

Windscribe uses Service Credentials from its OpenVPN config page. Only the presence of a username and password is checked (there is no 48-character rule).

unshackle.yaml

proxy_providers:
  windscribevpn:
    username: YOUR_SERVICE_USERNAME
    password: YOUR_SERVICE_PASSWORD
    server_map:                       # optional: alias -> hostname
      us: us-east.totallyacdn.com
      us:seattle: us-seattle.totallyacdn.com

Required keys: username, password. server_map optionally maps a region (or region:city) directly to a hostname.

Query forms:

Query	Meaning
us	A random US server.
us150 / sg007	A specific numbered server.
us:seattle	A random server in Seattle.

The returned proxy is HTTPS on port 443.

Windscribe is not loaded by the REST API resolver

The standalone Windscribe provider (and Gluetun) are loaded by the dl command, but not by the proxy resolver used by the REST API and remote-download client. If you drive downloads through the API and need Windscribe or Gluetun exits, resolve the proxy on the CLI side or use a different provider for API jobs. See the developer note below.

Developer notes

Two resolution paths (developers)

unshackle has two proxy-resolution code paths that are intentionally not identical:

• unshackle/commands/dl.py inlines its own logic and loads all eight providers, including Windscribe and Gluetun.
• unshackle/core/proxies/resolve.py::initialize_proxy_providers() is the shared resolver used by the REST API handlers and the remote-service client. It omits Windscribe and Gluetun.

Both paths accept the same query grammar (a direct URI, a provider:query, or a bare country query tried against providers in order), but the set of available providers differs. Keep this in mind when adding a provider: wiring it into dl.py does not make it available over the API, and vice versa.

Implementing a new provider (developers)

Every provider subclasses unshackle.core.proxies.proxy.Proxy and implements three methods:

• __init__(self, **kwargs) receives its proxy_providers sub-dict splatted as keyword arguments, so YAML keys map 1:1 to constructor parameters. Do authentication and catalog pre-fetching here.
• __repr__(self) is a human summary, conventionally "{n} Countries ({m} Servers)".
• get_proxy(self, query) returns a Requests-compatible proxy URI, or None only when the query was valid but no proxy exists. Raise on genuine errors or bad queries.

Optionally expose get_connection_info(query) (as Gluetun does) or last_connection_display() (as ExpressVPN and Proton VPN do) to have dl print a friendly connection line instead of the raw proxy URL.

See also

• Downloading: the full dl command guide, including where proxy flags sit in the download flow.
• Configuration file: the unshackle.yaml reference, including directories for cookies and cache used by the cookie-based providers.
• Configuration reference: the developer-facing configuration API, including the proxy_providers structure.