# socks examples ## Example for SOCKS 'connect' command The connect command is the most common use-case for a SOCKS proxy. This establishes a direct connection to a destination host through a proxy server. The destination host only has knowledge of the proxy server connecting to it and does not know about the origin client (you). **Origin Client (you) <-> Proxy Server <-> Destination Server** In this example, we are connecting to a web server on port 80, and sending a very basic HTTP request to receive a response. It's worth noting that there are many socks-http-agents that can be used with the node http module (and libraries such as request.js) to make this easier. This HTTP request is used as a simple example. The 'connect' command can be used via the SocksClient.createConnection() factory function as well as by creating a SocksClient instance and using event handlers. ### Using createConnection with async/await Since SocksClient.createConnection returns a Promise, we can easily use async/await for flow control. ```typescript const SocksClient = require('socks').SocksClient; const options = { proxy: { host: '104.131.124.203', port: 1081, type: 5 }, destination: { host: 'ip-api.com', // host names are supported with SOCKS v4a and SOCKS v5. port: 80 }, command: 'connect' }; async function start() { try { const info = await SocksClient.createConnection(options); console.log(info.socket); // (this is a raw net.Socket that is established to the destination host through the given proxy servers) info.socket.write('GET /json HTTP/1.1\nHost: ip-api.com\n\n'); info.socket.on('data', (data) => { console.log(data.toString()); // ip-api.com sees that the last proxy (104.131.124.203) is connected to it and not the origin client (you). /* HTTP/1.1 200 OK Access-Control-Allow-Origin: * Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8 Date: Sun, 24 Dec 2017 03:47:51 GMT Content-Length: 300 { "as":"AS14061 Digital Ocean, Inc.", "city":"Clifton", "country":"United States", "countryCode":"US", "isp":"Digital Ocean", "lat":40.8326, "lon":-74.1307, "org":"Digital Ocean", "query":"104.131.124.203", "region":"NJ", "regionName":"New Jersey", "status":"success", "timezone":"America/New_York", "zip":"07014" } */ } catch (err) { // Handle errors } } start(); ``` ### Using createConnection with Promises ```typescript const SocksClient = require('socks').SocksClient; const options = { proxy: { ipaddress: '104.131.124.203', port: 1081, type: 5 }, destination: { host: 'ip-api.com', // host names are supported with SOCKS v4a and SOCKS v5. port: 80 }, command: 'connect' }; SocksClient.createConnection(options) .then(info => { console.log(info.socket); // (this is a raw net.Socket that is established to the destination host through the given proxy servers) info.socket.write('GET /json HTTP/1.1\nHost: ip-api.com\n\n'); info.socket.on('data', (data) => { console.log(data.toString()); // ip-api.com sees that the last proxy (104.131.124.203) is connected to it and not the origin client (you). /* HTTP/1.1 200 OK Access-Control-Allow-Origin: * Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8 Date: Sun, 24 Dec 2017 03:47:51 GMT Content-Length: 300 { "as":"AS14061 Digital Ocean, Inc.", "city":"Clifton", "country":"United States", "countryCode":"US", "isp":"Digital Ocean", "lat":40.8326, "lon":-74.1307, "org":"Digital Ocean", "query":"104.131.124.203", "region":"NJ", "regionName":"New Jersey", "status":"success", "timezone":"America/New_York", "zip":"07014" } */ }) .catch(err => { // handle errors }); ``` ### Using createConnection with callbacks SocksClient.createConnection() optionally accepts a callback function as a second parameter. **Note:** If a callback function is provided, a Promise is still returned from the function, but the promise will always resolve regardless of if there was en error. (tldr: Do not mix callbacks and Promises). ```typescript const SocksClient = require('socks').SocksClient; const options = { proxy: { ipaddress: '104.131.124.203', port: 1081, type: 5 }, destination: { host: 'ip-api.com', // host names are supported with SOCKS v4a and SOCKS v5. port: 80 }, command: 'connect' }; SocksClient.createConnection(options, (err, info) => { if (err) { // handle errors } else { console.log(info.socket); // (this is a raw net.Socket that is established to the destination host through the given proxy servers) info.socket.write('GET /json HTTP/1.1\nHost: ip-api.com\n\n'); info.socket.on('data', (data) => { console.log(data.toString()); // ip-api.com sees that the last proxy (104.131.124.203) is connected to it and not the origin client (you). /* HTTP/1.1 200 OK Access-Control-Allow-Origin: * Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8 Date: Sun, 24 Dec 2017 03:47:51 GMT Content-Length: 300 { "as":"AS14061 Digital Ocean, Inc.", "city":"Clifton", "country":"United States", "countryCode":"US", "isp":"Digital Ocean", "lat":40.8326, "lon":-74.1307, "org":"Digital Ocean", "query":"104.131.124.203", "region":"NJ", "regionName":"New Jersey", "status":"success", "timezone":"America/New_York", "zip":"07014" } */ } }) ``` ### Using event handlers SocksClient also supports instance creation of a SocksClient. This allows for event based flow control. ```typescript const SocksClient = require('socks').SocksClient; const options = { proxy: { ipaddress: '104.131.124.203', port: 1081, type: 5 }, destination: { host: 'ip-api.com', // host names are supported with SOCKS v4a and SOCKS v5. port: 80 }, command: 'connect' }; const client = new SocksClient(options); client.on('established', (info) => { console.log(info.socket); // (this is a raw net.Socket that is established to the destination host through the given proxy servers) info.socket.write('GET /json HTTP/1.1\nHost: ip-api.com\n\n'); info.socket.on('data', (data) => { console.log(data.toString()); // ip-api.com sees that the last proxy (104.131.124.203) is connected to it and not the origin client (you). /* HTTP/1.1 200 OK Access-Control-Allow-Origin: * Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8 Date: Sun, 24 Dec 2017 03:47:51 GMT Content-Length: 300 { "as":"AS14061 Digital Ocean, Inc.", "city":"Clifton", "country":"United States", "countryCode":"US", "isp":"Digital Ocean", "lat":40.8326, "lon":-74.1307, "org":"Digital Ocean", "query":"104.131.124.203", "region":"NJ", "regionName":"New Jersey", "status":"success", "timezone":"America/New_York", "zip":"07014" } */ }); // Failed to establish proxy connection to destination. client.on('error', () => { // Handle errors }); ```