How to Route Chrome Traffic to Burp Suite & mitmproxy in 1 Click

If you are a web developer, API engineer, or penetration tester using local intercepting proxies like Burp Suite, mitmproxy, Charles Proxy, or Fiddler Everywhere, you know the daily frustration of proxy switching:

1. System Proxy Pollution: You enable macOS System Proxy or Windows Internet Options pointing to 127.0.0.1:8080. Immediately, your background apps—Slack, Spotify, Discord, Telegram, and Docker—throw SSL certificate errors and disconnect.
2. The "Burp Browser" Limitation: Burp Suite's embedded Chromium browser is handy, but it lacks your daily bookmarks, developer extensions, authenticated cookies, and customized DevTools workflows.
3. Command-Line Flag Clutter: Launching Chrome with --proxy-server="127.0.0.1:8080" --user-data-dir=/tmp/burp-chrome requires keeping terminal windows open and managing isolated profiles.

In this practical engineering guide, we show you how to configure 0.1-second, single-click proxy toggling in your everyday Google Chrome browser, allowing you to route traffic to local debuggers on demand without breaking the rest of your operating system.

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The Architecture: Why Browser-Scoped Proxying Wins

Operating system proxies are a blunt instrument. When you want to inspect a single REST endpoint or test an XSS payload in Burp, you only care about browser traffic:

[System-Wide Proxy (The Fragile Way)]
macOS / Windows Network Stack ──► 127.0.0.1:8080 (Burp Suite)
├── Chrome (Inspects target) ✅
├── Slack (Fails SSL handshake) ❌
├── Spotify (Stops playing) ❌
└── Discord / Zoom (Drops call) ❌

[Browser-Scoped Routing via ProxyLite (The Clean Way)]
OS Network Stack ────────────────► Direct Internet (Slack, Zoom, Spotify untouched) ✅
Google Chrome ───────────────────► ProxyLite Native PAC Engine
                                  ├── target-app.com ──► 127.0.0.1:8080 (Burp Suite) 🎯
                                  └── All other tabs ──► Direct (Fast & clean) ⚡

Chromium provides a high-performance native chrome.proxy API. By generating an in-memory Proxy Auto-Config (PAC) script, we can instruct Chrome to route traffic conditionally with microsecond execution speed.

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Setting Up Burp Suite & mitmproxy with ProxyLite

ProxyLite is a modern, 100% free Manifest V3 proxy manager built for developers. Setting it up with your local intercepting proxy takes under a minute:

Step 1: Install ProxyLite

Install the extension from the official Chrome Web Store:
👉 Install ProxyLite on Chrome Web Store

Step 2: Create Your Local Intercept Profile

1. Click the ProxyLite icon in your toolbar and open the Settings Gear (Options Dashboard).
2. Click + Add Profile $\rightarrow$ Proxy Profile.
3. Name it Burp Suite (or mitmproxy).
4. Configure the server:
   • Protocol: HTTP (or HTTPS)
   • Host: 127.0.0.1
   • Port: 8080 (or 8888 for Charles Proxy)
5. Click Save Changes.

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3 Professional Workflows for Maximum Efficiency

Once your profile is saved, you have three powerful ways to intercept traffic:

Workflow 1: 0.1s Instant Global Toggle

When you want to inspect all requests in your current Chrome window:

1. Open the ProxyLite 340px toolbar popup.
2. Click Burp Suite. All Chrome requests immediately route through 127.0.0.1:8080.
3. When you finish debugging, click Direct. Traffic instantly reverts to normal. Zero terminal commands, zero OS setting tweaks.

Workflow 2: Targeted 1-Click Domain Interception

Suppose you are pentesting https://api.targetstore.com, but you also have documentation tabs, Jira, and StackOverflow open. You don't want Burp's HTTP history cluttered with background analytics or Jira polling requests:

1. Navigate to https://api.targetstore.com.
2. Open the ProxyLite popup.
3. Click "+ Route this domain" next to Burp Suite.
4. ProxyLite automatically creates an auto-switch rule for *.targetstore.com. Only requests to your target site are captured in Burp, keeping your intercept history clean and focused.

Workflow 3: Subnet & Local Microservices Routing

If you run containerized microservices in Docker or Kubernetes (10.x.x.x or 172.16.x.x), you can add a CIDR IP Subnet Rule inside ProxyLite:

• Rule: 10.244.0.0/16 $\rightarrow$ Burp Suite
• Fallback: Direct

This automatically routes internal cluster traffic through your local debugger while public websites bypass it entirely.

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Quick Reference: Default Ports for Common Debuggers

Intercepting Proxy	Default Host	Default Port	Protocol
PortSwigger Burp Suite	127.0.0.1	8080	HTTP
mitmproxy / mitmweb	127.0.0.1	8080	HTTP / SOCKS5
Charles Proxy	127.0.0.1	8888	HTTP / SOCKS5
Fiddler Everywhere	127.0.0.1	8866	HTTP
OWASP ZAP	127.0.0.1	8080	HTTP

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Summary

Debugging web traffic should not require sacrificing the rest of your workstation's network stability.

By pairing Burp Suite or mitmproxy with ProxyLite, you get instant, browser-level routing control, zero OS interference, and the speed of modern Manifest V3 architecture.

👉 Install ProxyLite Free on Chrome: Chrome Web Store