Is it possible to use Google Chrome as a proxy server?

Question

In my particular network environment the Google chrome executable can access via an authenticated outgoing proxy server external web sites. Other executables however (when pointing to that outgoing proxy) are not able to do so.

I now have the idea to use Chrome itself as a local proxy for other executables like git or pip. - Is this possible, say, with a Chrome extension or with a tool that uses Chrome in a headless mode to connect to the Internet?

To clarify, I am not asking how to configure the proxy settings inside Chrome - I have successfully done this. I am asking how I can set up Chrome to receive HTTP(S) requests from other local programs and pass the requests on as an intermediate proxy (to the outgoing proxy specified in Chrome's settings).

Answer 1

On its own, no: Chrome will not open a port that other software can connect to. Even WebRTC requires an intermediate server to begin a peer to peer connection between browsers.

However Chrome supports Native Messaging, which means it will execute a specific native application that already exists on the system.

With this set up you can have:

• a native application that accepts incoming connections and forwards data to the extension.
• the extension listens to messages from the application and sends them via Chrome elsewhere on the internet.