OpenBullet 2 Proxies: How to Import, Check and Rotate Proxies in OpenBullet

Integration guide · Last reviewed 28 September 2026 · 11 min read

OpenBullet 2 is a free, open-source automation suite for sending requests to web applications and working with the results, used for web scraping, parsing data and authorised testing. Like any tool that sends many requests, it depends on proxies to avoid per-IP rate limits and to test from different locations. This guide explains how to set up proxies in OpenBullet 2 step by step: importing ProxyEmpire residential proxies, checking them, configuring rotation in jobs, and fixing common errors.

What Is OpenBullet 2?

OpenBullet 2 describes itself as a cross-platform automation suite powered by .NET. You build “configs” that describe a sequence of requests and how to read the responses, then run them in jobs with many parallel “bots” over a list of inputs. Its documentation lists scraping and parsing data and automated penetration testing among its uses. It is free, open source, cross-platform and developed by volunteers.

For data work, that makes OpenBullet a flexible alternative to writing a scraper from scratch: you define the requests once, then scale them across thousands of inputs with built-in handling for proxies, retries and results.

OpenBullet: Legitimate Use Only

OpenBullet has a reputation problem because the same automation can be misused for account attacks. The project is clear about this. Its community standards prohibit using OpenBullet with illegally leaked files such as database dumps, attacking sites you do not have permission to test, sharing malicious configs, and performing attacks such as DDoS or credential stuffing without permission.

Legitimate uses include:

• Collecting public web data such as prices, listings or search results, within each site’s terms.
• Testing your own web applications: regression checks, rate-limit tests and availability monitoring from several locations.
• Authorised security testing of systems you own or have written permission to test.

ProxyEmpire proxies may not be used for credential stuffing, account takeover, fraud or attacks of any kind. Banking, payment and government websites are blocked by default on all products.

Why OpenBullet Needs Proxies

OpenBullet’s own documentation explains the core reason: web services rate-limit by IP address, so spreading requests over many proxy IPs keeps a job running when one IP would be slowed down or blocked. It also notes that services can fingerprint clients in other ways, so proxies alone only work against basic rate limiting. For scraping public pages and testing your own apps, that is usually exactly what you need.

Proxies also let you run the same config from different countries and cities to see localised prices, content and behaviour, or to test how your own application responds to visitors from each market.

How to Import Proxies into OpenBullet 2

1. Open the Proxies section of OpenBullet 2 and create a proxy group, for example “ProxyEmpire residential US”. Groups let different jobs use different sets of proxies without conflicts.
2. Choose how to import: from text (paste), from file, or from remote (a URL). Use one proxy per line.
3. Use one of the formats OpenBullet recognises, shown below, or set a default type and paste host:port lines.

(http)v2.proxyempire.io:5000:USERNAME:PASSWORD

http://USERNAME:PASSWORD@v2.proxyempire.io:5000

In the ProxyEmpire dashboard, the connection builder sets the country, region, city, ZIP, ISP or ASN and the rotation, and generates the credentials. For a list of sticky-session proxies, generate and download the proxy list in the format you need and import the file, one proxy per line.

Organise your OpenBullet proxy groups by job

It pays to keep one proxy group per purpose rather than one giant list. A group for United States residential traffic, another for Germany, and a separate group of datacenter proxies for testing your own staging site make jobs easier to reason about: when results look wrong, you know exactly which exit locations and IP types were involved. Name groups after the country, product and rotation they contain, and note the date you imported them. When you change targeting in the ProxyEmpire dashboard, create a new group instead of editing the old one, so past runs stay comparable.

If you use a remote source, OpenBullet can reload proxies on a schedule. That suits lists you regenerate regularly, but remember that reloading wipes each proxy’s usage and ban history inside OpenBullet, so a proxy that failed earlier will be tried again.

How to Check Your Proxies in OpenBullet

1. Go to Jobs, click New and select Proxy Check Job.
2. Set the number of bots and a timeout in milliseconds. Too many bots on a slow line makes proxies look slower than they are.
3. Select your proxy group.
4. Choose the target site. OpenBullet’s documentation recommends checking proxies against the site you will build the config for, so you know the proxies work there. Targets are configured under OB Settings, Proxy Check Targets.
5. Optionally enable proxy judges to classify each proxy as transparent, anonymous or elite.

You can also test the same credentials outside OpenBullet with our free proxy checker, which shows the exit IP and location.

How to Use Proxies in an OpenBullet Job

Proxy behaviour is set in each Multi Run Job’s proxy settings:

OpenBullet’s documentation explains why the last two matter for rotating proxies: a rotating endpoint routes traffic through a much larger pool, so banning the endpoint because one IP behind it was blocked would stop the job for no reason, and concurrent mode lets all bots use the few endpoints without waiting.

Rotating vs Sticky Sessions in OpenBullet

• Per-request rotation suits configs where each input is one independent request, such as fetching a product page by ID. One gateway entry, a new IP for every request.
• Sticky sessions suit configs with several requests that must come from the same visitor, such as loading a page to get a token and then calling an endpoint with it. Import a list of sticky-session proxies so each bot keeps its IP for the whole config run, and let OpenBullet ban individual entries that fail.

ProxyEmpire sticky sessions keep the same IP until you rotate or the device behind it goes offline. Our guide to sticky vs rotating proxies explains the trade-offs.

Which Proxy Type to Use with OpenBullet

OpenBullet’s documentation points out that datacenter IPs belong to well-known provider ranges and are more likely to be detected as proxies, while residential or ISP addresses belong to consumer networks. In practice:

• Rotating residential proxies for public-data collection on sites that limit data-center traffic, with country, city, ZIP, ISP and ASN targeting at no extra charge.
• Mobile proxies on 4G and 5G carrier networks for mobile-first sites and apps.
• Datacenter proxies for testing your own applications and for sites that do not restrict data-center IPs, at a lower cost.

Whatever the type, test a small batch of OpenBullet proxies against your real target before a long run, and compare success rates between groups. The cheapest OpenBullet proxy is the one that works on the first attempt: failed requests still cost time, and on pay-per-GB plans, traffic. ProxyEmpire’s unused bandwidth rolls over, so a trial run that uses little data costs little.

Troubleshooting Proxies in OpenBullet

• 407 Proxy Authentication Required: the username or password is wrong, or the proxy type is not set, so OpenBullet connects without credentials. Re-import with the full syntax.
• All proxies banned early: with a rotating gateway, turn on “Never ban proxies”; otherwise one blocked request disables the endpoint.
• Timeouts: raise the timeout, reduce the number of bots, or pick a proxy location closer to the target.
• Wrong protocol: an HTTP proxy imported as SOCKS5, or the reverse, fails immediately. Check the type in brackets or the URI scheme.
• Blocked destinations: requests to banking, payment and government sites are refused by ProxyEmpire by default, and destination ports other than 80 and 443 are closed unless enabled after verification.

When something fails, change one setting at a time: first the proxy type and credentials, then the number of bots, then the target. Keep a small test wordlist of known-good inputs so you can tell a proxy problem from a config problem in a minute. For every error code in detail, see our proxy error codes guide.

OpenBullet Proxies FAQ

References

1. OpenBullet 2: Proxies, general infoWhy proxies are used, supported protocols, anonymity levels
2. OpenBullet 2: Import proxiesProxy groups, import sources and syntax
3. OpenBullet 2: Check proxiesProxy Check Jobs, targets and judges
4. OpenBullet 2: How to use proxiesProxy mode, never ban, concurrent mode, shuffle
5. OpenBullet: Community StandardsProhibited uses, including credential stuffing without permission
6. OpenBullet 2 on GitHubSource code and releases