How to Use Charles Proxy to Capture HTTPS Traffic on Windows and macOS

Overview

Charles is a network debugging proxy that captures HTTP and HTTPS traffic from browsers and client applications. It runs on Windows and macOS and starts a system proxy on port 8888.

Installation

Download the installer from https://www.charlesproxy.com/download/ and run it. The trial lasts 30 days.

Enabling HTTPS Capture

Install the Charles root certificate: Help → Install Charles Root Certificate . Choose Local Computer store and place it under Trusted Root Certification Authorities . After installation, click Reset in Charles.

Open Proxy → SSL Proxying Settings . Add a location with Host: * and Port: * (or specify particular hosts). This enables decryption of HTTPS traffic.

Capturing Requests

After the proxy is active, open any web page; requests appear in the Charles session list. The tool can also capture traffic from desktop applications. For example, browsing a public account article shows the underlying HTTP calls.

Disabling the Proxy

When debugging is finished, disable the system proxy (or quit Charles) to restore normal network access. Leaving the proxy enabled while the port is unavailable will cause browsers to fail to load pages.

Additional Workflow Tips

Use the “Copy as cURL (bash)” context menu to export a request. Paste the command into https://curlconverter.com/ to obtain equivalent code in Python, JavaScript, Go, etc.

For JSON response formatting in the browser, install a JSON‑viewer extension.

Postman can be used for further API testing.

For an open‑source alternative, see https://mitmproxy.org/.

To switch proxies quickly, you can use the Chrome extension Proxy SwitchyOmega (URL: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/proxy-switchyomega/padekgcemlokbadohgkifijomclgjgif).