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SSL Debugging with Firefox?

Cover Image for SSL Debugging with Firefox?

In this tutorial, we would share how we quickly capture HTTPS requests from Product Hunt page via Firefox Browser.

From there, we can achieve several following tasks:

  • Quickly filter the request
  • See the HTTP/HTTPS request and message in a prettier format
  • Quickly change the param and test the production.

1. Proxyman

Proxyman is a Web Debugging Proxy and exclusively built for macOS. Basically, it can help you (developers) to debug out-going HTTP/HTTPS requests easily than looking via Console Inspector.

You can quickly download Proxyman

  • from homepage
  • or execute brew cask install proxyman

Then, we have to install the Proxyman Certificate via Certificate Menu -> Install Certificate on this mac...

and following the automation steps to install the certificate in a second.

![SSL Debugging with Firefox](/assets/blog/debug-firefox/debug-firefox-1.png">

2. Install Proxyman Certificate on Firefox

It's crucial since Firefox has its Keychain instead of using the System Keychain.

  • Open proxy.man/ssl (It's a local server) in Firefox, trust and install the certificate properly

SSL Debugging with Firefox

  • If you don't see any Firefox request on Proxyman or couldn't access to proxy.man/ssl, please double-check the Firefox Proxy Setting in Preference.

The simple solution is that we select System Proxy Setting

SSL Debugging with Firefox

3. Open https://www.producthunt.com in Firefox

As soon as you open the website in Firefox, it will list out in the Proxyman app like the following image.

![SSL Debugging with Firefox](/assets/blog/debug-firefox/debug-firefox-4.png">

Additionally, Proxyman comes with plenty of handy tools. Let start filtering and enable HTTPS Response on the producthunt domain.

After enabling, please make sure we reload the page again to get the updated content 👏

4. Start debugging

In these steps, we can see the HTTPS Content.

![SSL Debugging with Firefox](/assets/blog/debug-firefox/debug-firefox-5.png">

Let try a few handy tools by right-clicking on the request.

![SSL Debugging with Firefox](/assets/blog/debug-firefox/debug-firefox-6.png">

Here is the tool list:

  • Repeat: Repeat it to get new content
  • Repeat & Edit: Able to change the query, header and test it out
  • Local Map: Able to map the given local file as the response
  • Breakpoint: Set a breakpoint on the request or response and change the data on-the-fly.
  • and too many tools, which are waiting for you to discover 💪

Proxyman is a high-performance macOS app, which enables developers to capture and inspect HTTP/HTTPS requests from apps and domains on iOS device, iOS Simulator and Android devices.

Get it at https://proxyman.io

Noah Tran
Noah Tran