Glossary
SOCKS5
A general-purpose proxy protocol that forwards TCP connections without inspecting them, optionally behind a username and password.
Also called: SOCKS5 proxy, RFC 1928.
SOCKS5, specified in RFC 1928, is a proxy protocol that operates below the application layer: the client asks the proxy to open a connection to a host and port, and from then on bytes are relayed without the proxy parsing or rewriting anything. That makes it protocol-agnostic in a way an HTTP proxy is not. A companion specification, RFC 1929, adds an optional username-and-password handshake, which is how most commercial SOCKS5 endpoints are sold.
That optional handshake is where things break in practice, and it is one of the clearest reasons to ship a browser rather than automate one. Chromium's own SOCKS5 client only speaks the no-authentication variant, so a proxy that requires a username and password cannot be used with it at all — which quietly rules out a large share of what providers sell. Argus handles it inside the browser process: a local relay performs the RFC 1929 handshake on the upstream leg while the profile is pointed at a loopback address, so no proxy authentication dialog ever appears. The proxies page has the detail, and it is listed in the capability reference as well.
More from the glossary
Proxy rotation
Changing the exit address automatically — per request or on a timer. Right for collecting public pages, wrong for a signed-in session.
Multi-accounting
Running several accounts on one platform from one machine without them being read as one operation.
Account linking
A platform deciding that two accounts belong to the same operator, from storage, device, network or behaviour.
Device entropy
How much identifying information a device's reported properties carry — measured in bits, and lowered by looking ordinary rather than by hiding.
TLS fingerprint
An identifier computed from the way a client opens a TLS connection — the cipher suites, extensions and their order in the ClientHello.
Cookie injection
Writing a saved set of cookies into a fresh browser profile so it opens already signed in, without the password being entered.
Every entry is listed on the glossary index.