Web browser

This guide will show you how to access your server from your computer's web browser.

Connecting

1. Create an isolated browser profile so you can safely MITM your browser. This is important because mitmproxy will intercept all traffic from your browser, potentially including passwords and other sensitive information. This also prevents irrelevant web browsing traffic from filling up the mitmproxy logs.

   Google Chrome

   The easiest way to do this is to download Chrome Dev, which always uses a different browser profile than the stable version.

   Alternatively, if you only want to use the stable version of Chrome, you can use the --user-data-dir flag to create an isolated user data directory. Chrome's "profiles" do not isolate network settings, so a separate user data directory is required.

   Mozilla Firefox

   The easiest way to do this is to download Firefox Developer Edition, which always uses a different browser profile than the stable version.

   Alternatively, if you only want to use the stable version of Firefox, you can use the profile manager to create an isolated profile.

2. Start your web browser using your server as a proxy server.

   Google Chrome

   Using your isolated browser profile (either Chrome Dev or --user-data-dir), launch Chrome with the flag --proxy-server="server-ip:8080", replacing server-ip with your server's IP address. Create a shortcut to your isolated Chrome profile with this flag to make it easier to open.

   Mozilla Firefox

   Using your isolated browser profile (either Firefox Developer Edition or the profile manager), go to Settings => General => Network Settings => Settings... and select Manual proxy configuration. Set the HTTP proxy to your server's IP address, the port to 8080, and check Also use this proxy for HTTPS. Finally, click OK.

   Then, visit 127.0.0.1:8081 in any browser to view the mitmproxy logs and verify that traffic is going through mitmproxy.

tip

If you don't want to deal with the security warnings on every page from being MITMed, go to mitm.it in your proxied browser and follow the instructions there to trust the mitmproxy certificate. This is secure because mitmproxy generates a random certificate on first run, so nobody else could MITM your traffic except you.

Creating a test account

First, open pretendo.network/account in your proxied browser.

warning

Make sure that there is a big red banner stating "This is an unofficial Pretendo Network server!" If there is not, your proxy settings did not apply correctly, and you are connected to the official Pretendo Network server.

Then, sign up for an account on the website, just as you would on the official Pretendo Network server. You can also visit juxt.pretendo.network in your proxied browser to view Juxt posts.

note

You can ignore the captcha: captcha verification is disabled in the account server.

Changing which server you are connected to

• To connect to your self-hosted Pretendo server, use your isolated web browser profile with the proxy settings to open the Pretendo Network website.
• To connect to the official Pretendo server, use your regular web browser without the proxy settings.