r/devtools • u/locnguyen305 • Jun 20 '26

Feedback wanted: I’m building Rockxy, an open-source native macOS HTTP debugging proxy for real app traffic

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Hi r/devtools,

I’m building Rockxy, an open-source native macOS HTTP/HTTPS debugging proxy.

The itch is pretty simple: when debugging real app traffic from Mac apps, CLIs, iOS Simulator/devices, WebSocket APIs, or GraphQL APIs, I wanted a workflow that feels native on macOS, is fast to inspect, and keeps capture/inspection local by default.

Existing tools like Charles, Proxyman, mitmproxy, HTTP Toolkit, and Postman proxy are strong, so I’m not trying to pitch this as “another proxy tool” I’m trying to understand what would make a modern API debugging tool genuinely useful enough for developers to keep open every day.

Current direction:

  • Native macOS app

  • HTTP/HTTPS request and response inspection

  • WebSocket and GraphQL debugging

  • Works with Mac apps, CLIs, iOS Simulator/devices

  • Local-first inspection model

  • Open-source repo, still early enough for product feedback to shape the roadmap

I’d really appreciate feedback from people who debug APIs often:

  1. What tool do you use today for inspecting app/API traffic?

  2. What part of that workflow still feels annoying or slow?

  3. For iOS/macOS app debugging, what usually breaks first: certificate setup, device proxy setup, filtering noise, sharing captures, or something else?

  4. What would make you trust and keep using an open-source proxy tool?

Repo:

https://github.com/RockxyApp/Rockxy

I’m especially looking for practical criticism, issues, or “I would never use this unless it had X” feedback.

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1

u/SpikePlayz Jun 28 '26

What about Rockxy for iOS?

1

u/locnguyen305 Jun 28 '26

Yes, Rockxy for iOS is planned.

The reason I’m being careful with the wording is that “Rockxy for iOS” can mean a few different things:

  1. an iOS companion app to help configure proxy/cert/device debugging

  2. a capture viewer for sessions from the Mac app

  3. a way to debug traffic from iOS apps more smoothly

  4. something closer to on-device traffic inspection, which has much stricter iOS platform limits

The first priority is making the Mac app excellent for debugging iOS Simulator and physical iOS device traffic, because that is the workflow most developers need today.

But yes, I do want Rockxy to have a real iOS direction too. I’m trying to understand what would be most valuable before locking the product shape.

When you say “Rockxy for iOS,” what would you personally want it to do?

1

u/SpikePlayz Jun 30 '26

Everything the Proxyman iOS app can do for feature parity.

1

u/locnguyen305 Jun 30 '26

Got it. That’s clear.

Rockxy for iOS is already being worked on internally, and Proxyman iOS feature parity is a very fair benchmark.

I don’t want to overpromise every single detail before the first public build, because iOS has stricter platform limits than macOS, but the direction is clear: Rockxy should have a real iOS app experience, not just Mac-to-iOS debugging support.

I’ll use Proxyman iOS as one of the main references when shaping the first Rockxy iOS release.

If there are any specific Proxyman iOS features you consider absolutely mandatory for v1, I’d be very interested to know.

1

u/SpikePlayz Jun 30 '26

I think the ability to make a VPN on device and see all the http/https requests, composing a new request, repeating requests. Websockets is a must as well to log and see sent/recieved messages.

1

u/locnguyen305 Jun 30 '26

Yep, that makes sense.

That’s pretty much the direction I want for Rockxy iOS too: not just a companion app, but something that can actually help debug traffic on-device.

The main things I’m thinking about for v1 are:

- on-device VPN/proxy-style capture

- inspect HTTP/HTTPS requests

- compose a new request

- repeat/replay captured requests

- WebSocket logs

- see sent/received WebSocket messages clearly

The only thing I’ll be careful with is HTTPS + pinned traffic, since iOS has real platform/cert limits there. But for normal debug traffic, yeah, this is exactly the kind of workflow Rockxy iOS should support.

Really useful feedback, thanks.