Install on macOS

Probe ships as a signed and notarized DMG for macOS. The whole install — from download to a running proxy with your system traffic flowing through it — takes under a minute.

System requirements

• macOS 12 Monterey or later.
• Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4) or Intel. Probe ships a single universal binary; you don't need to pick a build.
• About 200 MB of free disk space for the app and its data directory.
• Administrator access on first launch so Probe can flip the system HTTP/HTTPS proxy.

Probe runs without the App Sandbox — that's required to set the system proxy and to bind the local listening port. As a result it's distributed outside the Mac App Store.

Install

1. Go to the Download page and click Download for macOS. You'll get a file named like probe-x.y.z.dmg.

2. Double-click the DMG to mount it. A Finder window opens with Probe.app on the left and an Applications shortcut on the right.

3. Drag Probe.app onto the Applications shortcut. Wait for the copy to finish, then eject the DMG.

4. Open Applications in Finder and double-click Probe.

First launch

The first time you open Probe, macOS Gatekeeper checks the Developer ID signature and the stapled notarization ticket. Both are valid, so the app opens directly — no "unidentified developer" warning, no Open Anyway button to chase.

Note

On a corporate-managed Mac with custom Gatekeeper policies, or on macOS releases older than 12, Gatekeeper may still block on first run. If that happens, right-click Probe.app in Applications → Open from the menu. That's the per-app override.

What happens on first launch

Probe is intentionally aggressive about getting you to a working state:

• The proxy starts immediately on 0.0.0.0:9099. You don't need to click anything.
• Your system HTTP/HTTPS proxy is set automatically via networksetup. macOS may prompt you for your password the first time.
• The CA certificate HTTP server starts on port 9098 so you can install the cert on phones and other devices on your LAN.
• The CA is generated on the first run, into its own folder, ~/Library/Application Support/probe_ca/.
• The data directory is created at ~/.probe/ — it holds your saved sessions, Composer collections, flows, and other working files.

Look at the toolbar: you'll see your machine's IP and port (e.g. 192.168.1.42:9099) and a separate CA URL (e.g. http://192.168.1.42:9098). Those are the values you'll point your phone or VM at later.

When you click Stop, Probe turns the system proxy off. It doesn't bring back a proxy you had configured before Probe — set that again yourself. If Probe crashes or is force-quit, the proxy can stay pointed at the dead port: start and stop Probe once, or see Troubleshooting.

Caution

If you're upgrading from a much older build that wrote to ~/.guide_proxy/, Probe migrates that directory to ~/.probe/ automatically on first launch. You don't need to copy anything by hand.

Auto-update

Probe updates itself with Sparkle and checks its update feed each time it starts. It also checks about once an hour while Probe is running, without asking first whether to check (Sparkle still asks before it installs anything). Sparkle only offers builds your Mac can run. To check by hand, choose Probe → Check for Updates….

When a newer version is out, Sparkle opens its update window with the release notes. You can install the update, be reminded later, or skip that version; Probe never forces an update. Install it, and Sparkle downloads the new build, checks its signature against the key built into Probe, replaces Probe in place, and restarts it.

The first time you open the new version, Probe shows a short What's New dialog with the release notes. It appears once, right after the update.

Uninstall

To remove Probe:

1. Quit the app — this turns off the system proxy Probe turned on.
2. Drag Probe.app from Applications to the Trash.
3. (Optional) Remove ~/.probe/ to delete your saved sessions, Composer collections, flows, and other working files.
4. (Optional) Remove ~/Library/Application Support/probe_ca/ to delete Probe's CA, and run defaults delete com.vinhtnk.mitmproxy to delete your settings.

Deleting the probe_ca folder invalidates the CA on every device you trusted it on — Probe makes a new CA the next time it runs, and you'll need to install that certificate again. Leave the folder in place and a later install keeps the same CA.

Next steps

First CaptureMake your first request and see it in the log.

Certificate SetupInstall the CA so HTTPS bodies are readable.

Quick Tour60-second walkthrough of the UI.