curl -N Cannot Tell a Proxy to Stop Buffering

curl -N, or --no-buffer, disables curl's output-stream buffering. It can help diagnose delayed output without changing the proxy's or server's buffering policy.

curl --proxy http://proxy.example:8080 --noproxy '' --no-buffer --max-time 30 https://example.com/stream

For a public-proxy comparison, choose an HTTP endpoint from the HTTP proxy list. Use your actual stream URL and choose the intended limit. The empty bypass list keeps this comparison on the selected proxy route.

Arrival, decoding, and display

A server can generate incremental bytes, an intermediary can collect them, a client library can read the complete body, and a browser can defer rendering. Compare first useful bytes and subsequent progress where you control the path. Paint time and total server duration do not identify body-arrival timing.

In Guzzle, check streaming and body consumption separately. Compression adds a decoding stage. A change in when decoded output appears does not by itself identify a proxy as the buffering component.

What the intermediary sees

An opaque CONNECT proxy cannot parse inner HTTPS responses as ordinary HTTP. An authorized TLS inspection service has different visibility, so HTTPS alone does not establish the absence of inspection.

Once the waiting stage is identified, use that component's supported streaming controls. Reverse-proxy directives do not automatically apply to a forward proxy; curl's output flag changes only its own part of the path.