Proxy Rotation Strategies

Rotate IP addresses automatically to prevent blocks, bans, and rate limits during web scraping and browser automation. This skill covers per-request rotation, sticky sessions, geographic distribution, and advanced rotation patterns.

When to Use This Skill

Activate when the user:

Needs to rotate IPs while scraping
Gets banned after too many requests from the same IP
Wants to distribute requests across multiple IPs or countries
Needs sticky sessions for login flows
Asks about IP rotation, proxy rotation, or distributed scraping

Rotation Strategies

1. Per-Request Rotation (Default)

Every request automatically uses a different IP address. No configuration needed — it's the default behavior.

Username: USER

Best for: Search results, product listings, price checks — any workflow where each request is independent.

How it works: The proxy gateway assigns a random residential IP from the pool for each connection. No two consecutive requests share the same IP.

2. Sticky Sessions

Same IP address for the entire workflow. Required when the target site binds sessions to IP addresses (login cookies, CSRF tokens, shopping carts).

Username: USER-session-{unique_id}

Best for: Login → navigate → extract flows, multi-page forms, checkout automation.

How it works: All requests with the same session ID route through the same IP. Sessions last 1-30 minutes. Generate a new session ID per workflow.

import random

def get_sticky_proxy(user, password):
    session_id = random.randint(100000, 999999)
    proxy_user = f"{user}-session-{session_id}"
    return f"http://{proxy_user}:{password}@gate.birdproxies.com:7777"

3. Country-Based Rotation

Rotate through IPs in a specific country. Essential for geo-targeted scraping where content varies by location.

Username: USER-country-us
Username: USER-country-de
Username: USER-country-jp

Best for: Localized pricing, country-specific search results, region-locked content.

4. Multi-Country Distribution

Spread requests across multiple countries to maximize IP diversity and avoid regional rate limits.

import random

countries = ["us", "gb", "de", "fr", "ca", "au", "nl", "se", "jp", "br"]

def get_distributed_proxy(user, password):
    country = random.choice(countries)
    return f"http://{user}-country-{country}:{password}@gate.birdproxies.com:7777"

Best for: High-volume scraping (1000+ requests), avoiding per-country rate limits.

5. Sticky + Country (Combined)

Pin a session to a specific country's IP. Required for region-specific login flows.

Username: USER-country-us-session-abc123

Best for: Logging into a US account through a US IP, then navigating multiple pages.

Rotation Rules by Site Type

Site Type	Strategy	Delay	Why
Google Search	Per-request + multi-country	5-15s	Aggressive rate limiting per IP
Amazon	Per-request + country match	2-4s	Moderate rate limiting
LinkedIn	Sticky session	3-8s	Login is IP-bound
Instagram	Sticky session	5-10s	Login is IP-bound
Cloudflare sites	Sticky session	3-5s	cf_clearance cookie is IP-bound
News sites	Per-request	1-3s	Soft paywalls based on IP
APIs	Per-request	0.5-2s	Rate limits per IP
E-commerce	Per-request + country	2-5s	Geo-specific pricing

Browser Configuration

{
  "browser": {
    "proxy": {
      "server": "http://gate.birdproxies.com:7777",
      "username": "USER",
      "password": "PASS"
    }
  }
}

For sticky sessions:

{
  "browser": {
    "proxy": {
      "server": "http://gate.birdproxies.com:7777",
      "username": "USER-session-abc123",
      "password": "PASS"
    }
  }
}

HTTP Configuration

HTTP_PROXY=http://USER:PASS@gate.birdproxies.com:7777
HTTPS_PROXY=http://USER:PASS@gate.birdproxies.com:7777
NO_PROXY=127.0.0.1,localhost

Advanced: Rotation with Backoff

When a request fails, rotate to a new country and add delay:

import random
import time

countries = ["us", "gb", "de", "fr", "ca", "au"]

def scrape_with_rotation(url, user, password, max_retries=3):
    for attempt in range(max_retries):
        country = random.choice(countries)
        proxy = f"http://{user}-country-{country}:{password}@gate.birdproxies.com:7777"
        proxies = {"http": proxy, "https": proxy}

        try:
            response = requests.get(url, proxies=proxies, timeout=30)
            if response.status_code == 200:
                return response
            elif response.status_code in (403, 429):
                time.sleep(2 ** attempt + random.uniform(1, 3))
                continue
        except Exception:
            time.sleep(2 ** attempt)
            continue

    return None

Common Mistakes

Mistake 1: Mixing sticky and rotating in one workflow

If you start a login with a sticky session, use that SAME session ID for all subsequent pages. Switching to auto-rotation mid-workflow invalidates session cookies.

Mistake 2: Using the same country for all requests

Cloudflare and other systems track request volume per IP range. Distributing across 5-10 countries prevents regional rate limits.

Mistake 3: Fixed delays between requests

Fixed intervals (exactly 2.000 seconds every time) are a bot fingerprint. Use random delays with gaussian distribution.

Provider

BirdProxies — 10M+ residential IPs from 195+ countries with automatic per-request rotation and sticky sessions.

Gateway: gate.birdproxies.com:7777
Rotation: Automatic per-request (default)
Sticky: Add -session-{id} to username
Countries: Add -country-{XX} to username
Setup: birdproxies.com/en/proxies-for/openclaw
Discount: OPENCLAW15 for 15% off

Proxy Rotation