Focus mode and session size

Left running for days, a proxy that records everything gets heavy. Cloak Proxy gives you three ways to keep it light: focus on the few apps and hosts you’re working on, mute the noise you never want, and cap how much traffic the session keeps. All three last across launches.

Focus mode

Since 0.5.4

Focus mode records only the apps and hosts you pick. Everything else still goes through Cloak Proxy, untouched: it isn’t decrypted, no rules apply to it, and it isn’t listed. Apps and sites outside the focus keep working; they just don’t fill the session.

×

Focus on some apps or hosts

• From the sidebar: right-click an app, a device or a host and choose Focus on name.
• From the traffic list: select one or more requests, right-click, and choose Focus on These › their apps, their hosts, or Apps and Hosts.
• From the toolbar: click Focus, tick the apps and hosts you want (type a host or *.example.com to add one that hasn’t sent anything yet), then click Focus.

×

While focusing, a banner over the list says what’s in focus and how many requests weren’t recorded: Focused on ShopApp, *.example.com · 1,204 not recorded. Stop Focusing records everything again; Edit… changes the focus. The toolbar’s Focus button is highlighted while focus is on.

To add to the focus, right-click another app or host and choose Add name to Focus; Remove name from Focus takes one out. Focus Only on name replaces the focus.

Apps	Matched by name, ignoring case, as muting matches them. A device’s address focuses on every app on it.
Hosts	api.example.com, or *.example.com for the domain and every subdomain.
Apps and hosts together	A request is recorded when its app or its host is in focus.
Remembered	Focus stays on when Cloak Proxy quits and opens again, until you stop it. After Stop Focusing, the toolbar’s Focus picker still has the last list ticked, so turning it on again takes two clicks.
Connections open when focus starts	Decrypted connections outside the focus close gracefully and reconnect untouched, as when recording pauses. When focus stops, connections passed through only because of it reconnect and are decrypted as usual.

Tip

Focus is a lighter way to do what the Allow List does for whole apps and hosts: traffic outside it isn’t even decrypted. Keep the Allow List for rules on paths, methods or bodies.

Mute a host or a domain

Since 0.5.4

Muting works for hosts as it does for apps: their requests go through Cloak Proxy and your tools but aren’t listed. Right-click a host in the sidebar, or a request, and choose Mute › Mute host or Mute *.domain (the domain and every subdomain).

Muted apps and hosts are listed together in Settings › General › Muted apps and hosts, with Unmute for each.

Tip

For a noisy host you never need (telemetry, ads, update checks), Bypass is lighter still: it skips Cloak Proxy entirely, so it costs no CPU at all. Choose Mute › Bypass *.domain Instead, or Move to Bypass in Settings. Bypass applies when the macOS proxy is next turned on (see Network settings).

How much traffic is kept

Since 0.5.4

Settings › General › Capture has two limits:

Setting	Choices	Default
Keep the last	50,000 / 100,000 / 250,000 / 500,000 requests	100,000
Keep requests for	1 day / 3 days / 7 days / Never	7 days

×

Past either limit, the oldest requests are removed a batch at a time in the background, with their bodies’ files on disk. Requests you highlighted, commented or added to Findings are always kept. The status bar then says Trimmed 12,000 old requests; click it to open the setting, or the × to dismiss it. Requests from a file you open (a HAR, a saved session) count their age from when you opened it, so last month’s capture isn’t trimmed the moment it loads.

Each request takes about 8 KB of memory, so 100,000 requests use about 1 GB (bodies beyond 64 MB live on disk). The defaults suit a laptop: at a steady two requests a second, 100,000 requests is about 14 hours of traffic, and the week limit means Friday’s requests are still there on Monday. Raise the limit for long captures on a machine with memory to spare, or use focus mode so only the traffic you care about counts.

Note

Upgrading from 0.5.3 or earlier, the new defaults apply: a saved session larger than 100,000 requests is trimmed to it once it has loaded, and the status bar says how many went. Choose 500,000 in Settings to keep what earlier versions kept. However the settings are set, Cloak Proxy never holds more than 600,000 requests.

Automate it

	cloakctl	MCP tool
Focus	cloakctl focus set --app ShopApp --host '*.example.com', cloakctl focus add|remove …, cloakctl focus off, cloakctl focus on	set_focus
Mute a host	cloakctl mute host ads.example.com [--domain], cloakctl unmute host …	mute_host
Mute an app	cloakctl mute app Slack, cloakctl unmute app Slack	mute_app
Retention	cloakctl retention [--requests 250000] [--days 3]	set_retention

cloakctl status and the proxy_status tool include the focus and the limits.

Related

• Recording and sessions: pause, mute apps, clear, keep sessions
• Allow List
• Network settings: Bypass