Quality & errors · glossary

Target timeout

A target timeout occurs when the destination does not complete the connection or send a response within the time the gateway or the client allows, and the request fails with a 504 from the gateway or a timeout exception in the client. Through residential and mobile exits, slow household or cellular links raise the chance of timeouts on heavy pages; the remedies are realistic client timeouts, one retry, and lighter requests.

1 min read Also called 504 gateway timeout, read timeout Updated

Errors & troubleshooting All terms

Setting client timeouts#

Exit typeSuggested connect / read timeout
Datacenter, ISP10 s / 30 s
Residential15 s / 45 s
Mobile20 s / 60 s

Idle connections#

Gateways close connections that stay idle for a while (60 seconds at ProxShift) regardless of client timeouts. Long-polling and streaming need a keep-alive message or a fresh connection.

How it works at ProxShift#

ProxShift returns 504 target_timeout when the destination does not answer in time, closes idle connections after 60 seconds and imposes no limit on connection duration while data flows.

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