golang/go

net/http/httputil: ReverseProxy: time out long-idle upgraded connections

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#75830 opened on Oct 9, 2025

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LibraryProposalNeedsDecisionhelp wanted

Description

ReverseProxy automatically handles upgraded connections, such as WebSocket connections. When a proxied request results in a 101 Switching Protocols response, ReverseProxy switches to proxying raw bytes through the connection.

We should perhaps have some form of idleness detection, so a dead connection isn't left around consuming resources indefinitely. Currently, if one half of the connection vanishes without closing the TCP connection, ReverseProxy will leave the connection active until the OS times out the connection.

This probably needs to be off by default, since I'm certain someone is depending on ReverseProxy proxying long-lived but mostly-idle connections.

Since this will need to be configurable, it'll need to go through the proposal process once there's a concrete design for the configuration knob.

Contributor guide

Tech stack
go
Domain
backend
Issue type
feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
4
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
over 1 week
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
fresh
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
mostly clear
Prerequisites
Go programmingHTTP protocolnetworking
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
15
Research direction
This issue proposes adding idle timeout for upgraded connections in ReverseProxy. The design must be configurable and off by default. Relevant file is net/http/httputil/reverseproxy.go. The contributor should engage with the golang proposal process and discuss the configuration knob design on the issue tracker.