can't download models or updates from behind corporate HTTP proxy

[DetachHead]

Which version of LM Studio?
Example: LM Studio 0.4.6

Which operating system?
windows 11

What is the bug?
when behind a corporate http proxy server, LM studio can't connect to the internet.

LM studio should either:

• respect the proxy environment variables http_proxy, https_proxy and no_proxy. (more info here)
• respect the system proxy config (Settings > Network & internet > Proxy on windows)

(ideally there would also be a setting to choose which one to respect, since my environment variables are configured to use a different proxy to the one forced on me via group policy)

Screenshots

Logs

[2026-03-02 16:03:09.077] [info]  [AppUpdater] Checking for updates... (current state: idle)
[2026-03-02 16:03:09.078] [info]  AppUpdater state changed to checking-for-updates-active
[2026-03-02 16:03:09.078] [info]  [AppUpdater] Fetching version info from https://versions-prod.lmstudio.ai/update/win32/x86/0.4.6
[2026-03-02 16:03:17.216] [info]  [AppUpdater] Checking for updates... (current state: checking-for-updates-active)
[2026-03-02 16:03:17.217] [error] Cannot check for updates while not in Idle state: checking-for-updates-active
[2026-03-02 16:03:19.809] [error] Error fetching updates: fetch failed
[2026-03-02 16:03:19.811] [info]  AppUpdater state changed to failed-to-check-for-updates
[2026-03-02 16:03:19.812] [info]  AppUpdater state changed to idle
[2026-03-02 16:03:36.773] [error] Failed to fetch staff picks Error: Network connection failed
    at _0x52e144.ApiClient.fetchWithRetry (C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Programs\LM Studio\resources\app\.webpack\main\index.js:702:10550)
    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:105:5)
    at async _0x52e144.ApiClient.handleFetchUnauthenticatedWithoutParsing (C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Programs\LM Studio\resources\app\.webpack\main\index.js:702:13561)
    at async _0x52e144.ApiClient.handleFetchUnauthenticated (C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Programs\LM Studio\resources\app\.webpack\main\index.js:702:13717)
    at async _0x5c0f8f.getStaffPicks (C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Programs\LM Studio\resources\app\.webpack\main\index.js:206:17370)
    at async _0x1b01ce.refreshFeed (C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Programs\LM Studio\resources\app\.webpack\main\index.js:1203:9050)
    at async Object.handler (C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Programs\LM Studio\resources\app\.webpack\main\index.js:520:102943)
[2026-03-02 16:03:50.014] [error] Failed to fetch staff picks Error: Network connection failed
    at _0x52e144.ApiClient.fetchWithRetry (C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Programs\LM Studio\resources\app\.webpack\main\index.js:702:10550)
    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:105:5)
    at async _0x52e144.ApiClient.handleFetchUnauthenticatedWithoutParsing (C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Programs\LM Studio\resources\app\.webpack\main\index.js:702:13561)
    at async _0x52e144.ApiClient.handleFetchUnauthenticated (C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Programs\LM Studio\resources\app\.webpack\main\index.js:702:13717)
    at async _0x5c0f8f.getStaffPicks (C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Programs\LM Studio\resources\app\.webpack\main\index.js:206:17370)
    at async _0x1b01ce.refreshFeed (C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Programs\LM Studio\resources\app\.webpack\main\index.js:1203:9050)
    at async Object.handler (C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Programs\LM Studio\resources\app\.webpack\main\index.js:520:102943)

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. try to search for a model

@DetachHead ensure your it department whitelists huggingface.co and *.lmstudio.ai urls.

[DetachHead]

I have no control over that unfortunately. We have two proxy servers, one of them doesn't block any websites but to be able to use it I need LM Studio to be able to respect the proxy environment variables.

[codingbott]

Same problem here.

even with domains whitelisted, our firewall does a deep inspection and replaces all TLS certificates by ones issued by our company CA. (yes, kind of man in the middle attack)

aka a certificate check need to be done using computers trust store (windows and linux), because company CA is trusted there.

An own openssl/java trusted CA's store - does not help me.

my work around on windows (!!! NOT SECURE !!!):

$env:NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED="0"
'.\LM Studio.exe

[sfleiter]

Setting NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS to the CA of your deep inspection spy in .pem format will make LM Studio run flawlessly.

For Mac users, add a launchctl setenv NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS $SSL_CERT_FILE to you .(z)profile