I still believe that a good proxy server is one of the best testing tools for most applications, including web browsers. While most web browsers now offer dev tools that allow inspecting network traffic, I still prefer a dedicated proxy.

Google Chrome no longer includes proxy settings as an option and instead uses the system settings to determine proxy usage. In most cases that is fine. But I've come across at least two scenarios where that is not desirable:

1. Other applications on the system do not run correctly when routed through a proxy

2. Some VPN connections do not honor the proxy settings

Fortunately, there are ways to start Chrome avoiding these issues.

Via command line:

open -a /Applications/Google\ Chrome.app --args --proxy-server="http=localhost:8090;https=localhost:8090"

Or using MacOS script editor, save this as an Application in your Applications directory, which will allow you to quickly open Chrome with proxy via a spotlight search:

do shell script "open -n -a /Applications/Google\\ Chrome.app --args --proxy-server=\"http=localhost:8090;https=localhost:8090\""