What’s the difference between nginx forward proxy and reverse proxy? Which one should I use? Alternatively,

Ah, the classic nginx forward proxy and reverse proxy confusion! You’re on the right track.

Forward proxy is like a middleman for clients—think hiding your IP or bypassing geo-blocks. Reverse proxy is for servers, like load balancing or SSL termination.

Real-world example? Use a forward proxy if you’re in a corporate network and want to filter outbound traffic. Reverse proxy? Perfect for exposing multiple backend servers under one domain.

Check out the nginx docs—they’ve got solid examples for both setups.