Infrared review
A focused open-source proxy for domain routing, antibot checks, and operational telemetry.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Infrared is an open-source Minecraft reverse proxy written in Go for operators running their own Minecraft server infrastructure. It routes connections from configured domains to backend servers and is distributed as platform-specific binaries for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Its self-hosted design also exposes an API and supports network administration tasks, making it suited to teams that want control over proxy deployment and configuration rather than a hosted service.
The feature set centers on routing and operational visibility. Antibot checks can use IP, encryption, authentication, protocol, and username lookups, while configurable status packet caching can reduce repeated status handling. Redis supports caching and proxy configuration, Prometheus provides metrics export, and the JSON HTTP API manages proxy configurations. Infrared also integrates with the Mojang API and MaxMind GeoIP. IPv4 and IPv6 dual-stack support, HAProxy Proxy Protocol, and TCPShield/RealIP forwarding options broaden its fit for network environments that already use those components.
Infrared is a strong match for administrators who need domain-based routing with security checks, telemetry, live upgrades through tableflip, and direct control of the deployment. The trade-off is operational responsibility: deployment, configuration, Redis, metrics, and surrounding network services remain part of the self-hosted setup. The documented default status version is Minecraft 1.18, and the latest listed release is 1.4.7-release from January 2023. Teams seeking a managed proxy or a product with clearly documented current server-version coverage should consider an alternative.
Infrared pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Routes Minecraft connections by configured domain
- Combines antibot checks with Redis caching and configuration
- Provides Prometheus metrics, HTTP management, and live upgrades
- Where it doesn't
- Self-hosted deployment puts infrastructure operations on the operator
- The documented default status version is Minecraft 1.18
- Platform-specific binaries are distributed instead of a hosted service
Infrared fact sheet, pricing and score →
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