# Country targeting

> Request PacketStream residential exits by ISO two-letter country code and handle unavailable countries without accepting the wrong location.

PacketStream supports country-level targeting. Append `_country-` and an ISO two-letter country code to the auth key.

## Request a country

This password requests a United States exit:

```text
AUTH_KEY_country-US
```

Use uppercase ISO two-letter codes in new integrations. The proxy hostname and port do not change.

```bash
COUNTRY_PASSWORD="${PACKETSTREAM_AUTH_KEY}_country-US"

curl --silent --show-error --fail-with-body \
  --proxy 'https://proxy.packetstream.io:31111' \
  --proxy-user "${PACKETSTREAM_USER}:${COUNTRY_PASSWORD}" \
  'https://ipinfo.io' \
  | jq '{ip, country, region, city, org}'
```

For a country-sensitive workflow, verify that the returned country is `US` before collecting the intended destination.

To get a valid code, choose the country in the **Location** list on the [Proxy Access page](https://app.packetstream.io/dashboard/network_access); the generated password then carries the matching suffix. PacketStream ignores a code it does not recognize, and the request then exits in any country. The ipinfo.io check above shows the country you got.

## Targeting boundary

Country is the supported targeting boundary. City, region, postal code, and coordinates reported by IP databases are approximate diagnostic data—not targeting guarantees.

The content a destination returns can also depend on:

- browser locale and accepted languages;
- cookies and prior session state;
- account settings;
- the requested hostname or regional URL;
- delivery or billing details supplied to the destination.

A country-targeted exit does not override those application-level inputs.

## Unavailable countries

If a recognized country has no available exits, PacketStream fails the request. It does not silently substitute another country.

Preserve that distinction in your application:

```text
requested country unavailable → record unavailable work
authentication failed          → stop and fix credentials
destination failed             → apply the destination retry policy
```

Do not remove the country constraint inside a generic retry handler. That can turn a visible availability failure into plausible data from the wrong market.

Use bounded backoff when retrying availability, and give the job a total time limit.

## Combine targeting with a sticky session

Add a session modifier when related requests need the same country-targeted exit:

```text
AUTH_KEY_country-DE_session-market42
```

The sticky-session contract remains the same: it can retain the exit for up to 60 minutes, and it fails if the associated Packeter disconnects.

## Store targeting as job configuration

Record the requested country alongside the collected result. Do not infer it later from a URL or from an approximate IP database response.

A minimal provenance record might include:

```json
{
  "requested_country": "US",
  "observed_country": "US",
  "collected_at": "2026-07-22T14:05:00Z",
  "source_url": "https://example.com/public-page"
}
```

Avoid placing proxy credentials or auth-key modifiers containing sensitive labels into stored provenance.