Apply Proxy settings to featured image downloads during import

Impact: 60 · Confidence: 95 · Complexity: 50

Description

Problem: When a user configures a Proxy in Feedzy Settings to bypass IP blocks, the proxy is applied to the feed XML fetch but not to the featured image downloads (e.g., in try_save_featured_image()). This causes image sideloading to fail with 403 Forbidden errors because the web server's direct IP is still being blocked by the media host, rendering the proxy feature incomplete for full imports.

Desired Behavior: Image download requests initiated during post imports should use the global Proxy configuration if one is set, ensuring that all outbound requests required to complete an import behave consistently and bypass the same network restrictions.

Acceptance Criteria:

• Modify the logic in try_save_featured_image() (or the underlying HTTP request wrapping it) to respect the Feedzy Proxy settings.
• Image download requests route successfully through the configured proxy server.
• Gracefully handle cases where the proxy may not support large file streams or times out during media downloads.

Customer Context

The customer is attempting to import posts from a feed source (daypop.itmwpb.com) that blocks their WordPress server's IP. They successfully routed the XML feed fetch through Feedzy's proxy feature, but the featured images (hosted on a Cloudfront CDN) are failing to download to the media library with 'Forbidden' errors because the image sideloading process is bypassing the proxy.

Root Cause Analysis

The root cause is a gap in how the proxy feature is implemented: it applies to the initial request fetching the RSS XML data, but it does not hook into WordPress's media sideloading processes (or Feedzy's specific image download logic). Consequently, a customer trying to bypass an IP block or geographical restriction is only partially successful; the text content imports, but the images fail because the server attempts to download them directly.

Reasoning

The customer is using the Proxy feature to successfully fetch an RSS feed from a source that otherwise blocks their server's IP. However, when the plugin attempts to download the featured images to the WordPress media library, it uses the server's direct connection rather than routing through the proxy. This causes the image downloads to fail with a 403 Forbidden error. Expanding the proxy integration to cover media sideloading requests is a clear enhancement necessary to fully support importing from restricted sources.

Source: HelpScout #3363236070
Generated by feature-request-triage workflow (ID: feature-request-triage_6a393ff6f23854.70187958)

Start with try_save_featured_image() and the existing Feedzy Proxy settings and XML-fetch request path. Trace how WordPress media sideloading performs the featured image download, then verify that configured proxy requests work for image imports, including timeout and large-stream cases. Done means imported featured images use the proxy when configured without breaking direct downloads.