## TL;DR

Install @grpc/grpc-js@^1.0 (which includes the proxy fix) and pass it explicitly to the client: const grpc = require('@grpc/grpc-js'); const client = new SecretManagerServiceClient({ grpc }). The proxy handling bug was in the underlying grpc-js library.

## Steps

1. The proxy handling bug was in the underlying grpc-js library. Install @grpc/grpc-js@^1.0 (which includes the proxy fix) and pass it explicitly to the client: const grpc = require('@grpc/grpc-js'); const client = new SecretManagerServiceClient({ grpc }). Reporters confirmed this traverses the proxy correctly.

## When to use

You are seeing this: The @google-cloud/secret-manager Node.js client fails silently when https_proxy/http_proxy (or the uppercase variants) are set, requests through a proxy server never complete and no useful error is surfaced. Use this skill when you run into "Google Secret Manager nodejs client fails silently behind https_proxy http_proxy".

## When not to use

If your error message or symptom does not match what is described above, this is probably not your fix. Search for your exact error text instead of forcing this one to fit.

## Versions

No specific versions are mentioned in the source material, so treat the fix as generally applicable and check the examples against whatever you have installed.

## Why this happens

The original report does not dig into a root cause. It documents the symptom and the fix that resolved it.