diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 47585b1..88795dd 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -422,12 +422,36 @@ version = "0.1.5"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "d9c4f5dac5e15c24eb999c26181a6ca40b39fe946cbe4c263c7209467bc83af2"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "form_urlencoded"
+version = "1.2.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "cb4cb245038516f5f85277875cdaa4f7d2c9a0fa0468de06ed190163b1581fcf"
+dependencies = [
+ "percent-encoding",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "fs_extra"
 version = "1.3.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "42703706b716c37f96a77aea830392ad231f44c9e9a67872fa5548707e11b11c"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "futures"
+version = "0.3.32"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "8b147ee9d1f6d097cef9ce628cd2ee62288d963e16fb287bd9286455b241382d"
+dependencies = [
+ "futures-channel",
+ "futures-core",
+ "futures-executor",
+ "futures-io",
+ "futures-sink",
+ "futures-task",
+ "futures-util",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "futures-channel"
 version = "0.3.32"
@@ -435,6 +459,7 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "07bbe89c50d7a535e539b8c17bc0b49bdb77747034daa8087407d655f3f7cc1d"
 dependencies = [
  "futures-core",
+ "futures-sink",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -443,6 +468,34 @@ version = "0.3.32"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "7e3450815272ef58cec6d564423f6e755e25379b217b0bc688e295ba24df6b1d"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "futures-executor"
+version = "0.3.32"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "baf29c38818342a3b26b5b923639e7b1f4a61fc5e76102d4b1981c6dc7a7579d"
+dependencies = [
+ "futures-core",
+ "futures-task",
+ "futures-util",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "futures-io"
+version = "0.3.32"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "cecba35d7ad927e23624b22ad55235f2239cfa44fd10428eecbeba6d6a717718"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "futures-macro"
+version = "0.3.32"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "e835b70203e41293343137df5c0664546da5745f82ec9b84d40be8336958447b"
+dependencies = [
+ "proc-macro2",
+ "quote",
+ "syn",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "futures-sink"
 version = "0.3.32"
@@ -461,9 +514,15 @@ version = "0.3.32"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "389ca41296e6190b48053de0321d02a77f32f8a5d2461dd38762c0593805c6d6"
 dependencies = [
+ "futures-channel",
  "futures-core",
+ "futures-io",
+ "futures-macro",
+ "futures-sink",
  "futures-task",
+ "memchr",
  "pin-project-lite",
+ "slab",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -651,12 +710,115 @@ dependencies = [
  "windows-registry",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "icu_collections"
+version = "2.2.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "2984d1cd16c883d7935b9e07e44071dca8d917fd52ecc02c04d5fa0b5a3f191c"
+dependencies = [
+ "displaydoc",
+ "potential_utf",
+ "utf8_iter",
+ "yoke",
+ "zerofrom",
+ "zerovec",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "icu_locale_core"
+version = "2.2.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "92219b62b3e2b4d88ac5119f8904c10f8f61bf7e95b640d25ba3075e6cac2c29"
+dependencies = [
+ "displaydoc",
+ "litemap",
+ "tinystr",
+ "writeable",
+ "zerovec",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "icu_normalizer"
+version = "2.2.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "c56e5ee99d6e3d33bd91c5d85458b6005a22140021cc324cea84dd0e72cff3b4"
+dependencies = [
+ "icu_collections",
+ "icu_normalizer_data",
+ "icu_properties",
+ "icu_provider",
+ "smallvec",
+ "zerovec",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "icu_normalizer_data"
+version = "2.2.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "da3be0ae77ea334f4da67c12f149704f19f81d1adf7c51cf482943e84a2bad38"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "icu_properties"
+version = "2.2.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "bee3b67d0ea5c2cca5003417989af8996f8604e34fb9ddf96208a033901e70de"
+dependencies = [
+ "icu_collections",
+ "icu_locale_core",
+ "icu_properties_data",
+ "icu_provider",
+ "zerotrie",
+ "zerovec",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "icu_properties_data"
+version = "2.2.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "8e2bbb201e0c04f7b4b3e14382af113e17ba4f63e2c9d2ee626b720cbce54a14"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "icu_provider"
+version = "2.2.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "139c4cf31c8b5f33d7e199446eff9c1e02decfc2f0eec2c8d71f65befa45b421"
+dependencies = [
+ "displaydoc",
+ "icu_locale_core",
+ "writeable",
+ "yoke",
+ "zerofrom",
+ "zerotrie",
+ "zerovec",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "id-arena"
 version = "2.3.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "3d3067d79b975e8844ca9eb072e16b31c3c1c36928edf9c6789548c524d0d954"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "idna"
+version = "1.1.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "3b0875f23caa03898994f6ddc501886a45c7d3d62d04d2d90788d47be1b1e4de"
+dependencies = [
+ "idna_adapter",
+ "smallvec",
+ "utf8_iter",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "idna_adapter"
+version = "1.2.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "cb68373c0d6620ef8105e855e7745e18b0d00d3bdb07fb532e434244cdb9a714"
+dependencies = [
+ "icu_normalizer",
+ "icu_properties",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "indexmap"
 version = "2.14.0"
@@ -721,6 +883,12 @@ version = "0.12.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "32a66949e030da00e8c7d4434b251670a91556f4144941d37452769c25d58a53"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "litemap"
+version = "0.8.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "92daf443525c4cce67b150400bc2316076100ce0b3686209eb8cf3c31612e6f0"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "lock_api"
 version = "0.4.14"
@@ -896,6 +1064,15 @@ version = "0.2.17"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "a89322df9ebe1c1578d689c92318e070967d1042b512afbe49518723f4e6d5cd"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "potential_utf"
+version = "0.1.5"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "0103b1cef7ec0cf76490e969665504990193874ea05c85ff9bab8b911d0a0564"
+dependencies = [
+ "zerovec",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "powerfmt"
 version = "0.2.0"
@@ -1109,7 +1286,9 @@ version = "0.1.0"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "base64",
+ "bytes",
  "clap",
+ "futures",
  "hex",
  "http-body-util",
  "hyper",
@@ -1127,9 +1306,11 @@ dependencies = [
  "time",
  "tokio",
  "tokio-rustls",
+ "tokio-util",
  "tower-service",
  "tracing",
  "tracing-subscriber",
+ "url",
  "x509-parser 0.16.0",
 ]
 
@@ -1246,6 +1427,12 @@ dependencies = [
  "windows-sys 0.61.2",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "stable_deref_trait"
+version = "1.2.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "6ce2be8dc25455e1f91df71bfa12ad37d7af1092ae736f3a6cd0e37bc7810596"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "strsim"
 version = "0.11.1"
@@ -1394,6 +1581,16 @@ dependencies = [
  "time-core",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "tinystr"
+version = "0.8.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "c8323304221c2a851516f22236c5722a72eaa19749016521d6dff0824447d96d"
+dependencies = [
+ "displaydoc",
+ "zerovec",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "tokio"
 version = "1.52.3"
@@ -1548,6 +1745,24 @@ version = "0.9.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "8ecb6da28b8a351d773b68d5825ac39017e680750f980f3a1a85cd8dd28a47c1"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "url"
+version = "2.5.8"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "ff67a8a4397373c3ef660812acab3268222035010ab8680ec4215f38ba3d0eed"
+dependencies = [
+ "form_urlencoded",
+ "idna",
+ "percent-encoding",
+ "serde",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "utf8_iter"
+version = "1.0.4"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "b6c140620e7ffbb22c2dee59cafe6084a59b5ffc27a8859a5f0d494b5d52b6be"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "utf8parse"
 version = "0.2.2"
@@ -1844,6 +2059,12 @@ dependencies = [
  "wasmparser",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "writeable"
+version = "0.6.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "1ffae5123b2d3fc086436f8834ae3ab053a283cfac8fe0a0b8eaae044768a4c4"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "x509-parser"
 version = "0.16.0"
@@ -1889,6 +2110,29 @@ dependencies = [
  "time",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "yoke"
+version = "0.8.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "709fe23a0424b6a435d82152b1bd3fdfb0833487d5fa90d05d42762a9891fef5"
+dependencies = [
+ "stable_deref_trait",
+ "yoke-derive",
+ "zerofrom",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "yoke-derive"
+version = "0.8.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "de844c262c8848816172cef550288e7dc6c7b7814b4ee56b3e1553f275f1858e"
+dependencies = [
+ "proc-macro2",
+ "quote",
+ "syn",
+ "synstructure",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "zerocopy"
 version = "0.8.50"
@@ -1909,12 +2153,66 @@ dependencies = [
  "syn",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "zerofrom"
+version = "0.1.8"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "0ec05a11813ea801ff6d75110ad09cd0824ddba17dfe17128ea0d5f68e6c5272"
+dependencies = [
+ "zerofrom-derive",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "zerofrom-derive"
+version = "0.1.7"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "11532158c46691caf0f2593ea8358fed6bbf68a0315e80aae9bd41fbade684a1"
+dependencies = [
+ "proc-macro2",
+ "quote",
+ "syn",
+ "synstructure",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "zeroize"
 version = "1.8.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "b97154e67e32c85465826e8bcc1c59429aaaf107c1e4a9e53c8d8ccd5eff88d0"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "zerotrie"
+version = "0.2.4"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "0f9152d31db0792fa83f70fb2f83148effb5c1f5b8c7686c3459e361d9bc20bf"
+dependencies = [
+ "displaydoc",
+ "yoke",
+ "zerofrom",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "zerovec"
+version = "0.11.6"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "90f911cbc359ab6af17377d242225f4d75119aec87ea711a880987b18cd7b239"
+dependencies = [
+ "yoke",
+ "zerofrom",
+ "zerovec-derive",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "zerovec-derive"
+version = "0.11.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "625dc425cab0dca6dc3c3319506e6593dcb08a9f387ea3b284dbd52a92c40555"
+dependencies = [
+ "proc-macro2",
+ "quote",
+ "syn",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "zmij"
 version = "1.0.21"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 6c6c35d..6e3df5a 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -8,13 +8,14 @@ license = "MIT"
 [dependencies]
 clap = { version = "4", features = ["derive"] }
 tokio = { version = "1", features = ["full"] }
+tokio-util = { version = "0.7", features = ["io"] }
 tracing = "0.1"
 tracing-subscriber = { version = "0.3", features = ["env-filter"] }
 anyhow = "1"
 thiserror = "1"
 serde = { version = "1", features = ["derive"] }
 serde_json = "1"
-rcgen = "0.14"
+rcgen = { version = "0.14", features = ["crypto"] }
 x509-parser = "0.16"
 time = { version = "0.3", features = ["formatting"] }
 rand = "0.8"
@@ -29,6 +30,9 @@ http-body-util = "0.1"
 tower-service = "0.3"
 base64 = "0.22"
 sha2 = "0.10"
+bytes = "1"
+futures = "0.3"
+url = "2"
 
 [dev-dependencies]
 tempfile = "3"
diff --git a/src/cli.rs b/src/cli.rs
index 409998c..8dda01f 100644
--- a/src/cli.rs
+++ b/src/cli.rs
@@ -41,17 +41,21 @@ pub enum Commands {
         auth_token_file: Option<String>,
     },
 
-    /// Connect to the HTTPS tunnel listener and expose a local SOCKS5 proxy
+    /// Connect to the HTTPS tunnel listener
     ///
-    /// Establishes an mTLS connection to the listener, authenticates,
-    /// then exposes a local SOCKS5 proxy for lab/dev traffic forwarding.
+    /// Establishes an mTLS connection to the listener and authenticates
+    /// via the /tunnel HTTPS endpoint.
+    ///
+    /// NOTE: SOCKS5 proxy is scheduled for the SOCKS milestone.
+    /// The --socks address is accepted for configuration continuity
+    /// but is not yet functional.
     #[command(trailing_var_arg = true)]
     Connect {
         /// Address of the HTTPS tunnel listener to connect to
         #[arg(long, default_value = "127.0.0.1:4180", value_name = "ADDR:PORT")]
         target: String,
 
-        /// Address to bind the local SOCKS5 proxy listener
+        /// Address to bind the local SOCKS5 proxy listener (not yet implemented — scheduled for SOCKS milestone)
         #[arg(long, default_value = "127.0.0.1:1180", value_name = "ADDR:PORT")]
         socks: String,