diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/proxy/proxy_server.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/proxy/proxy_server.go
index db797fa0c54..2b21bb4c9dd 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/proxy/proxy_server.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/proxy/proxy_server.go
@@ -174,6 +174,22 @@ func makeUpgradeTransport(config *rest.Config, keepalive time.Duration) (proxy.U
 // NewServer creates and installs a new Server.
 // 'filter', if non-nil, protects requests to the api only.
 func NewServer(filebase string, apiProxyPrefix string, staticPrefix string, filter *FilterServer, cfg *rest.Config, keepalive time.Duration) (*Server, error) {
+	proxyHandler, err := NewProxyHandler(apiProxyPrefix, filter, cfg, keepalive)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	mux := http.NewServeMux()
+	mux.Handle(apiProxyPrefix, proxyHandler)
+	if filebase != "" {
+		// Require user to explicitly request this behavior rather than
+		// serving their working directory by default.
+		mux.Handle(staticPrefix, newFileHandler(staticPrefix, filebase))
+	}
+	return &Server{handler: mux}, nil
+}
+
+// NewProxyHandler creates an api proxy handler for the cluster
+func NewProxyHandler(apiProxyPrefix string, filter *FilterServer, cfg *rest.Config, keepalive time.Duration) (http.Handler, error) {
 	host := cfg.Host
 	if !strings.HasSuffix(host, "/") {
 		host = host + "/"
@@ -204,15 +220,7 @@ func NewServer(filebase string, apiProxyPrefix string, staticPrefix string, filt
 	if !strings.HasPrefix(apiProxyPrefix, "/api") {
 		proxyServer = stripLeaveSlash(apiProxyPrefix, proxyServer)
 	}
-
-	mux := http.NewServeMux()
-	mux.Handle(apiProxyPrefix, proxyServer)
-	if filebase != "" {
-		// Require user to explicitly request this behavior rather than
-		// serving their working directory by default.
-		mux.Handle(staticPrefix, newFileHandler(staticPrefix, filebase))
-	}
-	return &Server{handler: mux}, nil
+	return proxyServer, nil
 }
 
 // Listen is a simple wrapper around net.Listen.