diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d5a9afea..8690b9e6 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -28,10 +28,14 @@ const { createProxyMiddleware } = require('http-proxy-middleware');
 
 const app = express();
 
-app.use('/api', createProxyMiddleware({ target: 'http://www.example.org', changeOrigin: true }));
+app.use(
+  '/api',
+  createProxyMiddleware({ target: 'http://www.example.org/secret', changeOrigin: true })
+);
 app.listen(3000);
 
-// http://localhost:3000/api/foo/bar -> http://www.example.org/api/foo/bar
+// proxy and change the base path from "/api" to "/secret"
+// http://localhost:3000/api/foo/bar -> http://www.example.org/secret/foo/bar
 ```
 
 ```typescript
@@ -42,9 +46,13 @@ import { createProxyMiddleware, Filter, Options, RequestHandler } from 'http-pro
 
 const app = express();
 
-app.use('/api', createProxyMiddleware({ target: 'http://www.example.org', changeOrigin: true }));
+app.use(
+  '/api',
+  createProxyMiddleware({ target: 'http://www.example.org/api', changeOrigin: true })
+);
 app.listen(3000);
 
+// proxy and keep the same base path "/api"
 // http://localhost:3000/api/foo/bar -> http://www.example.org/api/foo/bar
 ```
 
@@ -57,7 +65,7 @@ _All_ `http-proxy` [options](https://github.com/nodejitsu/node-http-proxy#option
 <!-- // spell-checker:disable -->
 
 - [Install](#install)
-- [Core concept](#core-concept)
+- [Basic usage](#basic-usage)
 - [Express Server Example](#express-server-example)
   - [app.use(path, proxy)](#appusepath-proxy)
 - [Options](#options)
@@ -87,7 +95,7 @@ _All_ `http-proxy` [options](https://github.com/nodejitsu/node-http-proxy#option
 npm install --save-dev http-proxy-middleware
 ```
 
-## Core concept
+## Basic usage
 
 Create and configure a proxy middleware with: `createProxyMiddleware(config)`.
 
@@ -95,16 +103,15 @@ Create and configure a proxy middleware with: `createProxyMiddleware(config)`.
 const { createProxyMiddleware } = require('http-proxy-middleware');
 
 const apiProxy = createProxyMiddleware({
-  pathFilter: '/api',
   target: 'http://www.example.org',
+  changeOrigin: true,
 });
 
 // 'apiProxy' is now ready to be used as middleware in a server.
 ```
 
-- **options.pathFilter**: Determine which requests should be proxied to the target host.
-  (more on [path filter](#path-filter))
 - **options.target**: target host to proxy to. _(protocol + host)_
+- **options.changeOrigin**: for virtual hosted sites
 
 - see full list of [`http-proxy-middleware` configuration options](#options)
 
@@ -117,28 +124,19 @@ An example with `express` server.
 const express = require('express');
 const { createProxyMiddleware } = require('http-proxy-middleware');
 
+const app = express();
+
 // proxy middleware options
 /** @type {import('http-proxy-middleware/dist/types').Options} */
 const options = {
-  target: 'http://www.example.org', // target host
+  target: 'http://www.example.org/api', // target host with the same base path
   changeOrigin: true, // needed for virtual hosted sites
-  ws: true, // proxy websockets
-  pathRewrite: {
-    '^/api/old-path': '/api/new-path', // rewrite path
-    '^/api/remove/path': '/path', // remove base path
-  },
-  router: {
-    // when request.headers.host == 'dev.localhost:3000',
-    // override target 'http://www.example.org' to 'http://localhost:8000'
-    'dev.localhost:3000': 'http://localhost:8000',
-  },
 };
 
 // create the proxy
 const exampleProxy = createProxyMiddleware(options);
 
 // mount `exampleProxy` in web server
-const app = express();
 app.use('/api', exampleProxy);
 app.listen(3000);
 ```
@@ -149,7 +147,13 @@ If you want to use the server's `app.use` `path` parameter to match requests.
 Use `pathFilter` option to further include/exclude requests which you want to proxy.
 
 ```javascript
-app.use('/api', createProxyMiddleware({ target: 'http://www.example.org', changeOrigin: true }));
+app.use(
+  createProxyMiddleware({
+    target: 'http://www.example.org/api',
+    changeOrigin: true,
+    pathFilter: '/api/proxy-only-this-path',
+  })
+);
 ```
 
 `app.use` documentation:
@@ -164,20 +168,11 @@ http-proxy-middleware options:
 
 ### `pathFilter` (string, []string, glob, []glob, function)
 
-Decide which requests should be proxied; In case you are not able to use the server's [`path` parameter](http://expressjs.com/en/4x/api.html#app.use) to mount the proxy or when you need more flexibility.
-
-[RFC 3986 `path`](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3986#section-3.3) is used in `pathFilter`.
-
-```ascii
-         foo://example.com:8042/over/there?name=ferret#nose
-         \_/   \______________/\_________/ \_________/ \__/
-          |           |            |            |        |
-       scheme     authority       path        query   fragment
-```
+Narrow down which requests should be proxied. The `path` used for filtering is the `request.url` pathname. In Express, this is the `path` relative to the mount-point of the proxy.
 
 - **path matching**
 
-  - `createProxyMiddleware({...})` - matches any path, all requests will be proxied.
+  - `createProxyMiddleware({...})` - matches any path, all requests will be proxied when `pathFilter` is not configured.
   - `createProxyMiddleware({ pathFilter: '/api', ...})` - matches paths starting with `/api`
 
 - **multiple path matching**
@@ -205,12 +200,13 @@ Decide which requests should be proxied; In case you are not able to use the ser
   /**
    * @return {Boolean}
    */
-  const filter = function (path, req) {
+  const pathFilter = function (path, req) {
     return path.match('^/api') && req.method === 'GET';
   };
 
-  const apiProxy = createProxyMiddleware(filter, {
+  const apiProxy = createProxyMiddleware({
     target: 'http://www.example.org',
+    pathFilter: pathFilter,
   });
   ```
 
diff --git a/examples/connect/index.js b/examples/connect/index.js
index 08555c31..5ab260fb 100644
--- a/examples/connect/index.js
+++ b/examples/connect/index.js
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ const { createProxyMiddleware } = require('../../dist'); // require('http-proxy-
  * Configure proxy middleware
  */
 const jsonPlaceholderProxy = createProxyMiddleware({
-  target: 'http://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com',
+  target: 'http://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/users',
   changeOrigin: true, // for vhosted sites, changes host header to match to target's host
   logLevel: 'debug',
 });
diff --git a/examples/express/index.js b/examples/express/index.js
index f6141c79..1070ce26 100644
--- a/examples/express/index.js
+++ b/examples/express/index.js
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ const { createProxyMiddleware } = require('../../dist'); // require('http-proxy-
  * Configure proxy middleware
  */
 const jsonPlaceholderProxy = createProxyMiddleware({
-  target: 'http://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com',
+  target: 'http://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/users',
   changeOrigin: true, // for vhosted sites, changes host header to match to target's host
   logLevel: 'debug',
 });
diff --git a/recipes/async-response.md b/recipes/async-response.md
index c134c374..60c2c682 100644
--- a/recipes/async-response.md
+++ b/recipes/async-response.md
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ Sometimes we need the ability to modify the response headers of the response of
 
 ```javascript
 const myProxy = createProxyMiddleware({
-  target: 'http://www.example.com',
+  target: 'http://www.example.com/api',
   changeOrigin: true,
   selfHandleResponse: true,
   onProxyReq: (proxyReq, req, res) => {
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ const entryMiddleware = async (req, res, next) => {
 };
 
 const myProxy = createProxyMiddleware({
-  target: 'http://www.example.com',
+  target: 'http://www.example.com/api',
   changeOrigin: true,
   selfHandleResponse: true,
   onProxyReq: (proxyReq, req, res) => {
diff --git a/recipes/basic.md b/recipes/basic.md
index d1695d2a..10357e17 100644
--- a/recipes/basic.md
+++ b/recipes/basic.md
@@ -6,27 +6,19 @@ This example will create a basic proxy middleware.
 const { createProxyMiddleware } = require('http-proxy-middleware');
 
 const apiProxy = createProxyMiddleware({
-  pathFilter: '/api',
   target: 'http://localhost:3000',
+  changeOrigin: true,
 });
 ```
 
 ## Alternative configuration
 
-The proxy behavior of the following examples are **exactly** the same; Just different ways to configure it.
-
-```javascript
-app.use(createProxyMiddleware('/api', { target: 'http://localhost:3000', changeOrigin: true }));
-```
-
-```javascript
-app.use(createProxyMiddleware('http://localhost:3000/api', { changeOrigin: true }));
-```
-
 ```javascript
-app.use('/api', createProxyMiddleware('http://localhost:3000', { changeOrigin: true }));
+app.use('/api', createProxyMiddleware({ target: 'http://localhost:3000/api', changeOrigin: true }));
 ```
 
 ```javascript
-app.use('/api', createProxyMiddleware({ target: 'http://localhost:3000', changeOrigin: true }));
+app.use(
+  createProxyMiddleware({ target: 'http://localhost:3000', changeOrigin: true, pathFilter: '/api' })
+);
 ```
diff --git a/recipes/servers.md b/recipes/servers.md
index 962ce354..9664e3bc 100644
--- a/recipes/servers.md
+++ b/recipes/servers.md
@@ -26,14 +26,14 @@ https://github.com/expressjs/express
 const express = require('express');
 const { createProxyMiddleware } = require('http-proxy-middleware');
 
-const apiProxy = createProxyMiddleware('/api', {
-  target: 'http://www.example.org',
+const apiProxy = createProxyMiddleware({
+  target: 'http://www.example.org/api',
   changeOrigin: true, // for vhosted sites
 });
 
 const app = express();
 
-app.use(apiProxy);
+app.use('/api', apiProxy);
 app.listen(3000);
 ```
 
@@ -48,13 +48,13 @@ const http = require('http');
 const connect = require('connect');
 const { createProxyMiddleware } = require('http-proxy-middleware');
 
-const apiProxy = createProxyMiddleware('/api', {
-  target: 'http://www.example.org',
+const apiProxy = createProxyMiddleware({
+  target: 'http://www.example.org/api',
   changeOrigin: true, // for vhosted sites
 });
 
 const app = connect();
-app.use(apiProxy);
+app.use('/api', apiProxy);
 
 http.createServer(app).listen(3000);
 ```
@@ -88,6 +88,12 @@ export default function handler(req: NextApiRequest, res: NextApiResponse) {
   });
 }
 
+export const config = {
+  api: {
+    externalResolver: true,
+  },
+};
+
 // curl http://localhost:3000/api/users
 ```
 
@@ -101,9 +107,10 @@ https://github.com/BrowserSync/browser-sync
 const browserSync = require('browser-sync').create();
 const { createProxyMiddleware } = require('http-proxy-middleware');
 
-const apiProxy = createProxyMiddleware('/api', {
+const apiProxy = createProxyMiddleware({
   target: 'http://www.example.org',
   changeOrigin: true, // for vhosted sites
+  pathFilter: '/api',
 });
 
 browserSync.init({
@@ -226,9 +233,10 @@ As a `function`:
 ```javascript
 const { createProxyMiddleware } = require('http-proxy-middleware');
 
-const apiProxy = createProxyMiddleware('/api', {
+const apiProxy = createProxyMiddleware({
   target: 'http://www.example.org',
   changeOrigin: true, // for vhosted sites
+  pathFilter: '/api',
 });
 
 grunt.initConfig({
@@ -262,9 +270,10 @@ gulp.task('connect', function () {
   connect.server({
     root: ['./app'],
     middleware: function (connect, opt) {
-      const apiProxy = createProxyMiddleware('/api', {
+      const apiProxy = createProxyMiddleware({
         target: 'http://www.example.org',
         changeOrigin: true, // for vhosted sites
+        pathFilter: '/api',
       });
 
       return [apiProxy];
@@ -284,9 +293,10 @@ https://github.com/BrowserSync/grunt-browser-sync
 ```javascript
 const { createProxyMiddleware } = require('http-proxy-middleware');
 
-const apiProxy = createProxyMiddleware('/api', {
+const apiProxy = createProxyMiddleware({
   target: 'http://www.example.org',
   changeOrigin: true, // for vhosted sites
+  pathFilter: '/api',
 });
 
 grunt.initConfig({
diff --git a/src/http-proxy-middleware.ts b/src/http-proxy-middleware.ts
index 2a40148f..061bec46 100644
--- a/src/http-proxy-middleware.ts
+++ b/src/http-proxy-middleware.ts
@@ -100,8 +100,7 @@ export class HttpProxyMiddleware {
    * Determine whether request should be proxied.
    */
   private shouldProxy = (pathFilter: Filter, req: Request): boolean => {
-    const path = (req as Request<express.Request>).originalUrl || req.url;
-    return matchPathFilter(pathFilter, path, req);
+    return matchPathFilter(pathFilter, req.url, req);
   };
 
   /**
@@ -113,10 +112,6 @@ export class HttpProxyMiddleware {
    * @return {Object} proxy options
    */
   private prepareProxyRequest = async (req: Request) => {
-    // https://github.com/chimurai/http-proxy-middleware/issues/17
-    // https://github.com/chimurai/http-proxy-middleware/issues/94
-    req.url = (req as Request<express.Request>).originalUrl || req.url;
-
     // store uri before it gets rewritten for logging
     const originalPath = req.url;
     const newProxyOptions = Object.assign({}, this.proxyOptions);
diff --git a/src/types.ts b/src/types.ts
index ad4133c9..523abb74 100644
--- a/src/types.ts
+++ b/src/types.ts
@@ -22,6 +22,11 @@ export interface RequestHandler {
 export type Filter = string | string[] | ((pathname: string, req: Request) => boolean);
 
 export interface Options extends httpProxy.ServerOptions {
+  /**
+   * Narrow down requests to proxy or not.
+   * Filter on {@link http.IncomingMessage.url `pathname`} which is relative to the proxy's "mounting" point in the server.
+   * Or use the {@link http.IncomingMessage `req`}  object for more complex filtering.
+   */
   pathFilter?: Filter;
   pathRewrite?:
     | { [regexp: string]: string }
diff --git a/test/e2e/http-proxy-middleware.spec.ts b/test/e2e/http-proxy-middleware.spec.ts
index 2383ca06..6437746e 100644
--- a/test/e2e/http-proxy-middleware.spec.ts
+++ b/test/e2e/http-proxy-middleware.spec.ts
@@ -18,10 +18,9 @@ describe('E2E http-proxy-middleware', () => {
 
   describe('pathFilter matching', () => {
     describe('do not proxy', () => {
-      const mockReq: Request<express.Request> = {
+      const mockReq: Request = {
         url: '/foo/bar',
-        originalUrl: '/foo/bar',
-      } as Request<express.Request>;
+      } as Request;
       const mockRes: Response = {} as Response;
       const mockNext: express.NextFunction = jest.fn();
 
@@ -410,7 +409,7 @@ describe('E2E http-proxy-middleware', () => {
         agent = request(
           createAppWithPath(
             '/api',
-            createProxyMiddleware({ target: `http://localhost:${mockTargetServer.port}` })
+            createProxyMiddleware({ target: `http://localhost:${mockTargetServer.port}/api` })
           )
         );
       });