localtunnel
localtunnel exposes your localhost to the world for easy testing and sharing! No need to mess with DNS or deploy just to have others test out your changes.
Great for working with browser testing tools like browserling or external api callback services like twilio which require a public url for callbacks.
installation
npm install -g localtunnel
This will install the localtunnel module globally and add the 'lt' client cli tool to your PATH.
use
Assuming your local server is running on port 8000, just use the lt
command to start the tunnel.
lt --port 8000
Thats it! It will connect to the tunnel server, setup the tunnel, and tell you what url to use for your testing. This url will remain active for the duration of your session; so feel free to share it with others for happy fun time!
You can restart your local server all you want, lt
is smart enough to detect this and reconnect once it is back.
arguments
Below are some common arguments. See lt --help
for additional arguments
--subdomain
request a named subdomain on the localtunnel server (default is random characters)--local-host
proxy to a hostname other than localhost
API
The localtunnel client is also usable through an API (for test integration, automation, etc)
localtunnel(port [,opts], fn)
Creates a new localtunnel to the specified local port
. fn
will be called once you have been assigned a public localtunnel url. opts
can be used to request a specific subdomain
.
var localtunnel = require('localtunnel');
var tunnel = localtunnel(port, function(err, tunnel) {
if (err) ...
// the assigned public url for your tunnel
// i.e. https://abcdefgjhij.localtunnel.me
tunnel.url;
});
tunnel.on('close', function() {
// tunnels are closed
});
opts
subdomain
A string value requesting a specific subdomain on the proxy server. Note You may not actually receive this name depending on availablily.local_host
Proxy to this hostname instead oflocalhost
. This will also cause theHost
header to be re-written to this value in proxied requests.
Tunnel
The tunnel
instance returned to your callback emits the following events
event | args | description |
---|---|---|
error | err | fires when an error happens on the tunnel |
close | fires when the tunnel has closed |
The tunnel
instance has the following methods
method | args | description |
---|---|---|
close | close the tunnel |
other clients
Clients in other languages
go gotunnelme
server
See defunctzombie/localtunnel-server for details on the server that powers localtunnel.
License
MIT