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.
npm install -g localtunnel
This will install the localtunnel module globally and add the 'lt' client cli tool to your PATH.
Super Easy! 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.
The localtunnel client is also usable through an API (for test integration, automation, etc)
var localtunnel = require('localtunnel');
var client = localtunnel.connect({
// the localtunnel server
host: 'http://localtunnel.me',
// your local application port
port: 12345
});
// when your are assigned a url
client.on('url', function(url) {
// you can now make http requests to the url
// they will be proxied to your local server on port [12345]
});
client.on('error', function(err) {
// uh oh!
});See shtylman/localtunnel-server for details on the server that powers localtunnel.
MIT