expose-localhost

Expose your localhost to the Internet with a single command.

A tiny, cross-platform CLI written in Go — a friendly wrapper around cloudflared that gives you a public *.trycloudflare.com URL for any local service. No signup, no config, no Cloudflare account required.

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Features

• Zero-config — enter a host & port, hit Enter, get a public URL.
• Beautiful TUI — interactive form powered by huh, styled result box with lipgloss, and a scroll-able log viewer.
• Single binary — one file, no Python, Node, or Docker runtime needed.
• Auto-downloads cloudflared — on first run it fetches the right binary for your OS/arch into a cache directory; subsequent runs start instantly.
• Cross-platform — Linux (amd64 / 386 / arm64 / arm), macOS (amd64 / arm64), Windows (amd64 / 386).
• Shorthand mode — pass -h and -p to skip the form; perfect for scripts.
• One-key URL copy — press c to copy the public URL to your clipboard.
• Realtime log streaming — press tab to toggle between the URL view and the live log view.

Quick demo

$ expose-localhost
  expose-localhost  ·  cloudflared tunnel

? Local host  127.0.0.1
? Local port  3000
? Initial view  URL — show the public tunnel url

╭────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│  ✓ tunnel ready                            │
│                                            │
│  public   https://foo-bar-baz.trycloudflare.com
│  forward  127.0.0.1:3000                   │
╰────────────────────────────────────────────╯

  tab log   ·   c copy url   ·   q quit

Installation

Option 1 — Download a prebuilt release

Grab the binary for your OS from the dist/ folder (or the Releases page if published).

Linux / macOS

# Linux amd64 (example)
curl -L -o expose-localhost \
  https://github.com/mwarevn/expose-localhost/releases/latest/download/expose-localhost-linux-amd64

chmod +x expose-localhost
sudo mv expose-localhost /usr/local/bin/

# run it
expose-localhost

Available targets:

OS	Arch	File
Linux	amd64	expose-localhost-linux-amd64
Linux	386	expose-localhost-linux-386
Linux	arm64	expose-localhost-linux-arm64
Linux	arm	expose-localhost-linux-arm
macOS	amd64	expose-localhost-darwin-amd64
macOS	arm64	expose-localhost-darwin-arm64
Windows	amd64	expose-localhost-windows-amd64.exe
Windows	386	expose-localhost-windows-386.exe

Windows (PowerShell)

Invoke-WebRequest `
  -Uri https://github.com/mwarevn/expose-localhost/releases/latest/download/expose-localhost-windows-amd64.exe `
  -OutFile expose-localhost.exe

.\expose-localhost.exe

Note: On first launch, the program downloads cloudflared (~30 MB) from Cloudflare's GitHub Releases into a cache directory ($XDG_CACHE_HOME/expose-localhost/ on Linux, ~/Library/Caches/expose-localhost/ on macOS, %LocalAppData%\expose-localhost\ on Windows). Make sure you have Internet access the first time you run it.

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Option 2 — Build from source

Requirements: Go 1.24 or newer.

# clone
git clone https://github.com/mwarevn/expose-localhost.git
cd expose-localhost

# pull dependencies
go mod tidy

# run directly (no build step)
go run .

# or build a local binary
go build -o expose-localhost .
./expose-localhost

Manual cross-compile

# Linux amd64
GOOS=linux   GOARCH=amd64 go build -o dist/expose-localhost-linux-amd64

# macOS arm64 (Apple Silicon)
GOOS=darwin  GOARCH=arm64 go build -o dist/expose-localhost-darwin-arm64

# Windows amd64
GOOS=windows GOARCH=amd64 go build -o dist/expose-localhost-windows-amd64.exe

Build every target at once

The included build.sh produces binaries for all 8 platforms into dist/:

./build.sh

Example output:

→ building dist/expose-localhost-linux-amd64          (6.8M)
→ building dist/expose-localhost-darwin-arm64         (6.6M)
→ building dist/expose-localhost-windows-amd64.exe    (7.0M)
...
✓ built 8 binaries in dist/

Usage

Interactive mode (default)

Run with no flags and the program will prompt for host, port, and initial view:

expose-localhost

Once the tunnel is up you'll see the public URL inside a bordered box.

TUI keybindings:

Key	Action
tab / l	Toggle between URL view and Log view
c / y	Copy the public URL to the clipboard
↑ ↓	Scroll the log up/down (Log view)
pgup/pgdn	Page through the log
g / G	Jump to the top / bottom of the log
q / esc	Quit (or press Ctrl+C at any time)

Shorthand (non-interactive) mode

Pass both -h and -p and the form is skipped — the tunnel starts immediately. Handy for scripts or systemd units:

# basic
expose-localhost -h 127.0.0.1 -p 3000

# long flags work too
expose-localhost --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8080

# also stream cloudflared logs to stdout
expose-localhost -h 127.0.0.1 -p 3000 --log

Flags

Flag	Default	Description
-h, --host	127.0.0.1	Host or IP to expose
-p, --port	8080	Local port to forward (1 – 65535)
--log	false	Stream cloudflared logs to stdout (shorthand mode)

Real-world examples

# expose a React dev server
npm run dev &
expose-localhost -h 127.0.0.1 -p 3000

# expose an API backend
expose-localhost -h 0.0.0.0 -p 8000

# expose PHP's built-in server
php -S 127.0.0.1:9000 &
expose-localhost -p 9000

# stop the tunnel: Ctrl+C

How it works

┌─────────────┐      stdin form       ┌──────────────────┐
│    User     │─────────────────────▶│  expose-localhost │
└─────────────┘                       │   (Go binary)    │
                                      └──────┬───────────┘
                                             │ spawn
                                             ▼
                                      ┌──────────────────┐
                                      │   cloudflared    │
                                      │  tunnel --url    │
                                      └──────┬───────────┘
                                             │ pipe stdout/stderr
                                             ▼
                                      ┌──────────────────┐
                                      │  Scrape regex    │
                                      │ *.trycloudflare  │
                                      └──────┬───────────┘
                                             ▼
                                        🌐 Public URL

1. First run: download the right cloudflared binary for your OS/arch from Cloudflare's GitHub Releases.
2. Spawn cloudflared tunnel --url <host>:<port> as a child process.
3. Pipe the child's stdout & stderr, grep for https://*.trycloudflare.com with a regex.
4. Render the URL in a styled box; switch to a full TUI for log streaming and clipboard copy.
5. On Ctrl+C or TUI quit, kill the child process and clean up.

Project layout

expose-localhost/
├── main.go          # entrypoint, flag parsing, input form, TUI orchestration
├── cloudflared.go   # cloudflared lifecycle: download, spawn, URL scraping
├── download.go      # HTTP download with progress reporting
├── tui.go           # Bubble Tea model — URL view, Log view, keybindings
├── build.sh         # cross-compile all 8 targets into dist/
├── go.mod / go.sum  # Go dependencies
└── dist/            # prebuilt binaries (git-ignored)

System requirements

• Runtime: nothing — the binary is statically linked, no dynamic libc.
• Build from source: Go 1.24+.
• Network: Internet access on first run (to fetch cloudflared) and while the tunnel is active.

FAQ

Is the URL stable across runs? No. Cloudflare hands out a fresh random *.trycloudflare.com subdomain every run. If you need a stable URL, use a Named Tunnel with a Cloudflare account (outside the scope of this tool).

Any bandwidth / traffic limits? Trycloudflare is Cloudflare's free tier and may be rate-limited if abused. Not recommended for production workloads.

Can I skip the cloudflared download? Yes. If cloudflared already exists at os.UserCacheDir()/expose-localhost/cloudflared, the program uses it instead of re-downloading.

Does the tool kill other cloudflared processes on my machine? No. It only manages the child process it spawned itself — your other cloudflared instances are left alone.

License

MIT — see LICENSE if provided.

Acknowledgements

• Cloudflare — cloudflared powers the tunnel under the hood.
• Charm — huh, bubbletea, and lipgloss for the beautiful TUI.