pipenet

Expose your local server to the public internet instantly

Installation

npm install pipenet
# or
pnpm add pipenet

CLI Usage

# Expose local port 3000 to the internet
npx pipenet --port 3000

# Request a specific subdomain
npx pipenet --port 3000 --subdomain myapp

# Use a custom tunnel server
npx pipenet --port 3000 --host https://your-tunnel-server.com

API

The pipenet client is also usable through an API (for test integration, automation, etc)

pipenet(port [,options][,callback])

Creates a new pipenet tunnel to the specified local port. Will return a Promise that resolves once you have been assigned a public tunnel url. options can be used to request a specific subdomain. A callback function can be passed, in which case it won't return a Promise. This exists for backwards compatibility with the old Node-style callback API. You may also pass a single options object with port as a property.

import pipenet from 'pipenet';

const tunnel = await pipenet({
  port: 3000,
  host: 'https://pipenet.dev'
});

// the assigned public url for your tunnel
// i.e. https://abcdefgjhij.pipenet.dev
tunnel.url;

tunnel.on('close', () => {
  // tunnels are closed
});

options

• port (number) [required] The local port number to expose through pipenet.
• host (string) URL for the upstream proxy server. Defaults to https://pipenet.dev.
• subdomain (string) Request a specific subdomain on the proxy server. Note You may not actually receive this name depending on availability.
• local_host (string) Proxy to this hostname instead of localhost. This will also cause the Host header to be re-written to this value in proxied requests.
• local_https (boolean) Enable tunneling to local HTTPS server.
• local_cert (string) Path to certificate PEM file for local HTTPS server.
• local_key (string) Path to certificate key file for local HTTPS server.
• local_ca (string) Path to certificate authority file for self-signed certificates.
• allow_invalid_cert (boolean) Disable certificate checks for your local HTTPS server (ignore cert/key/ca options).

Refer to tls.createSecureContext for details on the certificate options.

Tunnel

The tunnel instance returned to your callback emits the following events

The tunnel instance has the following methods

Server

This package includes both the client and server components. You can run your own pipenet server.

Running the Server

# Using the CLI
npx pipenet server --port 3000

# Or programmatically

import { createServer } from 'pipenet/server';

const server = createServer({
  domain: 'tunnel.example.com',  // Optional: custom domain
  secure: false,                  // Optional: require HTTPS
  landing: 'https://example.com', // Optional: landing page URL
  max_tcp_sockets: 10,            // Optional: max sockets per client
});

server.listen(3000, () => {
  console.log('pipenet server listening on port 3000');
});

Server Options

• domain (string) Custom domain for the tunnel server
• secure (boolean) Require HTTPS connections
• landing (string) URL to redirect root requests to
• max_tcp_sockets (number) Maximum number of TCP sockets per client (default: 10)

Server API Endpoints

• GET /api/status - Server status and tunnel count
• GET /api/tunnels/:id/status - Status of a specific tunnel
• GET /:id - Request a new tunnel with the specified ID

Acknowledgments

pipenet is based on localtunnel, an open-source project by @defunctzombie. We are grateful for the foundation it provided.

Development of pipenet is sponsored by glama.ai.

License

MIT