You’ve built something and want feedback now: a client wants to click around, your friend wants to see the game, a colleague needs to test a webhook. But the site lives at https://shop.test on your laptop, and that address means nothing on anyone else’s device.
There are two ways to fix that.
Option 1: a public tunnel (works from anywhere)
A tunnel gives your local site a temporary public HTTPS address. Your computer opens an outgoing connection to the tunnel provider; visitors hit the public URL and their requests are passed back to your machine. No router settings, no port forwarding, no public IP needed.
With LampRabit
- On Services, install Cloudflare Tunnel (no account needed) or Ngrok (free account).
- On Sites, open the project and click Share, then pick a provider.
- Copy the public URL (for example
https://shop-demo.trycloudflare.com) and send it.
Requests reach your site with its own domain, so virtual hosts keep working. When you’re done, click Stop sharing. To share something that isn’t a site (a Node dev server on port 5173, an API on 8000), use Public URLs on the Services page with any local port.
| Cloudflare quick tunnel | ngrok | |
|---|---|---|
| Account | Not needed | Free account and authtoken |
| Address | Random *.trycloudflare.com, new each time |
Random, or the one static domain ngrok gives free accounts |
| In LampRabit | One click | One click; token kept in your system keychain, never in a file |
Without LampRabit
Both providers have command-line tools. For example, a Cloudflare quick tunnel to a local server:
cloudflared tunnel --url http://localhost:8000That works great for a single dev server, but sites served by virtual host (shop.test) need the right Host header, which LampRabit sets up for you.
Option 2: same Wi-Fi (for the phone on your desk)
If the other device is on your network, it can reach your computer’s local IP address directly: something like http://192.168.1.20:3000. Your dev server must listen on all interfaces, not just localhost:
npm run dev -- --host # Vite
php artisan serve --host=0.0.0.0This is handy for quick phone testing, but .test domains won’t resolve on the phone, HTTPS won’t be trusted, and your firewall may need a rule. For anything beyond your desk, a tunnel is simpler.
Things that commonly break, and fixes
- Redirects to
.test. WordPress (siteurl,home) and Laravel (APP_URL) build links from their stored address. For a quick demo, temporarily set it to the tunnel URL. - Mixed content. Tunnels are HTTPS; hard-coded
http://assets get blocked. Use relative URLs or the tunnel’s address. - OAuth and webhooks. Register the tunnel URL as the callback in the provider’s dashboard while you test.
- Slow first load. The first request warms up the tunnel and your app’s caches. Subsequent ones are fast.
Share safely
- Anyone with the link can reach that site while the tunnel runs, so stop sharing afterwards.
- Use test data, not a copy of production with real customer details.
- Protect admin areas; a random URL is not a password.
Sharing a site is one of the small things LampRabit makes one-click. Download it free, or read what else makes it shine.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a Cloudflare account to share a site?
No. Cloudflare quick tunnels work without an account and give you a random trycloudflare.com address. ngrok needs a free account and an authtoken.
Is it safe to share my local site?
Anyone with the link can reach that one site while the tunnel runs, nothing else on your computer. Stop sharing when you're done, use test data, and don't share admin pages with weak passwords.
Why does my WordPress site redirect back to .test?
WordPress stores its own address (siteurl and home). Visitors arriving through the tunnel get redirected to your local .test domain, which only works on your machine. Temporarily set the site URL to the tunnel address, or use a plugin that allows multiple domains.
