localtunnel

name: localtunnel description: Expose localhost to the world for easy testing and sharing using localtunnel license: MIT compatibility: opencode metadata: audience: agents use-case: development

What I do

localtunnel exposes your localhost to the world for easy testing and sharing. It creates a public URL that forwards requests to your local development server. This is useful for:

• Testing webhooks from external services (Twilio, Stripe, etc.)
• Sharing work-in-progress with others
• Browser testing from external tools

When to use me

Use this skill when:

1. You need to expose a local development server to the internet
2. External services need to call back to your local machine
3. You want to share a local URL with others for testing
4. You need to receive webhooks from third-party services

Installation

localtunnel requires Node.js. Install it globally:

npm install -g localtunnel

Or as a project dependency:

npm install localtunnel

CLI Usage

Basic usage (non-interactive)

lt --port 8000

With specific subdomain (request only, not guaranteed)

lt --port 8000 --subdomain my-app

Using environment variables

PORT=3000 lt

Common CLI options

• --port - Local port number to expose (required)
• --subdomain - Request a specific subdomain (not guaranteed)
• --local-host - Proxy to a hostname other than localhost

API Usage

For programmatic use in Node.js scripts:

const localtunnel = require('localtunnel');

(async () => {
  const tunnel = await localtunnel({ port: 3000 });
  
  console.log('Tunnel URL:', tunnel.url);
  
  tunnel.on('close', () => {
    console.log('Tunnel closed');
  });
})();

API options

• port (number, required) - Local port to expose
• subdomain (string) - Request specific subdomain
• host (string) - Proxy server URL (default: https://localtunnel.me)
• local_host (string) - Proxy to different hostname
• local_https (boolean) - Enable HTTPS tunneling
• local_cert, local_key, local_ca (string) - Certificate paths
• allow_invalid_cert (boolean) - Disable cert checks

Non-interactive usage in OpenCode

Since OpenCode runs in non-interactive mode:

1. Always use npx localtunnel or the CLI - Do not use interactive prompts
2. Run in background - Use run_background_process for long-lived tunnels
3. Handle tunnel URL - Extract and display the URL to the user
4. Clean up - Close tunnel when done using tunnel.close() or process termination

Example for running a tunnel in background:

// Start local server first, then:
const tunnel = await localtunnel({ port: 3000 });
console.log('Public URL:', tunnel.url);

Important notes

• The tunnel URL is assigned dynamically and may change on reconnect
• Tunnels can close unexpectedly; handle the close event
• For production use, consider proper deployment instead of localtunnel
• Some features require the tunnel to stay running