kernelshard/expose

Open-source tunneling CLI that exposes localhost to shareable URLs. Built with Go, zero config, perfect for demos and webhook testing.

stars

commits

primary language

Feb 23, 2026

updated

cli

demo

developer-tools

localhost

ngrok-alternative

portfolio-project

reverse-proxy

tunnel

webhook

Browse cluster: Go Tunneling and Reverse Proxy →

README

🚀 Expose

The open-source, single-binary alternative to ngrok. Expose your local localhost server to the internet with zero config, zero signup, and zero hassle.

Expose is a modern Go-based tunneling tool that lets you share your local development environment with the world. Perfect for testing webhooks, mobile debugging, or showing off your work on localtunnel or Cloudflare networks.

🆚 Why Expose?

Feature	🚀 Expose	ngrok	Cloudflare Tunnel	LocalTunnel (Node)
No Signup Required	✅	❌	❌	✅
Single Binary	✅	✅	✅	❌ (requires Node.js)
Open Source	✅	❌	✅	✅
Self-Hosted Server	✅	❌	❌	❌
Language	Go	Go	Go	JS
Free Custom Domains	🚧 (Planned)	💲 Paid	✅	❌

✨ Features

🌐 Multiple Providers: LocalTunnel, Cloudflare, or your own self-hosted server.
🏠 Self-Hosted: Run expose server on any $5 VPS — full control, no third parties.
⚡ Zero Friction: No accounts, no auth tokens, just run and go.
📦 Lightweight: A single <10MB binary with no external dependencies.
🔧 Developer Friendly: Written in pure Go, easy to contribute to.

🚀 Quick Start

# Install
go install github.com/kernelshard/expose/cmd/expose@latest

# Initialize config
expose init

# Start tunnel (defaults to port 3000)
expose tunnel

Or use Cloudflare

expose tunnel -P cloudflare -p 8080

Or use your own self-hosted server

# On your VPS — one-time setup
expose server --domain=tunnel.mysite.com --control-port=7890 --public-port=8080

# On your laptop — just works
expose tunnel --server=tunnel.mysite.com:7890

📦 Installation

1. Download Binary (Recommended)

Download the latest binary for your OS (Windows, macOS, Linux) from the Releases Page. Unzip it and add it to your PATH.

2. Using Go Install

go install github.com/kernelshard/expose/cmd/expose@latest

From Source

git clone https://github.com/kernelshard/expose.git
cd expose
go build -o expose ./cmd/expose
./expose --version

📖 Usage

Initialize Configuration

$ expose init
✓ Config created: .expose.yml

Creates .expose.yml in current directory:

project: expose
port: 3000

Start Tunnel

# Use config port
$ expose tunnel
✓ Tunnel (LocalTunnel) started for localhost:3000
✓ Public URL: https://quick-mammals-sing.loca.lt
✓ Forwarding to http://localhost:3000
✓ Provider: LocalTunnel
✓ Press Ctrl+C to stop

# Override port
$ expose tunnel --port 8080

Manage Configuration

# List all config values
$ expose config list
project: expose
port: 3000

# Get specific value
$ expose config get port
3000

$ expose config get project
expose

✅ Tested Locally

$ expose --version
expose version v0.1.2 (commit: d30c483, built: 2025-11-10)

$ expose init
✓ Config created: .expose.yml (project: expose, port: 3000)

$ python3 -m http.server 3000 &
Serving HTTP on 0.0.0.0 port 3000...

$ expose tunnel
🚀 Tunnel[LocalTunnel] started for localhost:3000
✓ Public URL: https://ripe-garlics-add.loca.lt
✓ Forwarding to: http://localhost:3000
✓ Provider: LocalTunnel
Press Ctrl+C to stop

$ curl https://ripe-garlics-add.loca.lt
<!DOCTYPE HTML>...  # Works!

Tested on: Go 1.23, macOS 14, Ubuntu 22.04

🏗 Architecture

expose/
├── cmd/expose/       # CLI entry point
├── internal/
│   ├── cli/          # Cobra commands (thin layer)
│   ├── config/       # YAML config management
│   ├── provider/     # Tunnel provider implementations
│   ├── server/       # Self-hosted tunnel server
│   ├── tunnel/       # Service layer (business logic)
│   └── version/      # Version metadata
└── .expose.yml       # User config (add to .gitignore per project)

Design principles:

Interface-driven — Provider interface supports multiple tunnel backends
Clean separation — CLI → Service → Provider (no circular deps)
Testable — Real file tests, injectable service layer

⚠️ Known Limitations

One tunnel per process — Each expose tunnel command runs independently (can run multiple on different ports)
No persistence — Public URLs change on restart
CLI-only — No web UI or dashboard yet

See GitHub Issues for roadmap.

🧪 Development

Prerequisites

Go 1.23+
Git

Setup

git clone https://github.com/kernelshard/expose.git
cd expose
go mod download

Run Tests

# Run all tests with race detector
go test ./... -v -race -cover

# Check coverage for specific packages
go test ./internal/config -cover
go test ./internal/tunnel -cover
go test ./internal/provider -cover

Build

go build -o expose ./cmd/expose
./expose --version

Run Locally

# Without installing
go run cmd/expose/main.go tunnel

# Test with live server
python3 -m http.server 3000  # Terminal 1
./expose tunnel              # Terminal 2

🤝 Contributing

Contributions welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for:

Development workflow
Branch strategy
Testing requirements
Code style guidelines

📝 License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

Made with ❤️ by @kernelshard

Contributors

kernelshard

58 commits

See what people are saying

Hacker News (1)

Show HN: Expose - a self-hosted tunneling tool like ngrok/localtunnel(Golang)

1 points · Sep 7, 2026

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kernelshard/expose

Open-source tunneling CLI that exposes localhost to shareable URLs. Built with Go, zero config, perfect for demos and webhook testing.

stars

commits

primary language

Feb 23, 2026

updated

cli

demo

developer-tools

localhost

ngrok-alternative

portfolio-project

reverse-proxy

tunnel

webhook

Browse cluster: Go Tunneling and Reverse Proxy →

README

🚀 Expose

The open-source, single-binary alternative to ngrok. Expose your local localhost server to the internet with zero config, zero signup, and zero hassle.

🆚 Why Expose?

Feature	🚀 Expose	ngrok	Cloudflare Tunnel	LocalTunnel (Node)
No Signup Required	✅	❌	❌	✅
Single Binary	✅	✅	✅	❌ (requires Node.js)
Open Source	✅	❌	✅	✅
Self-Hosted Server	✅	❌	❌	❌
Language	Go	Go	Go	JS
Free Custom Domains	🚧 (Planned)	💲 Paid	✅	❌

✨ Features

🌐 Multiple Providers: LocalTunnel, Cloudflare, or your own self-hosted server.
🏠 Self-Hosted: Run expose server on any $5 VPS — full control, no third parties.
⚡ Zero Friction: No accounts, no auth tokens, just run and go.
📦 Lightweight: A single <10MB binary with no external dependencies.
🔧 Developer Friendly: Written in pure Go, easy to contribute to.

🚀 Quick Start

# Install
go install github.com/kernelshard/expose/cmd/expose@latest

# Initialize config
expose init

# Start tunnel (defaults to port 3000)
expose tunnel

Or use Cloudflare

expose tunnel -P cloudflare -p 8080

Or use your own self-hosted server

# On your VPS — one-time setup
expose server --domain=tunnel.mysite.com --control-port=7890 --public-port=8080

# On your laptop — just works
expose tunnel --server=tunnel.mysite.com:7890

📦 Installation

1. Download Binary (Recommended)

Download the latest binary for your OS (Windows, macOS, Linux) from the Releases Page. Unzip it and add it to your PATH.

2. Using Go Install

go install github.com/kernelshard/expose/cmd/expose@latest

From Source

git clone https://github.com/kernelshard/expose.git
cd expose
go build -o expose ./cmd/expose
./expose --version

📖 Usage

Initialize Configuration

$ expose init
✓ Config created: .expose.yml

Creates .expose.yml in current directory:

project: expose
port: 3000

Start Tunnel

# Use config port
$ expose tunnel
✓ Tunnel (LocalTunnel) started for localhost:3000
✓ Public URL: https://quick-mammals-sing.loca.lt
✓ Forwarding to http://localhost:3000
✓ Provider: LocalTunnel
✓ Press Ctrl+C to stop

# Override port
$ expose tunnel --port 8080

Manage Configuration

# List all config values
$ expose config list
project: expose
port: 3000

# Get specific value
$ expose config get port
3000

$ expose config get project
expose

✅ Tested Locally

$ expose --version
expose version v0.1.2 (commit: d30c483, built: 2025-11-10)

$ expose init
✓ Config created: .expose.yml (project: expose, port: 3000)

$ python3 -m http.server 3000 &
Serving HTTP on 0.0.0.0 port 3000...

$ expose tunnel
🚀 Tunnel[LocalTunnel] started for localhost:3000
✓ Public URL: https://ripe-garlics-add.loca.lt
✓ Forwarding to: http://localhost:3000
✓ Provider: LocalTunnel
Press Ctrl+C to stop

$ curl https://ripe-garlics-add.loca.lt
<!DOCTYPE HTML>...  # Works!

Tested on: Go 1.23, macOS 14, Ubuntu 22.04

🏗 Architecture

expose/
├── cmd/expose/       # CLI entry point
├── internal/
│   ├── cli/          # Cobra commands (thin layer)
│   ├── config/       # YAML config management
│   ├── provider/     # Tunnel provider implementations
│   ├── server/       # Self-hosted tunnel server
│   ├── tunnel/       # Service layer (business logic)
│   └── version/      # Version metadata
└── .expose.yml       # User config (add to .gitignore per project)

Design principles:

Interface-driven — Provider interface supports multiple tunnel backends
Clean separation — CLI → Service → Provider (no circular deps)
Testable — Real file tests, injectable service layer

⚠️ Known Limitations

One tunnel per process — Each expose tunnel command runs independently (can run multiple on different ports)
No persistence — Public URLs change on restart
CLI-only — No web UI or dashboard yet

See GitHub Issues for roadmap.

🧪 Development

Prerequisites

Go 1.23+
Git

Setup

git clone https://github.com/kernelshard/expose.git
cd expose
go mod download

Run Tests

# Run all tests with race detector
go test ./... -v -race -cover

# Check coverage for specific packages
go test ./internal/config -cover
go test ./internal/tunnel -cover
go test ./internal/provider -cover

Build

go build -o expose ./cmd/expose
./expose --version

Run Locally

# Without installing
go run cmd/expose/main.go tunnel

# Test with live server
python3 -m http.server 3000  # Terminal 1
./expose tunnel              # Terminal 2