ngrok

Overview

ngrok is a secure tunneling tool that exposes your local development server to the public internet. It creates a secure HTTPS URL that forwards requests to your localhost, making it indispensable for testing webhooks (Stripe, GitHub) and demoing local apps.

Pricing & Free Tier

Free Tier: Yes. Includes 1 online agent, random subdomains, and a 2-hour session limit.
Personal Plan: $8/month (billed annually). Unlocks custom domains and reserved TCP addresses.
Pro Plan: $20/month. Adds multiple agents, IP restrictions, and OAuth.

How to Use

1. Sign up at ngrok.com and download the binary.
2. Authenticate the CLI using your authtoken: ngrok config add-authtoken <TOKEN>.
3. Run your local server (e.g., on port 8080).
4. Run ngrok http 8080. It will generate a public URL like https://xxxx.ngrok-free.app.

Important Notes

• Warning Page: Free tier URLs display a "You are about to visit an ngrok site" warning page before forwarding users.
• Random URLs: On the free tier, your public URL changes every time you restart ngrok. You must pay for a static domain.