Expose your service to the world using boringproxy
What is boringproxy?
Boringproxy is a reverse proxy that allows you to expose your local development environment to the internet. It’s free for personal use and it’s easy to use.
How to use it?
Prerequisites
- Server with public IP address
- Domain name
- Local apps that you want to expose to the world
Installation
# Install boringproxy
curl -LO https://github.com/boringproxy/boringproxy/releases/latest/download/boringproxy-linux-x86_64
# Make it executable
chmod +x boringproxy-linux-x86_64
# Move it to /usr/local/bin
sudo mv boringproxy-linux-x86_64 /usr/local/bin/boringproxy
# Allow binding to ports 80 and 443
sudo setcap cap_net_bind_service=+ep /usr/local/bin/boringproxy
Setup Domain
On your domain registrar, add the following A records:
@pointing to your server’s public IP address*pointing to your server’s public IP address
Run boringproxy in the background using tmux
tmux new -s boringproxy
On tmux, run the following command:
boringproxy server -admin-domain <your-domain> -acme-email <your-email> -accept-ca-terms
Setup your local machine side
Install boring proxy like above
On your local machine, run the following command:
boringproxy client \
-server <your-domain> -token <your-token> \
-user <default is "admin"> -acme-email <your-email> \
-client-name <your-client-name>
Access boringproxy dashboard
On your boringproxy server side, run the following command:
cat ~/boringproxy_db.json
Output should be like this:
{
"admin_domain": "<your-domain>",
"tokens": {
"xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx": {
"owner": "admin"
}
...
Access your boringproxy dashboard using this URL: https://<your-domain> and paste the token on the login page.
Test exposing your service
On your local machine, run the following command:
# install nginx
sudo apt-get install nginx
# start nginx
sudo systemctl start nginx
On your boringproxy dashboard, add tunnel and set like this:
- Domain:
<your-choose-domain> - Tunnel Port: Random
- Client Name:
<choose-your-client-name> - Client Address:
127.0.0.1 - Client Port:
80 - TLS Termination:
<client-https> - and submit
On your browser, access your service using this URL: https://<your-choose-domain> and walla, your service has been exposed to the world
