Getting started

Share your first localhost app in 60 seconds.

Localians gives the web app running on your computer a temporary HTTPS link you can send to a client or teammate. Nothing is deployed: visitors reach your app through your computer, for as long as you keep sharing.

Beta: the localians command isn't on npm yet, so npx localians doesn't work today. Install it once from a Localians checkout (below). Public preview links also need the Localians service to be deployed; until then, links work on the computer and network running the beta server.

What you need

A Localians account (sign up, then verify your email).
Node.js 20 or newer.
A web app you can run locally — anything that opens at http://localhost:<port>.

One-time setup (beta)

From a checkout of the Localians repository, build and link the CLI. This adds the localians command.

Windows PowerShell

$ npm install; npm run tunnel:build$ cd tunnel\cli; npm link

macOS / Linux

$ npm install && npm run tunnel:build$ cd tunnel/cli && npm link

1. Start your app

Open your project and start its development server the way you always do, for example:

$ npm run dev

Note the port it prints. If you can open http://localhost:5173 (or your port) in your browser, you're ready.

2. Share it

Open a second terminal in the same project folder and run the command with your port:

$ localians share 5173

The first time, two quick questions are answered for you:

Sign in: your browser opens and asks you to approve this computer. Click Authorize CLI. This happens once per computer.
Project: if none of your projects uses this port yet, the CLI asks before creating one named after your app (or lets you pick an existing one).

Optional: protect it with a password

In the dashboard, choose Password in Share App (or under Preview access on the project page). Visitors then see a password page before your app. Send the password separately from the link.

3. Send the link

The terminal prints your preview link, and the dashboard shows it too, with Copy Link and Open Preview. Send it to your client. Changes you make locally appear for them on reload (or instantly, with hot reload).

Keep your app and the share command running — the link only works while both are on. Anyone who has the link can open the app, unless you add a password, so don't share apps with sensitive data (see Security).

4. Stop sharing

Press Ctrl+C in the terminal, or click Stop Sharing in the dashboard. The link stops working immediately; running the command again gives you a new link.

Prefer a guided version?

In the dashboard, Share App walks you through these steps, builds the exact command for your port, and shows your link the moment it connects. Stuck? See Troubleshooting or the framework guides.