Your First Tunnel

Expose a local server to the internet in under a minute using the OutRay CLI.

This guide walks you from a fresh install to a live public URL for your local server.

1. Install the CLI

   If you have not installed OutRay yet, install it globally:

   npm install -g outray
   

   See Installation for yarn and pnpm instructions, and for how to verify your install.

2. Log in to your account

   Authenticate the CLI with your OutRay account:

   outray login
   

   A browser window opens for you to sign in and select an organization. See Authentication for the full login flow.

3. Start your local server

   Make sure the service you want to expose is running locally. For example, a Node.js app on port 3000:

   node server.js
   

   OutRay works with any server on any port — HTTP APIs, frontend dev servers, webhooks, and more.

4. Open the tunnel

   Point OutRay at the port your server is listening on:

   outray http 3000
   

   You can also use the shorthand — just pass the port number directly:

   outray 3000
   

   OutRay connects and prints your public URL:

   Org: my-workspace
   Connecting to OutRay...
   Linked to your local port 3000
   Tunnel ready: https://random-name.tunnel.outray.app
   Keep this running to keep your tunnel active.
   
5. Share the URL

   Copy the https:// URL from the output. Anyone with the link can now reach your local server over the internet — no port forwarding or firewall changes needed.

   Incoming requests are logged to your terminal in real time as they arrive.

6. Stop the tunnel

   When you are done, press Ctrl+C in the terminal where OutRay is running:

   👋 Shutting down gracefully...
   

   The public URL immediately stops working. Your local server is unaffected.

Other tunnel types

outray http is the most common starting point, but OutRay also supports raw TCP and UDP tunnels for databases, game servers, and other non-HTTP services:

# TCP tunnel
outray tcp 5432

# UDP tunnel
outray udp 19132

For projects that need multiple tunnels running at once, use a outray/config.toml file and start them all with outray start. See HTTP tunnels for more details on available options.

HTTP tunnels

Custom subdomains, password protection, custom domains, and request logging options.

Authentication

Browser login, API keys, organization switching, and token refresh behavior.