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How to show a localhost site to a client behind a password

Create an HTTPS tunnel in ProximaClient to the site's port and send the client the https://… link: they open the site in a browser while it keeps running on your computer. To keep anyone else out, close the link with a login and password, or let in only the client's address.

Steps​

  1. Start the site on your computer, for example on localhost:3000.
  2. In ProximaClient, open "Tunnels" and click "Create tunnel". If you already have tunnels, it's the "+" button above the list.
  3. In "Protocol", pick HTTPS: "A website or API at a link of its own".
  4. In "Destination address", enter the site's port: localhost:3000.
  5. Click "Create tunnel". Once the tunnel connects, copy the link with the "Copy public address" icon and send it to the client.

The link works while the tunnel is on and your computer runs; what else works through it and how long it is kept after the tunnel closes is on the "An HTTPS link to localhost" page.

Since app version 1.3.0

To look at the site from your phone, click the "Show QR code" icon next to the address and point the phone's camera at the code. On the Pro and Ultra plans you can give the link a name of your own.

Check it: open the link yourself. If you see the "Service not responding" page instead of the site, the site on your computer isn't running or listens on another port.

Since app version 1.3.0

  1. Open the tunnel and go to the "Security" tab.
  2. In the "Tunnel protection" card, pick the "Sign-in" section.
  3. Turn on "Login and password", fill in "Login" and "Password" (at least 8 characters) and click "Save".
  4. Send the client the login and password separately from the link.

Instead of the site, a "Sign in" page opens: the client enters the login and password and clicks "Sign in". Your site doesn't see this sign-in, and nothing in it needs to change. More on the page about a login and password for the link.

How to let in only the client's address​

Since app version 1.3.0

  1. Ask the client for their public IP address.
  2. Open the tunnel, its "Security" tab, the "IP addresses" section, and turn on "Use IP rules".
  3. Under "Allowed addresses", enter the client's address, click "Add", then "Save".

For everyone else the link doesn't open at all: the connection drops before the browser shows anything. If the client's address changes, for example on mobile internet, use a login and password instead. More on the page about IP allow and block lists.