Quickstart

Get a public URL for your local server in under a minute.

1. Install the client

curl -fsSL https://nullbore.com/install.sh | sh

No sudo needed — installs to ~/.local/bin. Make sure it's in your PATH:

export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/.local/bin"

Or download directly from GitHub releases.

2. Get an API key

  1. Sign up at nullbore.com
  2. Go to the dashboard
  3. Click + New Key and copy it

3. Configure

Edit ~/.config/nullbore/config.toml (created by the installer):

server = "https://tunnel.nullbore.com"
api_key = "nbk_your_key_here"

Or use environment variables:

export NULLBORE_API_KEY="nbk_your_key_here"

Note: Use export — without it, the variable isn't passed to child processes.

4. Open a tunnel

# Expose localhost:3000
nullbore open 3000
# → https://a7f3bc.tunnel.nullbore.com → localhost:3000

# With a custom name (Dev+ with account subdomain)
nullbore open 3000 --name myapp
# → https://myapp.yourname.nullbore.com → localhost:3000

# With a 30-minute TTL
nullbore open 3000 --ttl 30m

# With basic auth
nullbore open 3000 --auth admin:s3cret

# Multiple tunnels at once
nullbore open 3000 8080 5432
nullbore open -p 3000:api -p 8080:web    # named (Dev+)

5. Use it

Your local server is now accessible at the public URL. Share it, point webhooks at it, or let an AI agent call it.

The tunnel supports HTTP, WebSocket, and SSE out of the box.

6. Close it

# Close by name or slug
nullbore close myapp

# Close by ID
nullbore close a7f3bc

# Or just wait — it closes itself when the TTL expires

Quick reference

nullbore open <port>                     Open a tunnel
nullbore open -p 3000:api                Open a named tunnel
nullbore open --port 3000 --auth u:p     Tunnel with basic auth
nullbore list                            List active tunnels
nullbore close <id-or-name>              Close a tunnel
nullbore requests <id>                   Inspect recent requests
nullbore status                          Check server connection
nullbore daemon                          Config-driven persistent mode
nullbore update                          Self-update to latest version
nullbore version                         Show client version
nullbore help                            Show help

Global flags:
  --debug / -v                           Verbose output (relay logs, etc.)

What's next?