Ngrok for tunneling traffic

The Problem

We quickly want to share our development server with a client or are in a public setting and can't rely on a static IP or if traffic is blocked by firewalls etc.

The Solution

ngrok.io is a service allows us to tunnel traffic to our local machine. Easy to install, easy to spin up it grants us a sharable URL over https. It comes in really handy in certain situations, for example when I had to test OIDC authentication with openidconnect.net without having full access to my router settings/static IP.

They do have a free service for instant testing as well as fairly priced plans.

Starting the service

./ngrok http 8000

with 8000 being the port.