Exposing Local Projects to the Web with Cloudflared: A Quick Guide

Ever needed to quickly share a local project with someone without deploying it? Cloudflared makes it incredibly easy to expose your local development server to the web temporarily. Whether you’re showing off a new feature, getting feedback on a design, or testing an API,...

September 12, 2025 Linux 3 min read

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# Ubuntu/Debian
curl -L --output cloudflared.deb https://github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared/releases/latest/download/cloudflared-linux-arm64.deb
sudo dpkg -i cloudflared.deb

# Verify installation
cloudflared --version

Command	Description	Quick Example
cloudflared tunnel —url	Create temporary tunnel to local service	cloudflared tunnel —url http://localhost:8000
cloudflared tunnel login	Authenticate with Cloudflare account	cloudflared tunnel login
cloudflared tunnel create	Create a named permanent tunnel	cloudflared tunnel create my-project
cloudflared tunnel list	List all your tunnels	cloudflared tunnel list
cloudflared tunnel run	Run a named tunnel	cloudflared tunnel run my-project
cloudflared tunnel cleanup	Clean up tunnel connections	cloudflared tunnel cleanup my-project
cloudflared —version	Check current version	cloudflared —version
cloudflared update	Update to latest version	cloudflared update

Create a test HTML file:

My Project

    Hello from my local server!
    This is being served from my development machine.

Start a local server:

# Navigate to your project directory
cd ~/my-project

# Start Python's built-in server
python3 -m http.server 8000

Create the tunnel:

# In another terminal
cloudflared tunnel --url http://localhost:8000

Share the URL: You’ll see output like:

Your quick Tunnel has been created! Visit it at:
https://abc123def.trycloudflare.com

# Start your React dev server
npm start
# Server runs on http://localhost:3000

# Create tunnel (new terminal)
cloudflared tunnel --url http://localhost:3000

# Start Flask app
python app.py
# API runs on http://localhost:5000

# Create tunnel
cloudflared tunnel --url http://localhost:5000

# 1. Login to Cloudflare
cloudflared tunnel login

# 2. Create named tunnel
cloudflared tunnel create my-dev-project

# 3. Run the tunnel
cloudflared tunnel run my-dev-project

tunnel: my-dev-project
credentials-file: ~/.cloudflared/my-dev-project.json

ingress:
  - hostname: my-project.example.com
    service: http://localhost:8000
  - service: http_status:404

Share your latest UI changes with designers and stakeholders instantly.

Let backend developers test your API endpoints without complex deployments.

Share Jupyter notebooks or data visualizations with colleagues.

Demonstrate work-in-progress features to clients securely.

Allow QA teams to test features before they’re production-ready.

Temporary tunnels are perfect for short-term sharing
Named tunnels require Cloudflare account authentication
URLs are publicly accessible – don’t expose sensitive data
Always stop tunnels when you’re done sharing

Quick tunnels: Active until you stop the process
Named tunnels: Can run indefinitely until manually stopped
No uptime guarantees for free temporary tunnels

“Connection refused” error:

# Check if your local server is running
curl http://localhost:8000

# Verify the port is correct
netstat -tulpn | grep :8000

Tunnel not accessible:

# Check tunnel status
cloudflared tunnel list

# Restart tunnel
cloudflared tunnel cleanup my-tunnel
cloudflared tunnel run my-tunnel

Port already in use:

# Find what's using the port
lsof -i :8000

# Kill the process
kill -9

Action	Command
Stop current tunnel	Ctrl + C
Kill all cloudflared processes	pkill cloudflared
Stop specific tunnel	cloudflared tunnel cleanup
Check active processes	ps aux \| grep cloudflared

Test locally first – Always verify http://localhost:PORT works before creating a tunnel
Use descriptive tunnel names – Makes management easier
Keep track of active tunnels – Use cloudflared tunnel list regularly
Set up aliases for common commands:# Add to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc alias tunnel=‘cloudflared tunnel —url’ alias tunnels=‘cloudflared tunnel list’
Combine with tmux/screen for persistent sessions

Official Cloudflared Documentation
Cloudflare Tunnel GitHub
Cloudflare One Documentation

This guide is perfect for developers who need to quickly share local projects without the complexity of full deployments. Cloudflared makes secure, temporary exposure of local services incredibly simple and accessible.

Have you used Cloudflared for your projects? Share your experiences in the comments!

#cloudflared #webdevelopment #devops #cloudflare #localdevelopment