#What is Portr?

Portr is a developer-centric, self-hosted alternative to tools like ngrok, designed for engineering teams and indie devs who prioritize privacy, control, and cost-efficiency when exposing local development servers to external collaborators or services. Its core value is providing a secure, zero-trust tunnel that keeps your infrastructure in-house, eliminating data leakage risks and vendor lock-in while enabling seamless sharing for testing and debugging. Built primarily in Rust for the tunneling core, with a web-based dashboard in React and Node.js for management, it's ideal for use-cases like previewing frontend builds in team reviews, ingesting webhooks for Stripe or GitHub integrations during dev, or remotely accessing database UIs without VPN hassles—perfect for remote-first workflows in SaaS startups or open-source projects.

#Features ⚡

• Secure Tunneling: Establish encrypted tunnels from localhost to a public URL via your self-hosted server, supporting HTTPS with auto-generated certs for production-like security.

• Team Dashboard: Intuitive React-based UI for creating, managing, and monitoring tunnels, with role-based access for collaborators to view or inspect traffic without full control.

• Multi-Protocol Support: Handle HTTP/HTTPS for web apps, TCP for custom ports, and WebSockets for real-time features like Socket.io testing—all in one unified setup.

• Traffic Inspection: Built-in request/response logging and replay tools to debug issues, inspect headers/payloads, and simulate edge cases during development.

• Webhook Endpoints: Dedicated mode for receiving and forwarding webhooks to local services, with signature verification to ensure authenticity from providers like Twilio or AWS.

• CLI Integration: Command-line tools for quick tunnel spins from terminals, integrated with scripts for automated testing in GitHub Actions or Jenkins pipelines.

• Scalable Architecture: Docker Compose setup for easy scaling across multiple instances, with Prometheus metrics export for monitoring tunnel health and usage.

#Pros ✅

• Total privacy control by keeping tunnels on your infrastructure, avoiding third-party data exposure

• Cost-effective long-term—no per-minute fees like cloud tunnels, ideal for high-volume team use

• High performance from Rust core handles thousands of concurrent connections without lag

• Open-source flexibility allows custom extensions for unique workflows or security policies

• Simple onboarding with Docker means devs can spin it up in minutes, no steep learning curve

#Cons ⚠️

• Requires self-management of the host server, adding ops overhead compared to fully managed services

• Lacks out-of-box mobile app support for on-the-go access, focusing more on desktop/CLI use

• Community still emerging, so fewer pre-built plugins than mature alternatives like ngrok

#Included Components - Templates

• Core Tunneling Server: Rust-based binary for the tunnel engine, handling ingress/egress with encryption.

• Web Dashboard: React app for tunnel management, with templates for user auth and access controls.

• CLI Tool: Node.js-wrapped binary for command-line tunnel creation and inspection.

• Docker Compose Stack: Pre-configured YAML for deploying server, dashboard, and database (SQLite/PostgreSQL).

• Traffic Logger: Middleware component for capturing and exporting request data to files or ELK stack.

• Webhook Handler: Dedicated endpoint templates for common providers, with validation scripts.

• Metrics Exporter: Prometheus-ready templates for monitoring dashboard integrations.

• Example Configs: YAML/JSON templates for multi-tunnel setups, auth providers, and CI scripts.

#Pricing 💸

• Completely free and open-source under Apache 2.0 license—no tiers, subscriptions, or hidden costs for core functionality.

• Self-hosting requires only your server resources (e.g., VPS at $5/month), with no licensing fees for commercial or team use.

• Community support via GitHub issues; optional paid consulting for custom setups available through contributors.

#Integrations 🧰

• Deployment: Docker, Docker Compose, Kubernetes for containerized hosting.

• Monitoring: Prometheus and Grafana for metrics and alerts.

• CI/CD: GitHub Actions, Jenkins, GitLab CI for automated tunnel spins in pipelines.

• Auth: OAuth providers like GitHub, Google via dashboard integration.

• Logging: ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana) for advanced traffic analysis.

• Databases: SQLite for lightweight, PostgreSQL for scaled setups.

• Protocols: HTTP/HTTPS, TCP, WebSockets natively; extendable to SSH via plugins.