In this episode, we're tackling a really handy trick: exposing your local web server to the internet using a tool called ngrok. If you've ever needed to test webhooks, share your work-in-progress with a friend, or let a client preview your site—without deploying to a public server—this is the episode for you.
We start by talking about why you might want to make your local server accessible online. Maybe you’re working with services that need to communicate with your server, or you want quick feedback from someone. The best part? This method is way more secure than leaving your machine permanently open to the internet, thanks to ngrok's temporary URLs.
Then, we walk through setting up ngrok—signing up, downloading, and authenticating it. It’s super straightforward: once you install ngrok, you just run a single command specifying your local port (like 8888) and instantly get a one-time URL you can share. The moment you shut down ngrok, your tunnel closes and the URL stops working, keeping things safe.
Finally, while ngrok has lots of advanced features, we stick with the basics here—perfect for most needs like testing webhooks or sharing work quickly. By the end of the episode, you'll know exactly how to expose your local project with ngrok and keep control over when it's available.