PanelDOCSv1.0.0

Sharing a site

Give a site on your computer a free public https:// link with HF Tunnel from the HF Local desktop app, and stop sharing it.

HF Local can give any local site a public https:// link through HF Tunnel, to show a client, test on your phone or receive webhooks. It is free, needs no account and no router settings.

Where: HF Local › Tunnel, or Share on a site on the Sites page

Sharing a site screen

Share a site

  1. Make sure Apache is running and MySQL's root user has a password.
  2. Click Share next to the site (on the Tunnel or Sites page).
  3. In the Share dialog, check the Link: the first part of the address, made from the site's name. You can change it: lowercase letters, numbers and -, up to 32 characters.
  4. Click Share.

HF Local connects to HF Tunnel (Connecting to HF Tunnel… (a few seconds)). When the link works, the site shows Live link and its address, like https://shop.hostfog.io, with Copy link.

The link is the same every time you share the site with the same name. Anyone with the link can open the site while it is shared. If the connection drops, the site shows Reconnecting… and HF Local connects again by itself, waiting a little longer each time (up to a minute).

Stop sharing

Click Stop sharing next to the site. The link also stops when you close HF Local.

The Tunnel page

The Tunnel page shows the HF Tunnel service and every site:

Item What it shows
Ready · free, no account free links are available
Links on this computer how many links this computer has, and how many it may have
Live now how many links are connected right now
Your sites each site with Live link and its address, or Only on this computer

A shared site has these buttons:

Button What it does
Open opens the link in your browser
QR code shows the link as a QR code to scan with a phone
Requests every request that came through the link: time, method, path, status and duration (the number counts them)
Stop sharing ends the link (it stays yours: sharing again uses it)

Click Refresh to check again. If the service can't be reached, check your internet connection. If free links are switched off, try again later.

The free HF Tunnel app has the same page and dialog for any local web server.

Good to know

  • This computer has its own private tunnel key, so only you can use your links.
  • The Share dialog says whether the link name is already yours (You already have this link) or will be made new, and how many of your links are used.
  • A link that is unused for a long time is removed by the tunnel service; sharing again makes it again.
  • Visitors through a link can't reach phpMyAdmin (or /pma, /adminer, server-status), phpinfo() or your list of local sites: they get Not available through HF Tunnel.
  • Sites can't be shared while MySQL's root user has no password or still has the default one (password).

For more about the service, and running it on your own server, see HF Tunnel.