Expose on Ubuntu 24.04

Overview

Expose is an open source reverse tunnel server written in pure PHP, and the self hosted alternative to hosted tunnelling services such as ngrok. A small client running on a developer's machine opens a persistent connection out to the server; the server then accepts inbound public HTTP requests and routes them back down that connection to whatever is running on the developer's laptop. That makes it possible to demonstrate work in progress, receive webhooks from payment, messaging and version control providers, and test integrations against a real public URL, all without deploying anything or opening a firewall port.

Running the server yourself keeps development traffic, webhook payloads and pre release demos on your own infrastructure and under your own domain, and removes the per seat subscriptions, session time limits and rotating subdomains that hosted tunnelling services impose. A built in web dashboard manages tunnel tokens, lists connected sites and shows live request logs, which is what makes debugging an inbound webhook practical.

Common uses

• Receive webhooks from payment, messaging and version control providers against a local development machine
• Share work in progress at a public URL for client review and cross device testing
• Run a private tunnel endpoint under your own domain instead of a third party relay service

See it running

Real screenshots taken while testing this image against its deployment guide.