Introduction

Nearhost opens a dev server that runs on another machine at a trusted https://name.test address on your laptop. It uses the SSH access you already have and installs nothing on the server.

Who it is for

You write code on a laptop and run it somewhere else: a desktop under the desk, a home server, a VPS. The app listens on localhost over there, and your browser is over here.

Without Nearhost that means an ssh -L flag per port, a certificate warning, and hot reload that fails to connect. With it, each project has a name, a certificate your browser trusts, and forwards that reconnect on their own.

What you get

• One address per project. https://myapp.test today, tomorrow and after a reboot.
• Real HTTPS. Secure cookies, OAuth callbacks and service workers behave as they do in production.
• Hot reload and WebSockets. They travel through the same SSH connection.
• Nothing on the server. No agent, no config changes, no open ports. If ssh <host> works, Nearhost works.
• Any stack. Nearhost routes ports. It reads Compose files and Vite configs to propose them, and you can enter them by hand for anything else.

Quick start

Install the binary:

curl -fsSL https://nearhost.dev/install.sh | sh

Start it. The first run sets up the local certificate authority:

nearhost

Then press n to add a server, n again to add a project, and o to open it. The same steps from the command line:

nearhost add --server mini ~/code/myapp
nearhost up myapp

Where to go next

• Install covers Homebrew, npm and Linux setup.
• Add a server and Add a project walk through each screen.
• Dev servers and hot reload explains how assets and live reload reach your browser.

When to use something else

Nearhost serves your own browser on your own machine. To show a page to a client or a teammate, use a public tunnel service. To reach a database or another non-HTTP port, a plain ssh -L forward is still the right tool.