Ankit, Jarek Ceborski12 min read
5+ Ngrok Alternatives: Free Tiers and Prices Compared
Ngrok alternatives compared on free tiers, prices and what a visitor sees first: LocalCan, Cloudflare Tunnel, zrok, localtunnel, PageKite and Tailscale.
Blog
Guides and tutorials for developers: exposing localhost, testing webhooks, running MCP servers, self-hosting and everyday dev tooling.
Recent posts
12 min read
Is ngrok Safe? What a Tunnel Exposes and How IT Finds It
Is ngrok safe? The tool is legitimate, the risk is what you expose and who owns the account. What a free URL leaks, what IT sees, what blocking misses.
8 min read
ngrok vs Cloudflare Tunnel Speed: A 100 MB Download Test
ngrok vs Cloudflare Tunnel speed: a 100 MB download through each, plus LocalCan, Pinggy and LocalXpose, from a September 2025 test, with current prices.
13 min read
GitHub Webhook "We couldn't deliver this payload": Each Error and Its Fix
GitHub webhook "We couldn't deliver this payload"? What each error means, from connect failures and timeouts to x509, 404 and 502, and the fix for each.
14 min read
Shopify Webhook Not Firing? Scopes, Timeouts and Retries
Shopify webhook not firing? A missing scope fails with HTTP 200, a slow 200 is a failure and retries end after 4 hours, each shown with a captured request.
More posts
php2shell (CVE-2026-109618): Check Herd and Valet Sites Behind a Tunnel
php2shell (CVE-2026-109618) on a dev laptop: find Herd, Valet and artisan serve sites behind a tunnel, check their PHP version, and lock them until patched.
10 min read
How to Get Feedback on a Website Prototype (Pinned Comments)
How to get feedback on a website prototype: what to send reviewers, where they should comment, and what a pinned comment records that a screenshot loses.
11 min read
How to Test Stripe Webhooks Locally (CLI and Public URL)
How to test Stripe webhooks locally: forward events with stripe listen, or point an event destination at a Public URL, then inspect and replay the delivery.
15 min read
Open Localhost on Your Phone (Same Wi-Fi or Any Network)
How to open localhost on your phone: the LAN IP on the same Wi-Fi, the dev server flag it needs, and a Public URL for HTTPS or another network.
10 min read
State of MCP Server Development: October 2026
State of MCP server development in October 2026: a census of 43,012 registry servers, a 500-server handshake probe, the 2026-07-28 spec and SDK numbers.
16 min read
Tailscale Funnel Alternative: Bandwidth, Delays, Custom Domains
A Tailscale Funnel alternative for sharing localhost outside your tailnet: Funnel's limits, measured bandwidth and URL delays, and custom domains.
9 min read
How to Password Protect a Prototype Link (Figma, Vercel, Netlify, Localhost)
How to password protect a prototype link on Figma, Vercel, Netlify or your own laptop, what each one costs, and why a JavaScript prompt protects nothing.
10 min read
localtunnel Error "connection refused: localtunnel.me (check your firewall settings)"
The localtunnel error "connection refused: localtunnel.me:PORT (check your firewall settings)" is rarely a firewall. Why lt crashes after a sleep, and the fix.
9 min read
npx expo start --tunnel: Why It Fails and How to Use Your Own Tunnel
npx expo start --tunnel runs Metro through Expo's shared ngrok account. What it does, why it fails, and how to point Expo Go at your own stable Public URL.
14 min read
Jev Tutorial: Build Your Own Invisible CAPTCHA (No Puzzles to Solve)
Build an invisible CAPTCHA with no puzzles: the browser measures how a form is filled in, and TypeSafe's Jev decides if a person or an AI agent did it.
25 min read
Local Tunneling: Complete Guide to Exposing Localhost to the Internet
Discover how local tunneling tools simplify secure internet access to localhost applications, ideal for development, testing, and remote collaboration.
17 min read
How to Share a Vibe-Coded App With a Client (Every Real Option)
How to share a vibe-coded app with a client: Figma, Vercel, Netlify, ngrok, and a Snapshot you publish from the app in one click, with feedback pinned on the page.
16 min read
Add OAuth 2.1 to Your MCP Server (and Why the URL Has to Stay Put)
Secure an MCP server with OAuth 2.1 using Scalekit, connect it to Claude, and see why a stable public URL is non-negotiable for the OAuth callback.
10 min read
From Localhost to Claude.ai: Test Your Local MCP Server End-to-End
Build a local MCP server, expose it with a public HTTPS URL, and connect it to Claude.ai. A working TypeScript walkthrough with the version gotchas named.
12 min read
NPM Security Best Practices: Defending Against Supply Chain Attacks
The npm security best practices we just rolled out across every LocalCan repo to defend against supply chain attacks: lockfile discipline, install-time cooldowns, --ignore-scripts, digest-pinned images, and locking down CI.
12 min read
How I use Claude Code on large projects
A workflow built on context management, lead/implementer/reviewer agents, and ruthless planning. What works for me on multi-repo, multi-language codebases.
12 min read
LocalCan 3.0 Beta: The Biggest Update Yet
LocalCan 3.0 Beta brings a CLI, YAML configuration, Linux support, multiple endpoints per service, and a global edge network — the biggest update since the app launched.
4 min read
Building Stripe-like Public IDs in Postgres with Nano ID
Learn how to create Stripe-style prefixed IDs like cus_abc123 or team_xyz789 in Postgres using Nano ID. No extensions required.
9 min read
Tutorial: Self-host Next.js with Docker Swarm and CI/CD Pipeline
Learn how to self-host Next.js on any VPS using Docker Swarm and a GitLab CI pipeline. This tutorial shows how to create a blog with Postgre as data source.
17 min read
AbortController in Node.js and React - Complete Guide with 5 Examples
Learn how AbortController can cancel fetch requests, event listeners, streams, child processes in JavaScript. Stop memory leaks and improve UX with examples
12 min read
8 Underrated macOS Developer Tools and Apps for Solo Developers
Discover 8 underrated macOS developer tools that can supercharge your workflow. From tunneling to API testing, find efficient alternatives to mainstream tools.
9 min read
Rate-limit and mitigate WebSockets DDoS attacks with Cloudflare API
Rate-limit and protect your WebSocket server from DDoS attacks with strategies using Cloudflare firewall (WAF). Example code implementation with CloudflareAPI, Fastify and node-cache.
6 min read
Self-signed certificate for local development (OpenSSL, JavaScript)
Learn how to create self-signed certificates for local development using OpenSSL and JavaScript (Node.js). Mirror your production environment closely to test critical features like authentication, secure cookies, service workers, PWAs, and the Geolocation API. Simplify the process with practical examples and step-by-step instructions.
4 min read