Overview

portless is a revolutionary tool designed to eliminate the frustration of managing ephemeral port numbers during local development. It intelligently replaces hard-to-remember port numbers with stable, human-readable, and agent-friendly .localhost URLs. This dramatically simplifies accessing your local applications, making your development workflow smoother and more intuitive.

Key Features

• Named Local URLs: Assigns stable, named URLs (e.g., https://myapp.localhost) to your local development servers, replacing ambiguous port numbers.
• Automatic HTTPS & HTTP/2: Enables secure HTTPS with HTTP/2 by default, providing a production-like experience and improved performance without any manual configuration.
• Intelligent Command Injection: Automatically injects necessary flags (like --port) into your existing development scripts, seamlessly integrating with popular frameworks like Next.js, Express, Nuxt, and more.
• Monorepo Support: Effortlessly manage multiple projects within a monorepo, assigning unique .localhost URLs to each workspace package.
• Git Worktree Integration: Automatically prepends branch names as subdomains for linked Git worktrees, ensuring unique URLs for each development branch without configuration.
• Custom TLD Support: Allows you to use custom Top-Level Domains (TLDs) like .test or even your own domain for local development, mirroring production environments.
• LAN Mode for Local Network Access: Easily expose your development servers to other devices on your local network using .local subdomains.
• Tailscale and ngrok Integration: Seamlessly share your local development servers publicly or with teammates via Tailscale and ngrok.
• OS Service Integration: Install portless as an OS startup service for continuous availability of your named URLs after reboots.

Typical Use Cases

• Developers working on web applications: Quickly access your local Next.js, Nuxt, or Express applications via clean, memorable URLs instead of localhost:3000 or localhost:8080.
• Teams collaborating on monorepos: Ensure each service or application within a monorepo has a distinct, predictable .localhost address for easy access and testing.
• Developers using Git worktrees: Automatically get unique, branch-specific .localhost URLs for each worktree, eliminating URL conflicts.
• Developers who need to test cross-device or cross-network access: Utilize LAN mode to make your local servers accessible on your local network.
• Individuals needing to share their local development environment: Leverage Tailscale or ngrok integration to expose specific applications to the public internet or teammates.
• Anyone seeking to streamline their local development setup: Eliminate the manual effort of port management and enjoy a more professional and efficient workflow.