Share localhost from the wiremaven Chrome extension

The wiremaven Chrome extension gives a running localhost app a temporary public URL. It runs from a popup, proxies to a port you choose, and leaves the app code untouched.

Who should use it

• Developers who need to show a local build to a client, teammate, or stakeholder without deploying it.
• Designers and reviewers who need a shareable review URL.
• Founders and operators who want tunnel controls in Chrome instead of a terminal.
• Teams on any stack: anything that serves HTTP on a localhost port works, whatever the language or framework.

Prerequisites

• Chrome 116 or newer.
• Your normal local dev server is running.
• Your app is available on http://localhost:<port> or http://127.0.0.1:<port>.
• The app serves plain HTTP on localhost. The extension does not support self-signed HTTPS.

Start and stop a tunnel

1. Install from the Chrome Web Store

Visit the wiremaven listing on the Chrome Web Store and click Add to Chrome. Confirm the browser prompt to install the extension. No developer mode or unpacked folder required.

2. Enter the local port

Open the wiremaven popup and enter the port your app uses, such as 3000 or 4321. The extension does not auto-detect the port or start the dev server for you.

3. Choose the TTL

Choose how long the tunnel should stay open: 15, 30, or 60 minutes. Use the shortest window that matches the review session.

4. Start the tunnel

Click Start. The popup connects to the wiremaven relay and keeps status, expiry, and the recent event log in sync. The session token slug appears in the status pill. Grab the full public URL from the copy button in the toolbar.

5. Copy the public URL

Use the popup copy control and share the generated URL. Reviewers do not need the extension installed to open that public link. The machine running the localhost app needs the extension.

6. Stop the tunnel

Click Stop when the review ends or when you want to invalidate the current link before its TTL expires.

Limitations

• No auto-detect for framework, port, or local server status.
• No content scripts. Nothing is injected into the reviewed page.
• No self-signed HTTPS localhost support.
• Fixed relay URL: wss://relay.wiremaven.com/tunnel/register.
• Chrome only. No Firefox, Safari, or Edge package.
• Live reload reaches reviewers on Next.js 16 once the extension is in allowedDevOrigins (see the docs). On Vite-based dev servers, the reviewer reloads the page to see a change.
• Request and response bodies are limited to 5 MB each. A larger upload gets a 413 error.

Need a link that outlasts a review, or access to a whole private network? Read ngrok vs Tailscale for the tools built for those jobs.

Privacy summary

The extension keeps session-scoped tunnel state in browser session storage so the popup and background worker stay in sync. That state includes the local port, relay token, public URL, expiry, current status, recent event log, and the latest visible error.

The extension proxies request and response bodies in memory. It does not write them to extension storage, analytics systems, crash reporters, or marketing trackers.

• No analytics, telemetry, crash reporting, or advertising identifiers.
• No browsing history, page-content scraping, or unrelated site access.
• Network access is limited to http://localhost/*, http://127.0.0.1/*, and the fixed wiremaven relay.