Share Your URL

When you’re building an API locally, you often need to show it to teammates, clients or test webhooks from third-party services. LacePHP’s Share command uses ngrok to open a secure tunnel from the public internet to your local development server; no complex network setup required.

Why Share Your Local URL?

  • Instant demos Show your work in progress to stakeholders without deploying.

  • Webhook testing Services like Stripe or GitHub need a public callback URL.

  • Remote team collaboration Let colleagues access your local server from anywhere.

The dev:share Command

LacePHP provides a built-in command to start an ngrok tunnel:

# Default (port 8000)
php lace dev:share

# Specify a different port (e.g. 6916)
php lace dev:share 6916

What happens:

  1. LacePHP echoes Starting ngrok tunnel on port {port}…

  2. Internally it calls TunnelService($port)->share()

  3. ngrok starts and prints a public URL, for example https://abcd1234.ngrok.io

  4. You can now access your local API at that public address.

Usage Example

  1. Start your local server In one terminal, run:

    php lace tread

    You’ll see: Server running at http://127.0.0.1:6916

  2. Open the tunnel In another terminal:

    php lace dev:share 6916

    You’ll get output similar to:

    Starting ngrok tunnel on port 6916...
ngrok by @inconshreveable                                       (Ctrl+C to quit)
Session Status                online
Session Expires               7 hours, 59 minutes
Version                       3.2.0
Region                        United States (us)
Web Interface                 http://127.0.0.1:4040
Forwarding                    https://abcd1234.ngrok.io → http://localhost:6916

  3. Share the URL Copy the https://abcd1234.ngrok.io address and send it to your team or configure it for webhooks.

Under the Hood

The TunnelService class (in LaceboxTongueTunnelService) wraps the ngrok binary:

  • It spawns ngrok on the specified port

  • Captures and streams ngrok’s console output to your terminal

  • Manages the tunnel process until you press Ctrl+C

Best Practices

  • Use only in development—never expose your production database or secrets.

  • Restrict access with basic auth or IP allowlists if ngrok’s public URL is sensitive.

  • Monitor usage: tunnels are temporary and expire; ngrok’s dashboard (http://127.0.0.1:4040) shows active tunnels.

  • Automate in scripts: combine with php lace tread in a single shell script to start server and tunnel together.

Warning

  • Public tunnels mean anyone with the URL can hit your local machine—do not run with privileged or sensitive endpoints open.

  • ngrok free plan limits concurrent tunnels and session duration—upgrade or use alternative tunneling tools if needed.

  • Ensure your local environment matches production (env variables, database) before sharing for realistic testing.

With php lace dev:share, you can quickly expose your local LacePHP apps; making demos, webhook tests and remote collaboration effortless.