Expose your local apps to the world—securely, instantly, and with zero hassle.
Moley is the easiest way to share your local development services using Cloudflare Tunnels and your own custom domains. Forget about reverse proxies, manual DNS, or complex infrastructure—Moley automates everything for you, so you can focus on building, not configuring.
Why use Moley?
No extra infrastructure: No need for Nginx, load balancers, or public servers.
No need for Nginx, load balancers, or public servers. Automatic DNS: Instantly get public URLs for your local apps, with DNS records managed for you.
Instantly get public URLs for your local apps, with DNS records managed for you. Professional presentation: Use your own domain names for demos, APIs, or webhooks.
Use your own domain names for demos, APIs, or webhooks. One config, one command: Centralized YAML config and a single command to go live.
Centralized YAML config and a single command to go live. Secure by default: Built on Cloudflare Tunnels, with best practices for token and config security.
Unlike traditional approaches that require setting up reverse proxies like Nginx Proxy Manager, Moley automatically creates and manages DNS records via the Cloudflare API. This means no additional infrastructure setup—just configure your local services and let Moley handle the rest.
Approach Infrastructure Required DNS Management Setup Complexity Moley None Automatic via API Single command cloudflared + Nginx Nginx Proxy Manager Manual dashboard Multiple services Manual Cloudflare None Manual dashboard Complex configuration
Moley eliminates the need for reverse proxies while providing automated DNS management - the best of both worlds.
Key Benefits
Moley offers automated setup, streamlined tunnel creation and configuration, and automatic subdomain management. It handles resource cleanup on tunnel termination and supports exposing multiple local applications at once. You can use your own domain names for a professional presentation, and there is no need for reverse proxies, load balancers, or additional services. All configuration is centralized and validated, and operational logging is structured for clarity.
Getting Started
Get your local app online in minutes:
# 1. Install cloudflared (choose your OS) # macOS brew install cloudflare/cloudflare/cloudflared # Linux wget https://github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared/releases/latest/download/cloudflared-linux-amd64.deb sudo dpkg -i cloudflared-linux-amd64.deb # Windows: Download from https://github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared/releases # 2. Authenticate cloudflared with your Cloudflare account cloudflared tunnel login # 3. Clone and build Moley git clone < repository-url > cd mole make build # 4. Set your Cloudflare API token ./moley config --cloudflare.token=" your-api-token" # 5. Initialize Moley configuration ./moley tunnel init # 6. Edit the generated moley.yml file to match your requirements # (open moley.yml in your editor) # 7. Start the tunnel ./moley tunnel run
For a full list of available commands and options, run ./moley --help or ./moley
Configuration Reference
Configuration Schema
Field Type Description Required zone string The DNS zone (your domain) to use for the tunnel Yes apps array Array of application configurations Yes apps[].target.port integer Local service port (1-65535) Yes apps[].target.hostname string Local hostname (typically localhost ) Yes apps[].expose.subdomain string Public subdomain (e.g., api becomes api.yourdomain.com ) Yes
Security Considerations
Important: Never commit API tokens to version control. Use the moley config --cloudflare.token command for sensitive data.
Refer to SECURITY.md for comprehensive security guidelines.
Troubleshooting
Common Issues
Authentication Errors
Verify cloudflared authentication: cloudflared tunnel login
Confirm API token permissions (Zone:Read, DNS:Edit)
Set API token: moley config --cloudflare.token="your-token"
Configuration Errors
Validate moley.yml file structure
file structure Verify zone name format and ownership
Ensure port numbers are within valid range (1-65535)
Confirm subdomain specifications
Network Issues
Verify local service availability
Check firewall configurations
Ensure port accessibility
File System Errors
Run moley tunnel init to create configuration file
to create configuration file Verify working directory contains moley.yml
Architecture
Core Components
Tunnel Manager : Handles tunnel lifecycle and deployment
: Handles tunnel lifecycle and deployment Runner Service : Manages tunnel execution and monitoring
: Manages tunnel execution and monitoring Configuration Generator : Creates Cloudflare tunnel configurations
: Creates Cloudflare tunnel configurations API Client : Cloudflare API integration wrapper
: Cloudflare API integration wrapper Configuration Manager: Configuration loading and validation
Operational Flow
Configuration loading and validation from moley.yml Tunnel creation or reuse of existing tunnel DNS record configuration for specified applications Cloudflare tunnel configuration generation Tunnel service execution and monitoring Resource cleanup on termination
Development
Build Commands
# Development build make build # Global installation make install # Clean build artifacts make clean
Testing
# Run test suite make test # Generate coverage report make test-coverage
Code Quality
# Format code make fmt # Static analysis make vet
Contributing
Fork the repository Create a feature branch Implement changes with appropriate tests Ensure all tests pass Submit a pull request
License
MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.
Support
For issues and questions: