bjarneo

bjarneo / stairway

Public

A self-hosted ngrok alternative in two bash scripts. One runs on your VPS, the other on your laptop. Traffic flows through SSH tunnels you control.

18
0
100% credibility
Found Feb 18, 2026 at 15 stars -- GitGems finds repos before they trend. Get early access to the next one.
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AI Analysis
Shell
AI Summary

Stairway is a straightforward tool that lets you expose local services to the public internet through your own server, automatically handling secure connections and custom web addresses.

How It Works

1
🔍 Discover Stairway

You find a handy tool to share your local web projects with the world using your own internet server, no signups or fees needed.

2
💾 Set It Up

Download the simple tool to your computer and make it ready to use in moments.

3
🔗 Link Your Server

Share details of your remote internet server once, and it automatically prepares secure pathways for sharing.

4
🚀 Share Your App

Pick the door on your computer where your app is listening, and instantly get a public web link to show it off.

5
📊 Keep Track

Check a list of your live shares anytime, see what's active, and easily pause or stop them.

🎉 All Set!

Your local project is now safely live on the internet, accessible to anyone with the link, just like magic.

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Star Growth

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AI-Generated Review

What is stairway?

Stairway is a bash-based self-hosted ngrok alternative that exposes your local ports to the public internet via SSH tunnels to your VPS. Run one command to init your server, then `stairway up 3000` auto-assigns a public URL or sets up a custom domain with nginx reverse proxy and Let's Encrypt SSL. It solves the pain of third-party tunneling services by giving you full control with autossh for reliable reconnections—no accounts or fees needed.

Why is it gaining traction?

Unlike ngrok's quotas and SaaS lock-in, stairway runs entirely on your infrastructure, perfect for self-hosted GitHub Actions runners, n8n workflows, or AI starter kits needing persistent tunnels. The single CLI handles multi-server setups, tunnel status checks, and one-click domain removal, with smart replacement of existing tunnels to avoid port conflicts. Devs love the zero-config SSL and firewall tweaks it applies remotely.

Who should use this?

DevOps folks deploying self-hosted GitHub runners or enterprise alternatives, indie devs tunneling local n8n instances or Codespaces-like previews, and teams running dockerized self-hosted GitHub Actions without cloud dependencies. Ideal for anyone with a VPS tired of ngrok's limits during demos or webhook testing.

Verdict

Try it if you want a lightweight, script-only self-hosted ngrok—docs are excellent and setup takes minutes, but with just 13 stars and 1.0% credibility, it's early-stage; test thoroughly before production. Solid for bash enthusiasts avoiding bloat.

(198 words)

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