If you’re still sharing, “localhost:3000” we need to talk!!
You build something cool. It’s running clean on localhost:3000. You’re actually proud of it.
Then someone says, “Send me the link”
and Now…., you start googling how to deploy, uploading to github, setting up a server.
Suddenly what was a simple “look what i make” moment turns into a mini launch process, Build → Push → Wait, Hope it doesn’t crash in production.
All this…. just so someone can see what’s already running perfectly on your laptop, But here’s the part nobody tells you — you don’t have to deploy.
You can literally just forward the port from VS Code, make it public, and get a real URL instantly.
Here’s how it actually works, Open VS code look at the bottom panel. There’s a Ports tab. Click “Forward a Port”. Type 3000 (or whatever port your app is using) and hit enter.
VS Code will generate a URL for that port. If it asks you to sign in just authenticate with Github — takes a few seconds.
Now the important part, Right-click the forwarded port. Go to Port Visibility and set it to Public. By default, it’s private — meaning only you can access it. If you skip this, you’ll send the link and it simply won’t open for anyone else.
After making it public make it — Copy it — Send it, that link is not tunneling directly to your local server. Whatever is running on your machine is accessible through that URL — instantly.
Sometimes you don’t need to ship, you just need to share, free yourself with sharing localhost:3000.