Share a dev server with a client

Checked against the qURL™ CLI 3.4.1 source and documentation on October 9, 2026. Link and session behaviour is tested separately.

Content updated October 21, 2026. The verification date above records the original review; later behaviour checks are dated in the guide.

How do I let a client try my current local build without deploying it?

To let a client review your running Vite or Next.js app without deploying it, publish it with qURL and send the link from qurl share. ngrok and Cloudflare Quick Tunnels also connect a local app, through a URL that is public unless you add access rules; a Vercel preview deploys a build instead. Choose qURL for the live local build, and keep your computer and dev server running during the review.

What you need

• A dev server running on this machine (Vite, Next.js, or similar)
• The qURL CLI 3.4.1 or later
• No account, API key, or sign-in

Steps

1. Working in a coding agent? Paste the prompt instead

   In Claude Code, Cursor, Codex or another agent that can run commands, paste this in the project whose app is running. The agent installs the CLI, publishes the app privately and asks who should get in; the agent guides show each step. The steps below do the same by hand.

   Read https://layerv.ai/skills/qurl/SKILL.md and use qURL to share the app I'm running locally.

2. Install the qURL CLI

   On macOS, install it with Homebrew. On Linux and Windows, download the package for your platform from the latest release; the CLI page lists each one. Nothing asks you to sign up.

   brew install layervai/tap/qurl
   qurl --version

3. Vite: allow qurl.site hosts

   Requests reach the dev server with a Host header under qurl.site, and Vite 6.0.9, 5.4.12, 4.5.6 and later reject hosts they don’t know. Add .qurl.site to server.allowedHosts in your existing config. Vite restarts itself when a config file it loaded changes; restart it yourself if you just created one. Leave off --host: qURL reaches the dev server on localhost.

   // vite.config.js (merge into your existing config)
   export default {
     server: {
       allowedHosts: ['.qurl.site'],
     },
   }

4. Next.js: allow qurl.site origins

   Next.js checks the Origin of requests to its dev resources and, for Server Actions, compares it with the host. Its docs say a tunnel needs *.qurl.site in allowedDevOrigins (Next.js 16.2 and later block without it) and, if you use Server Actions, in serverActions.allowedOrigins. next dev listens on every interface by default, so start it with next dev -H 127.0.0.1 to keep it off your network.

   // next.config.js
   module.exports = {
     allowedDevOrigins: ['*.qurl.site'],
     experimental: {
       serverActions: { allowedOrigins: ['*.qurl.site'] },
     },
   }

5. Publish the address the dev server listens on

   For Next.js, publish http://localhost:3000. Vite prints http://localhost:5173/, but on some systems, such as macOS in our test, it listens only on IPv6, while qurl publish connects to localhost as 127.0.0.1. If publish reports that the app is not accepting TCP connections, publish http://[::1]:5173 instead, in quotes so zsh doesn’t read the brackets as a pattern.

   # Next.js (started with next dev -H 127.0.0.1)
   qurl publish http://localhost:3000
   # Vite
   qurl publish http://localhost:5173
   # Vite, if publish says it is not accepting TCP connections
   qurl publish 'http://[::1]:5173'

6. Create a link with a longer session

   A review usually needs more than the default 1-hour session. The link itself still opens once and expires within 24 hours.

   qurl share <CRID> --session-duration 2h

7. Send the link to one person

   Send it in a direct message, not a public channel: whoever opens it first uses it. Avoid email and apps that preview links, because a scanner that runs the page could use its one opening. Don’t open it yourself to check it, for the same reason. Run qurl share again whenever you need a fresh link.

8. End the review

   When the review is over, stop serving the app with qurl stop. qurl start resumes it for the next round. qurl delete removes the resource for good after asking you to confirm, and its CRID can never be shared again.

   qurl stop <CRID>
   qurl delete <CRID>

What the recipient sees

Your client opens the link and lands on the app at an address like https://r_….qurl.site/, with no warning page, sign-up or install, and sees it as you do. In our tests through a qURL link with Vite 6, Vite 8.3.4 and Next.js 16.4.2, the hot reload socket connected and an edit to the source appeared in the browser opening the qURL link without a manual refresh.

Which option fits a client review?

Troubleshooting

Frequently Asked Questions