How does bore compare to ngrok?

bore is a simpler, self-hostable tool focused only on TCP tunneling with minimal overhead, while ngrok offers more features like HTTPS, web interfaces, and managed services, but often at a cost and with greater complexity.

How to secure bore tunnels with authentication?

Run the server with the --secret option, and clients must provide the same secret using --secret or the BORE_SECRET environment variable, as detailed in the Authentication section of the README.

Does bore support HTTPS or SSL encryption?

No, bore only tunnels TCP traffic without built-in encryption; for HTTPS, you need to handle SSL termination separately on your local service or use a reverse proxy.

Can I use bore to expose a local database remotely?

Yes, bore can forward TCP ports, so it's suitable for databases like MySQL or PostgreSQL, but ensure to use authentication and consider security risks due to lack of traffic encryption.

How to install bore on Windows without installing Rust?

Download the prebuilt binary from the releases page, unzip it, and add the executable to your PATH, as mentioned in the Binary Distribution section of the README.

How to assign a specific remote port in bore instead of a random one?

Use the --port option with the 'bore local' command to select a specific port on the remote server, but note it will fail if the port is already in use, as explained in the usage details.

Open-Awesome

bore

MITRustv0.6.0

A modern, simple TCP tunnel in Rust that exposes local ports to a remote server, bypassing NAT firewalls.

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11.1k stars489 forks0 contributors

What is bore?

bore is a CLI tool that creates TCP tunnels to expose local ports to a remote server, allowing access to local services from the public internet. It solves the problem of bypassing NAT firewalls and standard connection barriers with a minimal, efficient approach. The tool is designed for simplicity, focusing solely on forwarding TCP traffic without extra features.

Target Audience

Developers and system administrators who need to expose local development servers, demo applications, or internal services temporarily to the internet. It's ideal for those seeking a lightweight, self-hostable alternative to commercial tunneling services.

Value Proposition

Developers choose bore for its simplicity, efficiency, and ease of self-hosting, built with a small Rust codebase for reliability. Unlike more complex tools, it offers an unopinionated, no-frills tunneling solution that is trivial to set up and run.

Overview

🕳 bore is a simple CLI tool for making tunnels to localhost

Use Cases

Best For

Exposing a local web server for demo or testing purposes
Bypassing NAT firewalls to access local services remotely
Self-hosting a lightweight tunneling server for team use
Temporarily sharing local development environments with collaborators
Forwarding TCP traffic for applications like databases or APIs
Creating secure tunnels with optional authentication for controlled access

Not Ideal For

Applications requiring UDP traffic forwarding or multi-protocol support
Teams needing built-in HTTPS/SSL termination for secure web traffic
Use cases where custom subdomains or persistent URLs are essential

Pros & Cons

Pros

Minimal Codebase

Built with about 400 lines of safe, async Rust, ensuring reliability and easy auditing, as highlighted in the README.

Easy Self-Hosting

Run your own server with a single 'bore server' command, providing full control over tunneling infrastructure without dependencies.

Cross-Platform Support

Offers prebuilt binaries for macOS, Windows, and Linux, plus Docker images, simplifying installation across different environments.

Optional Authentication

Supports secret-based handshakes using HMAC codes for secure client-server connections, preventing unauthorized access as described in the protocol.

Cons

No Traffic Encryption

Only the initial handshake is secured with a secret; subsequent TCP traffic is forwarded without encryption, posing a risk for sensitive data.

TCP-Only Limitation

Focuses solely on TCP forwarding, lacking support for UDP or other protocols, which restricts use for applications like VoIP or real-time gaming.

Basic Port Management

Ports are assigned randomly by default, with limited options for custom ports, and no built-in domain mapping or advanced routing features.

Open Source Alternative To

bore is an open-source alternative to the following products:

localtunnel

localtunnel is a tool that exposes your localhost to the world for easy testing and sharing, creating a public URL that tunnels requests to your locally running web server.

ngrok

Frequently Asked Questions

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