Webhook Tunneling — Coming Soon
Expose your local development server to the internet so webhook providers can deliver directly to localhost — no ngrok required.
Quick Answer
Requex tunneling will create a persistent HTTPS subdomain on requex.me that forwards all incoming HTTP requests to a port on your local machine. Paste the subdomain URL into any webhook provider, and deliveries will hit your local server in real time — without configuring port forwarding, installing ngrok, or paying for a plan.
What Tunneling Will Let You Do
Tunneling solves the core local development problem: webhook providers need a publicly reachable HTTPS URL, but your development server only listens on localhost. With Requex tunneling you will be able to:
- 1
Expose any local port — point the tunnel at
localhost:3000,localhost:8080, or any port your dev server uses. - 2
Test against your real server — Stripe, GitHub, Shopify, and other providers will deliver webhooks to your actual application code, so you can step through your handler in a debugger.
- 3
Remove the ngrok dependency — no separate account, no session limits, no paid plans for custom subdomains. Tunneling will be part of the same free Requex platform.
- 4
Inspect and replay — all requests that pass through the tunnel will still be visible in the Requex dashboard, giving you the same inspection and replay capabilities as today.
How It Will Work
The planned implementation requires no port forwarding or firewall changes on your machine:
- 1
Install the CLI (or use browser-based setup)
A lightweight CLI tool will be available via npm. Alternatively, a browser-based setup will generate a config script you can run with a single command.
- 2
Authenticate with your Requex API key
Your API key (available in the Settings page) will be used to identify your account and claim your persistent subdomain.
- 3
Get your subdomain on requex.me
The tunnel server assigns you a stable URL like
yourname.requex.me. This subdomain stays consistent across sessions so you do not need to update webhook URLs in provider dashboards every time you restart. - 4
Forward to your local port
Run
requex tunnel --port 3000. All requests arriving at your subdomain are forwarded over a persistent WebSocket connection to your local server.
Try the Alternative Today
While tunneling is in development, you can use the current Requex endpoint as a two-step approach that covers most local testing scenarios:
Step 1 — Capture the raw payload
Point your webhook provider at your Requex endpoint. Every request is captured in full — headers, body, query params, method — and stored in the dashboard.
Step 2 — Replay to localhost via forwarding rules
Configure a forwarding rule to relay each captured request to http://localhost:3000. Requex will forward the original headers and body, so your local handler sees an identical copy of the production payload.
This approach works for most debugging needs. See the local webhook testing guide for a detailed walkthrough.
Requex Tunneling vs Alternatives
Here is how the planned Requex tunneling feature compares to the most common alternatives:
| Feature | Requex Tunneling (coming) | ngrok Free | localhost.run |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free (limited) | Free |
| Persistent subdomain | Yes | No (paid only) | No |
| Custom subdomain | Yes (API key) | Paid plans only | No |
| Request inspection UI | Yes — full Requex dashboard | Basic web inspector | No |
| Payload forwarding rules | Yes | No | No |
| Auth testing | Yes | No | No |
| Session timeout | None (while connected) | 2 hours (free) | None |
| Install required | npm CLI or browser setup | Binary download | SSH only |
| Account required | Free Requex account | Free ngrok account | No |
Requex tunneling features are planned; specifications may change before launch. See the ngrok alternative comparison for a detailed breakdown of current options.
Related Resources
Get Notified When Tunneling Launches
Create a free Requex account to be notified the moment tunneling goes live. Existing accounts will receive early access automatically.