Host Local Projects Without Static IP Using Cloudflare Tunnel

Setting up a public-facing server from your internal network usually comes with a major headache —  you need a static IP and a DNS provider. Even if you’ve got your domain name ready, your ISP may not assign you a static IP, or worse, may charge extra for it.

But what if I told you there’s a way to bypass that entirely?

🔐 Enter Cloudflare Tunnel (aka cloudflared)

Cloudflare Tunnel allows you to expose your local server securely to the internet without needing a static IP or poking holes in your firewall. The magic? It establishes a persistent outbound connection from your machine to Cloudflare’s edge network.

So, instead of users directly hitting your home IP, their requests go through Cloudflare, which then forwards traffic through this tunnel to your internal server — and sends responses back the same way.

All you need is a registered domain on Cloudflare. No static IP, no port forwarding, and no exposing your machine directly.

🛠️ Setting Up a Cloudflare Tunnel

Let’s walk through the setup with a simple example.

1. Go to Cloudflare Zero Trust Dashboard

Navigate to the Zero Trust section in your Cloudflare dashboard.

Zero Trust Section

2. Create Your Team Domain

Pick any name for your team domain. This is just for internal structuring.

Team Domain

3. Select the Free Plan

Yes, it’s completely free! Just proceed to payment, enter any method (no actual charges).

Free Plan

4. Navigate to “Networks > Tunnels”

On the sidebar, head to Networks → Tunnels , then click “Add a Tunnel.”

Add A Tunnel

6. Start the Tunnel (Pick Your Environment)

You’ll now get setup instructions based on your OS.

• For macOS: brew install cloudflared and run as a service.
• Docker: You can also run it inside Docker — straightforward and clean.

Once done, your tunnel status should show as Connected.

Connected Tunnel

🌐 Host Something Locally

Let’s test it out by running a simple server:

Option 1: NGINX via Docker

docker run -p 8080:80 nginx

Option 2: A Tiny Flask App

Save this as app.py and run with python app.py:

from flask import Flask
app = Flask( __name__ )
@app.route('/')
def home():
    return 'Hello, Flask!'
if __name__ == ' __main__':
    app.run(debug=True)

🌍 Expose It with a Public Hostname

Once the tunnel is active:

1. Add a new public hostname
2. Choose any subdomain (e.g., demo.yourdomain.com)
3. Type: HTTP
4. URL: localhost:8080 (for NGINX) or localhost:5000 (for Flask)

Setting for public Host Name

Save it, and boom — you now have a public link to your local server!

Local Server On Public Domain

🐛 Facing issue with HTTPS request

In my setup:

• Next.js frontend ran on port 3000 and was exposed via a tunnel to a subdomain.
• Python Flask backend ran on port 5000, also exposed via a tunnel.

Both were running with HTTP internally.

Cloudflare provides an HTTPS URL for every tunnel. So even though my servers were running on HTTP, the frontend was making HTTPS requests to the backend.

This caused CORS or SSL handshake failures. The requests were made over HTTPS but seemed to break mid-way, possibly due to internal HTTP fallback.

Solution

I started the Flask server with an adhoc self-signed SSL certificate :

• flask run --cert=adhoc --host=0.0.0.0

While setting up the public hostname in the tunnel:

• I used: https://:5000
• Changed the TLS setting to “No TLS verify” , allowing Cloudflare to accept self-signed certs.

Since Flask was generating the certificate on the fly, this was essential to avoid SSL errors.

🧠 Final Thoughts

Cloudflare Tunnel is a game-changer for self-hosting. Whether you’re building demos, internal tools, or working on projects that need remote access, you can now skip the static IP drama.

Try it out, and give your side projects a proper home on the internet — without compromising on security or simplicity.

If you face any issues while setting this up, feel free to reach out. Always happy to help!

—

Refs:

• Cloudflare Docs

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