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This quickstart shows you how to make a service running on a remote device accessible from the internet using ngrok.

What you’ll need

  • An ngrok account
  • A device with network access (Linux, Windows, Raspberry Pi, or any system with a CPU and network connection)
  • A service running on the device (for example, an HTTP server on port 8080 or SSH on port 22)
1

Install the ngrok agent

Download ngrok on your device and authenticate:
2

Start a tunnel

Use the following command to start a tunnel with the ngrok agent. When the command runs, the agent reaches the ngrok cloud using a single outbound TLS connection on port 443, creating a secure tunnel to the service on your device. No inbound firewall rules or port forwarding are required on the remote network
Expose an HTTP service running on the device. Replace 8080 with any port where your service is running:
3

Connect to your device

Copy the public URL from the agent console and use it to reach your device from anywhere.For HTTP endpoints, open the URL in a browser. For TCP endpoints (like SSH), connect using the provided host and port:
4

Run ngrok as a service

For production deployments, install ngrok as a background service so it starts automatically and recovers from crashes:

Next steps

  • Full walkthrough: follow a detailed example configuring a smart factory with internal and Cloud Endpoints
  • Installation guides: platform-specific setup for Linux, ARM64, Raspberry Pi, and Windows
  • Fleet management: manage credentials and multi-tenancy across thousands of devices
  • Traffic Policy: add authentication, rate limiting, and access control at ngrok’s edge