localview

Open your local dev server on your phone with a QR scan.

localview finds your machine's LAN IP, builds a URL pointing at your dev server's port, and prints a QR code in the terminal.

Scan it from any device on the same network.

No tunnels, no signup, no daemon.

Quick start

1. Start your dev server.

2. In a separate terminal, run localview with the same port:

   npx localview --port 8080

3. Scan the QR code with your phone's camera. The page opens in the default browser.

Use cases

• Mobile UI checks: touch targets, breakpoints, virtual keyboards, and the OS chrome that desktop devtools approximations can't fully replicate.
• Real-device APIs: getUserMedia, geolocation, device orientation, vibrate, and other sensor or permission flows that only work on a real phone.
• PWA install flow: Add-to-home-screen prompts, splash screens, standalone-mode display.

Options

| Flag | Description | | -------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------- | | --port, -P | Port your dev server is bound to. Required. | | --path | Path appended to the URL (e.g. /admin). | | --host | Override the auto-detected LAN IP (Docker, multi-NIC, demos). |

Examples

# Deep-link to a specific route:
npx localview --port 3000 --path /admin

# Pin the LAN IP yourself instead of auto-detecting:
npx localview --port 8080 --host 192.168.1.42

If your machine has multiple LAN interfaces (wifi + VPN + Docker bridges, for example), localview shows an interactive picker with arrow-key navigation. The smart-sorted default (wifi and ethernet first) is selected by pressing Enter.

Requirements

• Node.js ^20.19.0, ^22.12.0, or >=23.
• Your dev server and your phone connected to the same network.
• Your dev server must accept connections from its LAN address. Many frameworks bind to 127.0.0.1 only by default; bind to 0.0.0.0 instead (the exact flag depends on your tool: --host 0.0.0.0, --bind 0.0.0.0, HOST=0.0.0.0, etc.) to expose it on the LAN.

License

MIT