Quickstart Guide

This page shows the shortest workflow that exposes a local HTTP service through rstream. The goal is clarity rather than completeness: install the CLI, authenticate, select a project, and open a tunnel.

For the example, a small HTTP server listens on port 8080. Any service that listens on a TCP port can be used instead.

Start a local service

Run a simple HTTP server on port 8080:

python -m http.server 8080

Keep the process running while the tunnel is open.

Authenticate

Authenticate the CLI:

rstream login

The command starts a browser-based flow and stores an authentication token in the local rstream configuration.

Select a project

Create a project in the Dashboard and copy its project endpoint. Then select it in the CLI:

rstream project use <project-endpoint> --default

This creates or updates a local context for the selected project and makes it the default context for subsequent CLI commands.

Open a tunnel

Create a published tunnel that forwards to the local port:

rstream forward 8080

The CLI prints the public endpoint assigned to the tunnel.

Next steps

Continue with Create a Tunnel for a deeper explanation of tunnel options, and HTTP Tunnels for protocol behavior and authentication at the edge.