Access your computer's localhost from your phone

You are building a web app and want to see it on a real phone, or you want to peek at a dashboard that only listens on localhost:3000. Port forwarding in RoamTerm opens that port on your phone through the same encrypted connection as your terminal.

Forward a port

1. Start the service on your computer, for example a dev server on port 5173.
2. In RoamTerm, open your machine and choose Ports, then add a forwarding: remote port 5173 on the computer, opened on the phone.
3. Use the in-app preview browser to open it. The page loads as if localhost:5173 were on the phone.

What it is good for

• Checking a responsive layout on a real device while you code.
• Opening a local admin dashboard, a database UI or a docs preview.
• Calling a local API from a mobile build you are testing.

Safety notes

• Forwarded ports are reachable from your phone only, through your own paired connection. They are not published to the internet.
• Remove a forwarding when you are done; the list shows what is open.
• A service bound to 127.0.0.1 on the computer works. A service that needs other hosts or special headers may need a small config change on the server side.

Port forwarding is part of RoamTerm Pro. For files instead of web pages, see SFTP file transfer.