Installing ngrok on MacOS

Instructions on installing ngrok to MacOS

October 02, 2019

Code 💻

2 min read

When I was first introduced with ngrok software, I was skeptical at first, but I soon realized the power and potential that it has. Ngrok is a software where it allows other people to access your local machine's environment through an internet connection. For example, if I host my localhost:3000 server on my machine and use ngrok, ngrok gives me a url where I can share to other people so that they can visit and view my localhost:3000.

1. Download ngrok.

Downloading can be done in this site.

2.Unzip the zip file that is downloaded.

It is said that you can unzip the file using this script if you are a Linux or Mac users:

$ unzip /path/to/ngrok.zip

3. Place the ngrok.exe file into the Application folder

~/Applications/

Now, here's a part where it becomes slightly tricky where I actually used a script to install the ngrok into my Mac:

# cd into your local bin directory
$ cd /usr/local/bin

# create symlink
$ ln -s /Applications/ngrok ngrok

If this doesn't install ngrok, then you can also install by using brew:

$ brew cask install ngrok

4. Start using ngrok

You can start using ngrok by using:

# For port localhost:3000, you can insert the port number with ngrok:
$ ngrok http 3000

Invely's