Port forwarding gives you access to TCP ports running within your codespace. For example, if you're running a web application on a particular port in your codespace, you can forward that port. This allows you to access the application from the browser on your local machine for testing and debugging.
When an application running inside a codespace prints output to the terminal that contains a localhost URL, such as
http://localhost:PORT
or
http://127.0.0.1:PORT
, the port is automatically forwarded. If you're using GitHub Codespaces in the browser or in Visual Studio Code, the URL string in the terminal is converted into a link that you can click to view the web page on your local machine. By default, GitHub Codespaces forwards ports using HTTP.
You can edit the dev container configuration for the repository to automatically forward one or more ports. You can also forward a port manually, label forwarded ports, share forwarded ports with members of your organization, share forwarded ports publicly, and add forwarded ports to the codespace configuration.
You can manually forward a port that wasn't forwarded automatically.
-
Open the terminal in your codespace.
-
Click the
PORTS
tab.
-
Under the list of ports, click
Add port
.
-
Type the port number or address, then press Enter.
By default, GitHub Codespaces forwards ports using HTTP but you can update any port to use HTTPS, as needed. If you update a port with public visibility to use HTTPS, the port's visibility will automatically change to private.
-
Open the terminal in your codespace.
-
Click the
PORTS
tab.
-
Right-click the port you want to update, then hover over
Change Port Protocol
.
-
Select the protocol needed for this port. The protocol that you select will be remembered for this port for the lifetime of the codespace.
Note:
You can only make a port private to an organization if your organization uses GitHub Team or GitHub Enterprise Cloud.
If you want to share a forwarded port with others, you can either make the port private to your organization or make the port public. After you make a port private to your organization, anyone in the organization with the port's URL can view the running application. After you make a port public, anyone who knows the URL and port number can view the running application without needing to authenticate.
-
Open the terminal in your codespace.
-
Click the
PORTS
tab.
-
Right-click the port that you want to share, click the
Port Visibility
, then click
Private to Organization
or
Public
.
-
To the right of the local address for the port, click the copy icon.
-
Send the copied URL to the person you want to share the port with.
When you forward a port, your application becomes available at the URL
https://CODESPACENAME-PORT.app.github.dev
. For example,
https://monalisa-hot-potato-vrpqrxxrx7x2rxx-4000.app.github.dev
. If you forward a private port from the VS Code desktop application, your application will also be available at a localhost port such as
127.0.0.1:4000
.
To access your application using a REST client, such as Postman, or a command-line tool like curl, you don't need to authenticate if you're using a localhost port, or if you're accessing a public port at the remote domain. However, to connect to a private port at the remote domain, you must authenticate by using the
GITHUB_TOKEN
access token in your request.
Note
: The
GITHUB_TOKEN
is automatically created when you start a codespace and remains the same for the duration of the codespace session. If you stop and then restart a codespace a new
GITHUB_TOKEN
is generated.
-
Open the terminal in your codespace.
-
Click the
PORTS
tab. This lists all of the ports you have forwarded.
-
Right-click the port you want to connect to and click
Copy Local Address
.
-
Paste the copied address somewhere for later use.
-
In the terminal in your codespace, enter
echo $GITHUB_TOKEN
.
The token is a string beginning
ghu_
.
-
Copy the token.
Important
: Don't share this access token with anyone.
In a terminal on your local computer, enter:
curl ADDRESS -H "X-Github-Token: TOKEN"
Replace
ADDRESS
and
TOKEN
with the values you copied previously.
-
Open Postman.
-
Create a new GET request.
-
Paste the address you copied previously as the request URL.
-
In the
Headers
tab, create a new entry where the key is "X-Github-Token" and the value is the
GITHUB_TOKEN
you copied previously.
-
Click
Send
.
You can add a forwarded port to the GitHub Codespaces configuration for the repository, so that the port will be automatically forwarded for all codespaces created from the repository. After you update the configuration, any previously created codespaces must be rebuilt for the change to apply. For more information about the dev container configuration file, see "
Introduction to dev containers
."
-
In your codespace, open the dev container configuration file you want to update. Typically this file is
.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
.
-
Add the
forwardPorts
property.
"forwardPorts"
:
[
NUMBER
]
,
Replace
NUMBER
with the port number you want to forward. This can be a comma-separated list of port numbers.
-
Save the file.
When you open a codespace in the browser, or in the VS Code desktop application, you can label a forwarded port to make it easier to identify in a list.
-
Open the terminal in your codespace.
-
Click the
PORTS
tab.
-
Right-click the port you want to label, then click
Set Port Label
.
-
Type a label for your port, then press Enter.
You can label a port and write the change to a dev container configuration file for the repository. If you do this for a port that is automatically forwarded, using the
forwardPorts
property, then the label will be automatically applied to that forwarded port for all future codespaces created from the repository using that configuration file.
-
Open the terminal in your codespace.
-
Click the
PORTS
tab.
-
Right-click the port whose label attribute you want to add to the codespace configuration, then click
Set Label and Update devcontainer.json
.
-
Type a label for your port, then press Enter.
-
If your repository has more than one dev container configuration file, you will be prompted to choose which file you want to update.
The dev container configuration file is updated to include the new label in the
portsAttributes
property. For example:
"forwardPorts"
:
[
3333
,
4444
]
,
"portsAttributes"
:
{
"3333"
:
{
"label"
:
"app-standard-preview"
}
,
"4444"
:
{
"label"
:
"app-pro-preview"
}
}
When an application running inside a codespace prints output to the terminal that contains a localhost URL, such as
http://localhost:PORT
or
http://127.0.0.1:PORT
, the port is automatically forwarded. If you're using GitHub Codespaces in the browser or in Visual Studio Code, the URL string in the terminal is converted into a link that you can click to view the web page on your local machine. By default, GitHub Codespaces forwards ports using HTTP.
You can edit the dev container configuration for the repository to automatically forward one or more ports. You can also forward a port manually, label forwarded ports, share forwarded ports with members of your organization, share forwarded ports publicly, and add forwarded ports to the codespace configuration.
You can manually forward a port that wasn't forwarded automatically.
-
Open the terminal in your codespace.
-
Click the
PORTS
tab.
-
Under the list of ports, click
Add port
.
-
Type the port number or address, then press Enter.
Note:
You can only make a port private to an organization if your organization uses GitHub Team or GitHub Enterprise Cloud.
If you want to share a forwarded port with others, you can either make the port private to your organization or make the port public. After you make a port private to your organization, anyone in the organization with the port's URL can view the running application. After you make a port public, anyone who knows the URL and port number can view the running application without needing to authenticate.
-
Open the terminal in your codespace.
-
Click the
PORTS
tab.
-
Right-click the port that you want to share, click
Port Visibility
, then click
Private to Organization
or
Public
.
-
To the right of the local address for the port, click the copy icon.
-
Send the copied URL to the person you want to share the port with.
When you forward a port, your application becomes available at the URL
https://CODESPACENAME-PORT.app.github.dev
. For example,
https://monalisa-hot-potato-vrpqrxxrx7x2rxx-4000.app.github.dev
. If you forward a private port from the VS Code desktop application, your application will also be available at a localhost port such as
127.0.0.1:4000
.
To access your application using a REST client, such as Postman, or a command-line tool like curl, you don't need to authenticate if you're using a localhost port, or if you're accessing a public port at the remote domain. However, to connect to a private port at the remote domain, you must authenticate by using the
GITHUB_TOKEN
access token in your request.
Note
: The
GITHUB_TOKEN
is automatically created when you start a codespace and remains the same for the duration of the codespace session. If you stop and then restart a codespace a new
GITHUB_TOKEN
is generated.
-
Open the terminal in your codespace.
-
Click the
PORTS
tab. This lists all of the ports you have forwarded.
-
Right-click the port you want to connect to and click
Copy Local Address
.
-
Paste the copied address somewhere for later use.
-
In the terminal in your codespace, enter
echo $GITHUB_TOKEN
.
The token is a string beginning
ghu_
.
-
Copy the token.
Important
: Don't share this access token with anyone.
In a terminal on your local computer, enter:
curl ADDRESS -H "X-Github-Token: TOKEN"
Replace
ADDRESS
and
TOKEN
with the values you copied previously.
-
Open Postman.
-
Create a new GET request.
-
Paste the address you copied previously as the request URL.
-
In the
Headers
tab, create a new entry where the key is "X-Github-Token" and the value is the
GITHUB_TOKEN
you copied previously.
-
Click
Send
.
You can add a forwarded port to the GitHub Codespaces configuration for the repository, so that the port will be automatically forwarded for all codespaces created from the repository. After you update the configuration, any previously created codespaces must be rebuilt for the change to apply. For more information about the dev container configuration file, see "
Introduction to dev containers
."
-
In your codespace, open the dev container configuration file you want to update. Typically this file is
.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
.
-
Add the
forwardPorts
property.
"forwardPorts"
:
[
NUMBER
]
,
Replace
NUMBER
with the port number you want to forward. This can be a comma-separated list of port numbers.
-
Save the file.
When you open a codespace in the browser, or in the VS Code desktop application, you can label a forwarded port to make it easier to identify in a list.
-
Open the terminal in your codespace.
-
Click the
PORTS
tab.
-
Right-click the port you want to label, then click
Set Port Label
.
-
Type a label for your port, then press Enter.
You can label a port and write the change to a dev container configuration file for the repository. If you do this for a port that is automatically forwarded, using the
forwardPorts
property, then the label will be automatically applied to that forwarded port for all future codespaces created from the repository using that configuration file.
-
Open the terminal in your codespace.
-
Click the
PORTS
tab.
-
Right-click the port whose label attribute you want to add to the codespace configuration, then click
Set Label and Update devcontainer.json
.
-
Type a label for your port, then press Enter.
-
If your repository has more than one dev container configuration file, you will be prompted to choose which file you want to update.
The dev container configuration file is updated to include the new label in the
portsAttributes
property. For example:
"forwardPorts"
:
[
3333
,
4444
]
,
"portsAttributes"
:
{
"3333"
:
{
"label"
:
"app-standard-preview"
}
,
"4444"
:
{
"label"
:
"app-pro-preview"
}
}
To forward a port use the
gh codespace ports forward
subcommand. Replace
codespace-port:local-port
with the remote and local ports that you want to connect. After entering the command choose from the list of codespaces that's displayed.
gh codespace ports forward CODESPACE-PORT:LOCAL-PORT
For more information about this command, see
the GitHub CLI manual
.
To see details of forwarded ports enter
gh codespace ports
and then choose a codespace.
Note:
You can only make a port private to an organization if your organization uses GitHub Team or GitHub Enterprise Cloud.
If you want to share a forwarded port with others, you can either make the port private to your organization or make the port public. After you make a port private to your organization, anyone in the organization with the port's URL can view the running application. After you make a port public, anyone who knows the URL and port number can view the running application without needing to authenticate.
To change the visibility of a forwarded port, use the
gh codespace ports visibility
subcommand. There are three visibility settings:
private
- Visible only to you. This is the default setting when you forward a port.
org
- Visible to members of the organization that owns the repository.
public
- Visible to anyone who knows the URL and port number.
Replace
codespace-port
with the forwarded port number. Replace
setting
with
private
,
org
, or
public
. After entering the command choose from the list of codespaces that's displayed.
gh codespace ports visibility CODESPACE-PORT:SETTINGS
You can set the visibility for multiple ports with one command. For example:
gh codespace ports visibility 80:private 3000:public 3306:org
For more information about this command, see
the GitHub CLI manual
.
When you forward a port, your application becomes available at the URL
https://CODESPACENAME-PORT.app.github.dev
. For example,
https://monalisa-hot-potato-vrpqrxxrx7x2rxx-4000.app.github.dev
. If you forward a private port from the VS Code desktop application, your application will also be available at a localhost port such as
127.0.0.1:4000
.
To access your application using a REST client, such as Postman, or a command-line tool like curl, you don't need to authenticate if you're using a localhost port, or if you're accessing a public port at the remote domain. However, to connect to a private port at the remote domain, you must authenticate by using the
GITHUB_TOKEN
access token in your request.
Note
: The
GITHUB_TOKEN
is automatically created when you start a codespace and remains the same for the duration of the codespace session. If you stop and then restart a codespace a new
GITHUB_TOKEN
is generated.
To find the address for a forwarded port, enter
gh codespace ports
. If you have more than one codespace, select the appropriate codespace from the list that's displayed.
Copy the address and paste it somewhere for later use.
-
Start an SSH session for your codespace.
gh codespace ssh
-
If you have more than one codespace, select the appropriate codespace from the list that's displayed.
-
Display the
GITHUB_TOKEN
.
echo $GITHUB_TOKEN
The token is a string beginning
ghu_
.
-
Copy the token.
Important
: Don't share this access token with anyone.
-
Exit the SSH session.
exit
In a terminal on your local computer, enter:
curl ADDRESS -H "X-Github-Token: TOKEN"
Replace
ADDRESS
and
TOKEN
with the values you copied previously.
-
Open Postman.
-
Create a new GET request.
-
Paste the address you copied previously as the request URL.
-
In the
Headers
tab, create a new entry where the key is "X-Github-Token" and the value is the
GITHUB_TOKEN
you copied previously.
-
Click
Send
.
You can add a forwarded port to the GitHub Codespaces configuration for the repository, so that the port will be automatically forwarded for all codespaces created from the repository. After you update the configuration, any previously created codespaces must be rebuilt for the change to apply. For more information about the dev container configuration file, see "
Introduction to dev containers
."
-
In your codespace, open the dev container configuration file you want to update. Typically this file is
.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
.
-
Add the
forwardPorts
property.
"forwardPorts"
:
[
NUMBER
]
,
Replace
NUMBER
with the port number you want to forward. This can be a comma-separated list of port numbers.
-
Save the file.
When you open a codespace in the browser, or in the VS Code desktop application, you can label a forwarded port to make it easier to identify in a list.
-
Open the terminal in your codespace.
-
Click the
PORTS
tab.
-
Right-click the port you want to label, then click
Set Port Label
.
-
Type a label for your port, then press Enter.
You can label a port and write the change to a dev container configuration file for the repository. If you do this for a port that is automatically forwarded, using the
forwardPorts
property, then the label will be automatically applied to that forwarded port for all future codespaces created from the repository using that configuration file.
-
Open the terminal in your codespace.
-
Click the
PORTS
tab.
-
Right-click the port whose label attribute you want to add to the codespace configuration, then click
Set Label and Update devcontainer.json
.
-
Type a label for your port, then press Enter.
-
If your repository has more than one dev container configuration file, you will be prompted to choose which file you want to update.
The dev container configuration file is updated to include the new label in the
portsAttributes
property. For example:
"forwardPorts"
:
[
3333
,
4444
]
,
"portsAttributes"
:
{
"3333"
:
{
"label"
:
"app-standard-preview"
}
,
"4444"
:
{
"label"
:
"app-pro-preview"
}
}
You can see the port labels when you list the forwarded ports for a codespace. To do this, use the
gh codespace ports
command and then select a codespace.