Localtonet MCP Server: Manage Tunnels From Any AI Assistant

Why Switching to a Browser Tab Breaks Your Flow

Every tunnel you have ever created on Localtonet, HTTP, TCP, File Server, works the same way: open the dashboard, fill in a few fields, press Start. None of that is slow on its own. The problem shows up when you are iterating: testing a webhook, restarting a local server on a different port, checking whether the tunnel from ten minutes ago is still alive. Each of those checks means leaving your terminal, opening a browser tab, finding the right tunnel in a list, and coming back.

Do that fifteen times in an afternoon and it is not the seconds that cost you, it is the context switch. Your AI coding assistant already knows what port your server is running on and what you are trying to expose. It just could not do anything about it.

The Localtonet MCP Server puts tunnel management inside the same conversation where you are already doing the work, as a modern alternative to the dashboard, not a replacement for it.

What Is the Localtonet MCP Server?

The Localtonet MCP Server is a hosted remote server that speaks the Model Context Protocol, registered in the official MCP registry as com.localtonet/mcp, with a listed status of active. It runs at the /mcp endpoint on https://localtonet.com, using Streamable HTTP transport on MCP protocol version 1.4.0. Connect any MCP-compatible AI, Claude, Cursor, or otherwise, to that endpoint to manage your tunnels, auth tokens, token groups, servers, and SSO providers via natural language. Full technical details are published at localtonet.com/mcp-info, and clients that support server discovery can read the server card directly at https://localtonet.com/.well-known/mcp-server-card.

What You Can Ask It To Do

The server covers more than tunnels. It sits on top of your account's management surface, so you describe the outcome instead of clicking through the dashboard.

How to Connect: Step-by-Step

Add It To Your AI Coding Assistant

🖥 Claude Code (CLI)

Run this in your terminal, not inside a Claude Code session, with your own API key in place of the placeholder:

claude mcp add --transport http localtonet https://localtonet.com/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

Confirm the connection:

claude mcp list

⚡ Cursor

Add this to ~/.cursor/mcp.json (global) or .cursor/mcp.json in your project root:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "localtonet": {
      "url": "https://localtonet.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

🤖 Claude Desktop

Edit the config file at ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "localtonet": {
      "url": "https://localtonet.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop after saving.

💻 VS Code (GitHub Copilot)

Create or edit .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace. VS Code uses a top-level servers key and requires an explicit type on every entry:

{
  "servers": {
    "localtonet": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://localtonet.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Open the Command Palette and run "MCP: List Servers" to confirm it connected.

🌊 Windsurf

Windsurf's config lives at ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json and uses serverUrl rather than url:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "localtonet": {
      "serverUrl": "https://localtonet.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Click the MCPs icon in the Cascade panel and refresh to load it.

Example Prompts Once It Is Connected

You do not need to name the server or know its exact tool names. Describe what you want the way you would describe it to a teammate.

Tips for Getting the Most Out of the Localtonet MCP Server

Troubleshooting Common Connection Issues

Frequently Asked Questions