Snapshots

A Quick Share or a route shows your site only while this computer is on and connected. A Snapshot is a static copy of it, hosted on your own Cloudflare account as a Worker with static assets, so a preview, a demo or a design review stays online when you close the lid. Nothing runs on Teitunnel's servers: there are none.

Use a Snapshot when the thing you want to show is a set of files (a built site, a prototype, docs, a landing page) and it has to stay up without you. Use a Quick Share or a route when people need the live app, its API or its database.

Publish one

Where the files come from

A folder

Everything inside the folder is published, except what should never leave your computer: hidden files (dotfiles), .env files, private keys, .git and node_modules. The review lists what was left out. Nothing outside the chosen folder is uploaded either: a symbolic link that points outside it is refused with "… is outside the chosen folder, so it wasn't uploaded."

A _headers or _redirects file at the top of the folder is applied as Cloudflare's headers and redirects rules instead of being published as a file.

A build

Teitunnel detects the framework and the output folder it publishes:

The build runs with the project's own package manager (pnpm, npm, Yarn or Bun, from its lockfile), started directly and never through a shell. It's stopped after 15 minutes.

A Next.js app without output: 'export' builds a server app, and a SvelteKit app without the static adapter produces no files; the sheet says so and suggests capturing the running app instead.

A running site

Teitunnel captures the site the way a visitor would: it follows the site's own links, stylesheets, scripts and sitemap, stays on that address, and stops at 500 pages, 5,000 files or 500 MB. Only a site on this computer or its local network can be captured ("… isn't on this computer or its network.").

Use it for apps without a static export: server-rendered pages are saved as they looked at that moment. Anything that needs the server afterwards (forms, API calls, logins) won't work in the copy.

Who can open it

A password needs at least 6 characters. It's never stored anywhere: Teitunnel makes a salted hash (PBKDF2-SHA256) on this computer and keeps it only as a secret of the Snapshot's Worker. When you publish a new version, leave the password empty to keep the current one.

A login needs a hostname on one of your domains ("A login needs a hostname on one of your domains. Use a password instead, or choose a hostname."), and Cloudflare Zero Trust set up once on the account (free for up to 50 users).

Updates, versions and rollback

Publish New Version takes the files from the same place again (or from a new one), or choose Current Files to keep the files and change only the settings. Files are identified by their content, so only new and changed files are uploaded; if an upload is interrupted, publishing again doesn't send what Cloudflare already has. The new version goes live only once every file is there, in one switch: visitors never see half a site.

The Snapshot lists its last 10 versions with their file count, size and date. Roll Back on an earlier one asks "Make version 3 live?" and, on Make Live, visitors get it right away, with the settings it had. The version that was live stays available.

What happens on Cloudflare

Every change is a plan you review first, and it's undone step by step if something fails. Publishing a new Snapshot is:

1. Upload the new or changed files ("files Cloudflare already has aren't sent again").
2. Create the Worker teitunnel-<name> with these files.
3. Login, if you chose one: the Access application is created before the Snapshot has an address, so it's never reachable without it.
4. Address: "Serve preview.yourhost.com with the Snapshot (Cloudflare adds its DNS record and certificate)", or "Answer at …workers.dev".

A new version uploads a Worker version and then makes it live once every file is uploaded; a rollback makes an older version live again.

Teitunnel never takes a hostname in use: a hostname that a route or another Worker serves is refused. A DNS record Teitunnel didn't create at the hostname is deleted only when you confirm it in the review (Delete the DNS records above; --replace in the terminal), because Cloudflare can't attach a hostname over it. A hostname a teammate has reserved asks for confirmation too.

Delete ("Delete Launch page?") removes the address, then the login, then the Worker with every version. Its address stops working, and this can't be undone.

Delete after

With Delete after set, the app deletes the Snapshot on Cloudflare once the time is up. It checks at launch and then every hour, so the Snapshot goes when the app next runs after it expired. teitunnel up and teitunnel serve don't delete expired Snapshots.

From the terminal

# A folder, on your domain
teitunnel snapshot publish ./dist --on preview.yourhost.com

# Build the project in this folder first, delete after a week
teitunnel snapshot publish . --build --name "Launch page" --expires 7d

# Capture a running dev server, behind a password
teitunnel snapshot publish --crawl http://localhost:5173 --password

# Only people at your company can open it
teitunnel snapshot publish ./out --on docs-preview.yourhost.com --allow @yourhost.com

teitunnel snapshot ls
teitunnel snapshot update "Launch page"              # same source again; only changes upload
teitunnel snapshot update "Launch page" --settings-only --no-password
teitunnel snapshot versions "Launch page"
teitunnel snapshot rollback "Launch page"            # the version before the live one
teitunnel snapshot rollback "Launch page" 3          # a specific version
teitunnel snapshot rm preview.yourhost.com -y

Every command shows the plan and asks before applying. A Snapshot is named by its name or its hostname. --or-update and --missing-ok are what the pull request previews use, and a project file can list Snapshots too.

Limits and costs

Comments are kept in one D1 database on your account, teitunnel-data (free: 5 GB, 100,000 rows written a day).

Permissions

Snapshots need Account · Workers Scripts · Edit, and for a hostname on your domains Zone · Workers Routes · Edit on that domain. Comments also need Account · D1 · Edit. Tokens created from Teitunnel's link and OAuth sign-in include them. If yours doesn't, the sheet shows what to add, and continues when you're back.

Troubleshooting

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