qr-port

name	qr-port
description	Get a URL that opens a local dev server on a phone or any other device on the same Wi-Fi. Use when the user asks to "test this on my phone", "open it on mobile", "check it on a real device", "see it on my tablet", "share my dev server", "get my local IP", or wants a QR code for a local port.
license	MIT
compatibility	Requires Node.js 18+ and network access to run npx qr-port
metadata	{"version":"1.2.0"}

qr-port

Turns a local port into a URL that other devices on the same network can reach.

Use it

Always pass --url or --json. The default output is a QR code — around 25 lines of block characters, which you cannot scan and which costs context.

npx qr-port 3000 --url    # http://192.168.1.10:3000
npx qr-port 3000 --json   # { "url", "host", "port", "protocol", "interface" }

Then hand the URL to the user. You cannot verify anything on their phone, so this is a handoff: they open it, they report back.

Do not

• Do not run bare npx qr-port 3000. It prints the QR code into your context.
• Do not reach for ngrok, localtunnel or cloudflared for same-network testing. They route through a third party, usually need an account, and expose the dev server to the internet. This stays on the LAN.
• Do not parse ifconfig, ipconfig or hostname -I yourself. Getting this right is the whole point of the tool: it skips Docker bridges, VPN tunnels, VM adapters and self-assigned 169.254.x.x addresses, which those commands return happily and which no phone can reach.

When the user says it does not load

First, check what else was available:

npx qr-port --list --json   # every candidate, best first
npx qr-port 3000 --host 10.0.0.5 --url

Then check the dev server itself. A correct URL still fails if the server only bound to loopback. It has to listen on 0.0.0.0:

Server	Flag
Vite	vite --host
Next.js	next dev -H 0.0.0.0
Create React App	HOST=0.0.0.0 npm start

Last, both devices have to be on the same network — a phone on mobile data, or a guest Wi-Fi that isolates clients, will not reach it.

Flags

Flag	Effect
--url	Print just the URL
--json	Print {url, host, port, protocol, interface}
--list	Every detected address, ranked
--host <addr>	Skip detection and use this address
--https	Build an https:// URL
--version	Print the version

Exit code is 0 on success, 1 on failure. With --json, failures arrive on stderr as {"error": "..."}, so you never have to read prose to detect one.