Easy hosting for side projects: from folder to https://name.test to the world
The easiest hosting for side projects: run them locally at https://name.test with ReDock, share via tunnel, deploy free to Cloudflare when ready.
The easiest hosting for a side project is no hosting at all until you actually need it. Run the project locally at https://name.test, share it through a tunnel when someone needs to see it, and deploy it — free, to Cloudflare Workers — only when it’s ready to live on its own. ReDock, a free-while-in-alpha macOS app, handles all three stages without a terminal.
The side-project hosting trap
The usual failure mode: you have an idea, you spend the first evening not on the idea but on hosting. Comparing VPS providers. Setting up Docker. Wiring a CI pipeline for a project with zero users. Then the $6/month charges accumulate across four abandoned projects, and the fifth idea feels heavier before you’ve written a line of it.
The fix is to defer hosting decisions until the project earns them. Local first. Shared when needed. Deployed when real. Each stage costs nothing.
Stage 1: folder to https://name.test
ReDock runs your project on your Mac with the stack it needs — WordPress, headless WordPress, Astro, Next.js, Node.js, Bun, plain PHP, MySQL. Point it at a project and it detects the runtime, provisions it, and serves the site at https://name.test with a locally trusted certificate.
Real HTTPS locally matters more than it sounds. Secure cookies, service workers, OAuth callbacks, and modern browser APIs behave differently on http://localhost:3000 than they do in production. https://name.test behaves like the real thing from day one. And the names are memorable — notes.test, tracker.test — instead of a heap of port numbers.
Setup is the first-site guide; the full list of supported stacks is in the stacks docs. No brew install, no version manager archaeology.
Stage 2: name.test to a link you can send
At some point you want an opinion from someone who isn’t at your desk. That’s a tunnel, not a deploy.
ReDock’s QuickShare gives you a random, unlisted ….redock.xyz URL over a Cloudflare tunnel — one click, unlimited on the free tier. Your friend opens the link, hits the site running on your Mac, and when you stop sharing the URL goes dark. For a project you share repeatedly, claim a named subdomain like tracker.redock.xyz — the free tier includes three. Stop the site and the tunnel parks with it, resuming when the site does.
This stage covers a surprising share of a side project’s life: feedback rounds, demos, testing a webhook, showing a group chat. The sharing docs have details, and free hosting that’s actually your Mac goes deeper on the model.
Stage 3: the link to a real deploy
When the project deserves to be up while your Mac is asleep, deploy it. ReDock builds your site with its own runtimes — a real build, not an export hack — and pushes the static output to Cloudflare Workers static assets, which is free on Cloudflare’s free tier. Every deploy reports the commit hash it built and how long it took.
Want a branded URL? Attach a custom domain from inside the app — one at a time on the free tier. The domain itself is the only money in this whole pipeline, and it’s optional. Full walkthrough in the deploy docs and the free deploy guide.
The part where an agent does the boring bits
One more thing that makes side projects lighter: ReDock exposes everything it does as MCP tools on localhost:47200. Connect Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or Cursor, and your assistant can create sites, inspect them, and manage the workflow you’d otherwise click through. For a WordPress side project, that includes content and plumbing — see WordPress MCP for what that unlocks.
FAQ
What does this actually cost?
Nothing, literally. ReDock is free, tunnels ride free Cloudflare infrastructure, and Workers static-asset hosting is on Cloudflare’s free tier. The only optional cost is a custom domain from a registrar. The paid part is ReDock Web, for the live client sites you look after, and side projects on your own machine do not need it.
What stacks can I run?
WordPress, headless WordPress, Astro, Next.js, Node.js, Bun, PHP, MySQL — each site gets the right runtime automatically. See /docs/stacks.
Do I need to know Docker or nginx?
No. ReDock is a native macOS app (macOS 12+); runtimes, certificates, and routing are handled inside it. There’s no terminal step in the folder-to-URL path.
Your next side project deserves a first evening spent on the idea. Download ReDock to ReDock.