How to show a client a work-in-progress site without deploying it
Share a live, in-progress local site with a client over a real HTTPS URL, no deploy, no staging server, no build, using a free tunnel.
The fastest way to show a client a work-in-progress site is to share the one running on your machine — not to deploy a copy. With a tunnel, your local site gets a real, public HTTPS URL the client can open from anywhere, and it reflects exactly what’s on your screen right now. ReDock — a free-while-in-alpha native macOS app — does this with QuickShare: click once, get a redock.xyz URL, send it. No build, no upload, no staging server to keep in sync.
Why not just deploy a preview?
Deploying a preview works, but it’s the heavy option for a moving target. Every time the client wants to see a change, you rebuild and redeploy. The deployed copy drifts from your local one. And you’ve spun up infrastructure for something that only needs to live for a review call.
A tunnel skips all of that. Your Mac is the server. The client sees your local site live — make a change, refresh, they see it. When the review’s over, you stop sharing and the URL goes dark. Nothing to tear down.
The QuickShare flow
Here’s the whole thing:
- Run the site locally. ReDock serves it at
https://name.testwith a real, locally trusted certificate — WordPress, headless WP, Astro, Next.js, Node, Bun, PHP. No terminal. The first-site guide covers setup. - Click QuickShare. ReDock opens a Cloudflare tunnel and gives you a random, unlisted
redock.xyzURL over HTTPS. - Send the link. The client opens it on their laptop or phone. They’re looking at your live local site.
- Stop sharing when done. The URL stops resolving. Your site keeps running locally.
The sharing docs go deeper, including the three named subdomains you also get free.
What the client actually sees
This matters for setting expectations:
- It’s live, not a snapshot. The client sees the current state of your local site. If you edit while they’re looking, a refresh shows it. Good for collaborative review calls.
- It’s a real HTTPS URL. No “click through the security warning” — the tunnel serves proper HTTPS, so forms, logins, and modern browser features behave normally.
- It’s unlisted. The URL is randomly named and not discoverable. Only people you send it to can find it. Share as many links as you want — unlimited QuickShare URLs are free.
- It depends on your Mac being awake. This is a live share, not hosting. If you close your laptop, the tunnel parks; bring the site back and it resumes. For always-on, you deploy instead.
Tunnel now, deploy later
Sharing and deploying are different jobs, and knowing which you need saves time:
- Use QuickShare for review, feedback, and demos of in-progress work. It’s live and disposable. This post is that job.
- Deploy when the site is finished and should stay up without your Mac. Deploy a website for free covers pushing static output to Cloudflare’s free tier, and free staging environments covers the review-branch case.
If you want a stable link for a recurring client — one that doesn’t change between sessions — use one of the three named redock.xyz subdomains instead of a random QuickShare URL. QuickShare explained covers both.
FAQ
Does the client need to install anything?
No. They open a normal HTTPS URL in any browser on any device. Nothing to install on their end.
Is the share URL private?
It’s unlisted and randomly named, so it isn’t discoverable — only people you send the link to can reach it. You can create as many as you want for free, and stop any of them whenever you like.
What happens if I close my laptop mid-review?
The tunnel parks. Bring the site back up and the share resumes. QuickShare is a live share of your local site, not standalone hosting — for always-on, deploy the site instead.
Want to show your work without shipping it? Download ReDock to ReDock and QuickShare your in-progress site.