Feature request: URL parameter to bypass interstitial page for programmatic access

Author: NicolaiSchmidCreated Jan 26, 2026Updated Jan 26, 2026

Use Case

I'm building a CLI tool that needs to expose local images to an external API (OpenRouter/Gemini) for processing. The API fetches images via HTTP URLs.

Problem

The interstitial "friendly reminder" page blocks programmatic access from external services. The current bypass methods don't work for this use case:

  1. bypass-tunnel-reminder header - The external API (OpenRouter) makes the HTTP request, so I can't control the headers it sends
  2. IP-based password via loca.lt/mytunnelpassword - The API server has a different IP than my local machine, so the password won't match

Proposed Solution

Add support for a URL query parameter like ?bypass=<token> or ?key=<token> that can be appended to tunnel URLs to bypass the interstitial page.

For example:

  • When creating a tunnel, the client receives a bypass token
  • URLs like https://xyz.loca.lt/image.png?bypass=abc123 would skip the interstitial

This would enable use cases where:

  • External APIs need to fetch content from the tunnel
  • Webhooks need to access tunnel endpoints
  • Any scenario where the requester's headers/IP can't be controlled

Alternatives Considered

  • Base64 encoding images directly (strings too long for some APIs)
  • Using other tunnel services (adds complexity for end users)
  • Self-hosted localtunnel server (too much setup for CLI users)

Environment

  • localtunnel client version: 2.0.2
  • Node.js version: Bun 1.x