Getting Started

LocalDomain lets you map custom domains like myapp.local to your local dev servers with trusted HTTPS — no terminal commands, no config files.

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First Launch

On first launch, LocalDomain shows a Setup Wizard that walks you through three steps:

1. Install Background Service — click Install and enter your admin/root password. This installs a lightweight daemon that manages your hosts file, proxy, and certificates.
2. Start Reverse Proxy — click Start to launch the Caddy proxy that routes your domains.
3. Create Default Domain — automatically creates domain.local so you can verify everything works.

The wizard takes under a minute. Once complete, the status bar at the bottom shows:

• Daemon: Running — the background service is active
• Caddy: Running — the reverse proxy is ready
• CA Trusted — the local Certificate Authority is installed in your system

Add Your First Domain

1. Click + Add Domain in the top right
2. Enter a domain name, e.g. myapp.local
3. Set the target port your dev server runs on, e.g. 3000
4. Choose the protocol:
   • HTTP — plain http://myapp.local
   • HTTPS — trusted https://myapp.local with a green lock
   • Both — both HTTP and HTTPS work
5. Click Save

That's it. Open https://myapp.local in your browser and it works — valid certificate, no warnings.

Using XAMPP?

LocalDomain also supports XAMPP projects (Apache + VirtualHosts + document roots).

• Set your XAMPP path in the XAMPP sidebar page
• Start/stop Apache from LocalDomain
• Scan and import existing httpd-vhosts.conf entries
• Create domains in XAMPP mode with a document root

Read the full guide: XAMPP Service

Managing Domains

• Toggle on/off — click the switch next to any domain to enable or disable it without deleting
• Edit — click the ··· menu on a domain row to modify its settings
• Delete — remove a domain entirely from the same menu
• Search — use the search bar to filter domains when you have many

System Tray

LocalDomain lives in your system tray. You can:

• Toggle domains on/off
• Start/stop services
• See daemon and proxy status
• Close the main window — the app keeps running in the tray

Share with Anyone

Want to show your local site to someone? Click the Share button on any domain row. You have three options:

• Quick Tunnel — instant public URL, no account needed
• Named Tunnel — persistent URL on your own Cloudflare domain
• SSH Tunnel — route through your own VPS

See the Tunnels page for details on each type.

What's Next

• Learn about all Features in detail
• Set up Tunnels to share your local server
• Having issues? Check Troubleshooting
• Want to contribute? See Contributing