portless

portless is a local development tool for teams that want stable URLs instead of a rotating list of localhost ports. The project wraps a development command, assigns the app a local port, and exposes it through a named .localhost address such as https://myapp.localhost. That small change matters for AI coding agents because screenshots, browser automation, callbacks, and test instructions stop depending on whichever port a framework picked that day. The repository describes portless as a replacement for port numbers with stable, named .localhost URLs for local development. It supports HTTPS with HTTP/2 by default. On first run, it creates a local certificate authority, trusts it on the machine, and binds port 443 when needed. If a developer wants plain HTTP, the README documents a --no-tls option. The proxy starts automatically when an app runs, then assigns a random port in the 4000-4999 range through the PORT environment variable. portless also handles the annoying part of local framework routing. Many frameworks, including Next.js, Express, and Nuxt, already respect PORT. The README says portless also injects port and host flags for tools that often ignore PORT, including Vite, Astro, React Router, Angular, Expo, and React Native. That makes it useful for mixed repositories where every package has a different dev-server convention. For builders using Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, or browser-based agent loops, portless gives each workspace a durable address. A prompt can say open https://docs.localhost or https://dashboard.localhost instead of asking an agent to parse terminal logs and guess which localhost URL is active. The project is still pre-1.0, so teams should pin versions and expect state-directory changes, but the core workflow is clear: install the package, run the app through portless, and use the named URL everywhere. Pricing is simple because portless is an open-source GitHub project under the Apache-2.0 license. There is no hosted SaaS plan listed in the repository. The main adoption decision is operational, not financial: portless is strongest for local-first teams that run many dev servers, use AI agents against browser UIs, or need a clean HTTPS callback URL without a separate tunnel service. A good first test is a repository with two web apps and one API. Run each through portless, give each one a memorable name, and then hand those URLs to the agent test plan. If the agent can navigate the same addresses across restarts, the tool has removed one fragile step from the local development loop.