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Access Trellilume Outside Your LAN

This guide covers making your Trellilume server reachable from the internet so mobile apps and share links work away from home. You do not need a separate website. The Trellilume backend already serves the share page at /share-links/{token}/view.

Quick decision​

  • Recommended for production: domain + reverse proxy + HTTPS.
  • Fastest for testing: a tunnel service (Cloudflare Tunnel, ngrok).
  • Private only: Tailscale (no public sharing, but easy remote access).

Option A: Domain + reverse proxy (recommended)​

  1. Create a domain or subdomain for your server, for example photos.example.com.
  2. Point DNS to your public IP with an A or AAAA record.
  3. Forward ports 80 and 443 from your router to the machine running Trellilume.
  4. Install a reverse proxy and enable HTTPS.

Example with Caddy:

# /etc/caddy/Caddyfile
photos.example.com {
  reverse_proxy 127.0.0.1:8000
}

Start Caddy and confirm:

https://photos.example.com/health

If you prefer Nginx, the idea is the same: terminate HTTPS and proxy to http://127.0.0.1:8000.

Option B: Tunnel service (quick start)​

Tunnels are great for testing or short-term access.

Cloudflare Tunnel example:

cloudflared tunnel --url http://localhost:8000

ngrok example:

ngrok http 8000

Both tools print a public HTTPS URL. Use that as your Trellilume server URL.

Option C: Private access (Tailscale)​

Tailscale creates a private network between your devices. It is ideal for family-only access without a public URL. Share links will only work for people who are also on your private network.

Configure the Trellilume apps​

  1. Open the app Settings and set the Server URL to your public address, for example https://photos.example.com.
  2. Sign in and verify connectivity.
  3. Create a share link. It should look like: https://photos.example.com/share-links/{token}/view.

Tip: If you want fast local access and public sharing, use split DNS or router hairpin NAT so photos.example.com resolves on your home network too.

Security checklist​

  1. Use HTTPS for all public access.
  2. Keep your server updated and limit open ports to 80 and 443.
  3. Use strong passwords for Trellilume accounts.
  4. Rotate your NESTPICS_SECRET_KEY if it has ever been exposed.