Using SkyNet port forwarding¶

SkyNet enables peer-to-peer port forwarding over Skywire transports. Unlike DmsgWeb which routes through DMSG servers, SkyNet uses direct peer-to-peer connections (STCPR, SUDPH) when available.

Running a SkyNet Server¶

To expose a local port over the Skywire network:

# Start a server exposing local port 8080
skywire cli skynet srv start --ports 8080

# Start with a custom name
skywire cli skynet srv start --ports 3000 --name my-web-server

# Restrict access to specific public keys (whitelist)
skywire cli skynet srv start --ports 8080 --whitelist 02abc...,03def...

Check server status:

skywire cli skynet srv status

Stop a server (by instance name, default skynet-<first-port>):

skywire cli skynet srv stop --name skynet-8080

Connecting with SkyNet Client¶

To forward a remote SkyNet server port to your localhost:

# Connect to a remote server and forward to local port
skywire cli skynet start --pk <server-public-key> --remote 8080 --local 9000

# A non-HTTP service (database, SSH, …) works the same way
skywire cli skynet start --pk <server-pk> --remote 3306 --local 3306

This makes the remote service available at localhost:9000.

Check client status:

skywire cli skynet status

Stop a client:

skywire cli skynet stop --name skynet-client-9000

Example: Exposing a Web Server¶

On the server visor:

# Start a local web server (e.g., on port 8080)
python -m http.server 8080

# Expose it via SkyNet
skywire cli skynet srv start --ports 8080

On the client visor:

# Get the server's public key
SERVER_PK="02abc..."

# Forward remote port 8080 to local port 9000
skywire cli skynet start --pk $SERVER_PK --remote 8080 --local 9000

# Access the remote web server locally
curl http://localhost:9000