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What is Webrelay

WebRelay is a CLI tool and a Software as a Service (SaaS), that allows you to access your infrastructure including databases, servers, Kubernetes clusters, web applications or API servers running anywhere in the world, without having to worry about access, firewalls and NATs.

You can use webrelay for a variety of use cases such as

  • Connecting to services running on different machines for development or testing
  • Exposing a Http or TCP service running on your local machine to the internet
  • Granting access to a service running on a remote server or your machine to a colleague or a client
  • Granting access to a service running on a remote machine to a colleague or a client for a limited time

And many more

Why did we build Webrelay

Modern applications are often distributed and made up of multiple services, databases, and third-party integrations. Managing access for these interconnected components dynamically is critical to ensuring the right entities have the right access at the right time. Many teams end up using Dynamic Access Management (DAM) tools to manage access to their infrastructure or use a VPN to connect to their infrastructure. Both of these approaches have their own set of challenges. Often times, these tools are hard to setup and maintain and get expensive very fast, they also require a lot of configuration and management.

WebRelay is designed as an alternative to VPNs and DAM tools, and follows the following principles

  • Zero Install - No need to install any software on your infrastructure, WebRelay is a single binary without any dependencies that you can download and run on your machine.
  • Zero Configuration - No special configuration required, no need to open ports or configure firewalls, No certificates configuration.
  • Zero Pain - No user accounts, no passwords to remember,no API keys or Auth Tokens, no need to manage access, WebRelay uses your email ID to identify you and your infrastructure.
  • Zero limits - No limits on the number of users, no limits on the number of services, no limits on the number of connections, no limits on the number of requests.
  • Security by Default - All communication is secured using TLS, WebRelay uses Let's Encrypt certificates for all communication

How does it work

At the heart of WebRelay is a overlay network which is created and managed by the WebRelay Service. The overlay network is a virtual network that is created on top of the existing network infrastructure. Connections in this overlay network are identified by a unique ID which is created by using the Email ID of the user. When you use the CLI to create and use connections, WebRelay manages all the networking magic required to connect your infrastructure to the overlay network and then create a secure tunnel to that connection using TLS and connects it to your local machine.

How is it different from a VPN

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) provides a secure and encrypted connection for all internet-bound traffic from a device, allowing users to access a private network remotely or mask their online presence. In contrast, a secure tunneling service like WebRelay focuses on establishing a protected link for specific applications or data streams, without encompassing all the device's internet activities. While VPNs offer broad security coverage and network access, WebRelay is a more targeted tool and is built specifically for developers and DevOps engineers who need to access their infrastructure remotely.