What is PipeGate?

PipeGate is a lightweight HTTP tunneling proxy written in Python using FastAPI. It lets you make a local web server reachable from the internet by routing traffic through a single WebSocket link between a server on a public VPS and a client running beside your application. The WebSocket connection is secured with JWT tokens, while outside callers only need the connection identifier in the URL. Multiple simultaneous requests share one WebSocket by using correlation IDs to match responses. Binary data passes through via base64 encoding. If the WebSocket breaks, the client reconnects with exponential backoff. All coordination happens in memory using asyncio queues, so no database or Redis is needed. The tool is configured through environment variables and requires Python 3.12 or newer.

Should you self-host PipeGate?

PipeGate scores 43/100 on selfhost.directory (how scoring works) and ranks #24 of 31 in Networking. It has 242 GitHub stars.

There was no stable release in the past 12 months, so check the repository's recent activity before you rely on it.

Setup is moderate: expect some configuration beyond a single command. It is MIT-licensed and written mostly in Python.

Its closest alternative on selfhost.directory is Webhook.site (66/100, 6 785 stars). It scores higher overall, so compare the two before you pick. See PipeGate vs Webhook.site side by side.

Features

Automatic reconnection
Binary payload support
Concurrent request handling
Correlation ID injection
Health check endpoint
HTTP tunneling over WebSocket
No external state requiredDoes not survive server restarts and does not scale horizontally
Query parameter preservation