Tunnels

A tunnel opens the app’s database or Redis on your computer, so a desktop client can connect to it: TablePlus, DBeaver, RedisInsight. It works for PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB and Redis.

Opening one

On the Data tab of a Laravel container, choose Tunnel to PostgreSQL, Tunnel to MySQL (or MariaDB) or Tunnel to Redis. The entry appears when:

• the app’s configuration names a database or Redis on a network host, not localhost or a socket;
• the container has PHP, which relays the connections.

The tunnel screen shows where to connect:

• Connect to: 127.0.0.1 and the local port;
• Goes to: the host and port the app uses, and the container that relays;
• the database and the user;
• a URL: postgresql://…, mysql://… or redis://…;
• how many connections are open, and the last connection that failed.

The password is never on screen.

Key	Action
u	Copy the URL, with the password
p	Copy the password
esc	Close the tunnel and leave

Copying goes through the terminal with the OSC 52 escape sequence, in terminals that support it. See Troubleshooting.

Ports

The tunnel listens on the server’s port plus 10000, so clients can keep a saved connection:

Service	Server port	Local port
PostgreSQL	5432	15432
MySQL, MariaDB	3306	13306
Redis	6379	16379

When that port is taken, the tunnel picks a free one and the screen shows it.

How it works

• The tunnel listens on 127.0.0.1 only, so only your computer can connect.
• Each connection runs docker exec -i in the app’s container with a small PHP relay. The container resolves the database’s host name and is on its network, so databases on a Swarm overlay network (Dokploy) are reached too.
• Nothing is installed on the server and no port is opened there.
• The tunnel stays open while its screen does. Leaving the screen closes the tunnel and every connection through it.
• A connection the relay cannot make is reported on the screen.

Tunnels are recorded in the journal. A read-only server refuses them, since a desktop client could change the data.