Make a tunnel so anyone can join

Your server normally sits on your home network, so only people on the same Wi-Fi can reach it. A tunnel gives it an address that works from anywhere, and you never touch a router setting.

How it works

Normally your router blocks connections coming from outside. A tunnel turns that around. Your PC reaches out to a relay service, your friends connect to the relay, and it hands them across. Since your computer made the first move, the router has nothing to block.

Set one up

Open the server's Network tab and flip the Make a tunnel when this server starts switch. Mineshire uses playit.gg for this. Its small helper program is about 5 MB, and Mineshire only downloads it once you say yes.

You approve the tunnel in your browser. When it's ready, the address shows up on the tunnel card, and that's the one you hand out to friends.

With the switch off, the server stays on your own network. Tunnels you've already made stay as they are.

Guest tunnel or your own playit account

You don't need an account. If you aren't logged in to playit.gg in the browser where you approve, you get a guest tunnel that Mineshire made for you.

If you approve while logged in to playit.gg, the tunnel joins that account instead. Want a guest tunnel? Approve in a window where you're logged out. A badge on the tunnel card shows which kind you have and whether it's running.

Check that it works

Check if it works sits under the tunnel address. It tells you whether players can actually reach the server through it. It stays off until the server is running, and it only works for Java servers. For Bedrock servers, Mineshire says it can't check the address.

When the address stops working

Now and then Mineshire says the tunnel stopped working because playit no longer accepts this computer. The old address then leads nowhere.

The fix is to set the tunnel up again. It takes about a minute, but the server gets a new address, so your friends need the new one. Let them know, or they'll think your server is gone for good.

Tunnel, port forwarding or a private network?

Port forwarding costs nothing and works well, but it means digging through router settings, a few internet providers block it, and it puts your home address in the hands of everyone you share it with. Home addresses also change now and then, and the old one stops working. A tunnel address doesn't depend on any of that.

Tools like ZeroTier and Tailscale build a private network between computers. That's lovely for a small fixed group, but every player has to install something first, so it doesn't suit a public server.

The tunnel's own cost is small and honest: one extra hop, and a third party in the path.

Good to know

• A tunnel needs the internet. Without it, setup waits until you're back online, and people on your own network can still join.
• Tunnels add one extra hop, so ping can run a bit higher than on a direct connection.