tunnel-client

Name: tunnel-client Review
Item: tunnel-client
Rating: 3.0
Author: Aaron Matthews

Skill Development Usable

Works inClaude Code

Usable Scanned — metadata only

Enables secure exposure of private MCP servers to Claude and OpenAI APIs without public internet vulnerability, reducing deployment complexity and security r…

Customer-run client for Secure MCP Tunnel: connect private or localhost MCP servers to ChatGPT, Codex, the Responses API, and AgentKit without exposing them to the public internet.

Connect your local development MCP server to Claude without publishing it publicly.
Expose a private internal MCP service to ChatGPT while keeping it off the internet.
Enable Claude API access to localhost-based code tools and services securely.

319 starsApache-2.0 (commercial OK)FreeQuick setup

Usable rating — This tool is functional but has notable gaps. Review the evaluation notes below before deploying.

Why it matters

Enables secure exposure of private MCP servers to Claude and OpenAI APIs without public internet vulnerability, reducing deployment complexity and security risk for teams running local or internal development infrastructure.

Best for

Engineering teams operating private MCP servers needing secure API access without public deployment or infrastructure changes.

Works in

Claude Code Claude Cowork Claude Chat

Source

https://github.com/openai/tunnel-client

By openai

How to Get It

Option 1: Claude Desktop App (Code Mode)Click the + button next to the prompt box → Plugins → Add plugin. Search and click Install. Skills work in Claude Code only.

Option 2: Paste into Claude CodeCopy the command below and paste it into your conversation. Claude will install it.

Command

claude plugins install openai/tunnel-client

Tip: Paste this into a Claude Code conversation. Verify command matches your Claude Code version.

Auto-generated from the tool's public listing — not hands-on verified. Cross-check against the source repo's README before running.

First thing to try

After installing, paste this into Claude:

Help me connect my local development MCP server to Claude without publishing it publicly

CostFree

Trust Signals Auto-scanned

Stars319Contributors3Last updated2026-08-29LicenseApache-2.0 (OK for commercial use)Known CVEsNone foundSources: GitHub Advisory Database + OSV.dev · Scanned 2026-08-29 · scanner vattempted-no-data

Community Pulse New

Show HN: TunnlTo – Windows WireGuard split tunnel client built with Rust, Tauri — Hacker News · 136 pts
Show HN: Mole v0.5.0 (SSH tunnel client with keep alive and connection retries) — Hacker News · 7 pts
SSL Tunnel, Client (C#), Modified Putty Client (C) + web site (HTML5) — Hacker News · 1 pts

3 mentions across 1 sources

Reviewer notes

Auto-scanned review. These are observations, not a security certification.

Scored from trust signals (evidence-eval-v1): 221 GitHub stars; contributors unknown; last commit 0d ago; license Apache-2.0.

Things to check

Scanned, not hands-on tested — this entry was auto-scanned from public metadata (GitHub metrics, license, security flags). No reviewer has run it, and no tool-specific limitations have been documented yet.

How to evaluate tools before deploying →

Data shown here comes from public APIs and automated scanning. Reviewer notes reflect one person's experience. This is not a security certification or legal recommendation. Always evaluate tools according to your own organization's policies.

Evaluation Scores

Evaluation

Ease of Use

3/5

Versatility

3/5

Reliability

3/5

Security

3/5

Overall score3.00 / 5.00 UsableEvaluatedAug 2026

Scored from trust signals (evidence-eval-v1): 221 GitHub stars; contributors unknown; last commit 0d ago; license Apache-2.0.

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