Set a local-target timeout

You want to change how long JustTunnel will wait on your local server per request. Maybe you have a slow image-processing endpoint that needs a generous window, or maybe you'd rather fail fast on a hung backend instead of holding the connection.

The CLI exposes this as --local-timeout, accepting a Go-style duration (5s, 30s, 1m, 2m30s). The default is 30s, which fits most web apps comfortably.

Steps

1. Decide what you're optimizing for

Situation	Recommended --local-timeout
Default web app, REST API	30s (the default — leave it alone)
Slow data export / report generation	2m to 5m
File uploads from clients	Match your largest expected upload time, plus headroom
Local server that occasionally hangs (you want fast failure)	5s to 10s

2. Pass --local-timeout to the tunnel

justtunnel 3000 --local-timeout 5s

Or for a long-running upload endpoint:

justtunnel 8080 --local-timeout 5m

3. Combine with other flags as needed

--local-timeout is independent of subdomain reservation, password protection, or context — pair it with whatever else you need:

justtunnel 8080 --subdomain acme-uploads --password 'preview-2026' --local-timeout 5m

Verify

Pick a value much shorter than your local server's response time and confirm the tunnel returns a 504-class error promptly. For example, against a local server that delays responses by 10 seconds:

justtunnel 3000 --local-timeout 2s

In another shell:

time curl -i https://wandering-otter-42.justtunnel.dev/slow-endpoint

The request should fail in roughly 2 seconds with an upstream timeout error, not 10. Reset to the default and it'll succeed:

justtunnel 3000   # back to 30s default

Common issues

• Timeouts too short for legitimate work. If users see frequent timeouts on a slow endpoint, raise the value — 1m, 2m, etc. The CLI accepts any Go duration string; spaces are not allowed (30s not 30 s).
• Timeouts mask local bugs. A very long timeout will hide a hung backend until users complain. Pair long timeouts with monitoring on the local service so you notice hangs early.
• Worker tunnels. Worker tunnels do not currently honor --local-timeout — they're a pure WebSocket attach loop, with no per-HTTP-request forwarding to time out. The flag is only meaningful on justtunnel <port> ad-hoc tunnels.

Related

• justtunnel [port] — root command, including --local-timeout.
• Tunnel anatomy — how requests flow from edge to local server.
• Tunnel keeps disconnecting — different failure mode (the WebSocket itself dropping).