<titledata-rh="true">Getting Started with zrok | Zrok</title><metadata-rh="true"name="viewport"content="width=device-width,initial-scale=1"><metadata-rh="true"name="twitter:card"content="summary_large_image"><metadata-rh="true"property="og:url"content="https://docs.zrok.io/docs/getting-started"><metadata-rh="true"name="docusaurus_locale"content="en"><metadata-rh="true"name="docsearch:language"content="en"><metadata-rh="true"name="docusaurus_version"content="current"><metadata-rh="true"name="docusaurus_tag"content="docs-default-current"><metadata-rh="true"name="docsearch:version"content="current"><metadata-rh="true"name="docsearch:docusaurus_tag"content="docs-default-current"><metadata-rh="true"property="og:title"content="Getting Started with zrok | Zrok"><metadata-rh="true"name="description"content="zrok is an open source, Apache v2 licensed sharing platform, built on top of OpenZiti,"><metadata-rh="true"property="og:description"content="zrok is an open source, Apache v2 licensed sharing platform, built on top of OpenZiti,"><linkdata-rh="true"rel="icon"href="/img/space-ziggy.png"><linkdata-rh="true"rel="canonical"href="https://docs.zrok.io/docs/getting-started"><linkdata-rh="true"rel="alternate"href="https://docs.zrok.io/docs/getting-started"hreflang="en"><linkdata-rh="true"rel="alternate"href="https://docs.zrok.io/docs/getting-started"hreflang="x-default"><linkdata-rh="true"rel="preconnect"href="https://CO73R59OLO-dsn.algolia.net"crossorigin="anonymous"><linkrel="search"type="application/opensearchdescription+xml"title="Zrok"href="/opensearch.xml"><linkrel="stylesheet"href="/assets/css/styles.ddae00fa.css">
a programmable zero trust network overlay. <code>zrok</code> is an <em>OpenZiti Native Application</em>. You can choose to self-host <code>zrok</code>
or leverage the free, managed offering provided by NetFoundry: <ahref="https://zrok.io"target="_blank"rel="noopener noreferrer">https://zrok.io</a></p><p>As of version <code>v0.3.0</code>, <code>zrok</code> provides the ability to:</p><ul><li>share resources <ahref="/docs/core-features/sharing-public">publicly</a>, similar to other distributed reverse proxies.</li><li>share <ahref="/docs/core-features/sharing-private">privately</a>. It does this by leveraging
<ahref="https://docs.openziti.io/docs/learn/introduction/"target="_blank"rel="noopener noreferrer">OpenZiti</a> to support zero trust, peer to peer connections without
the need for any open ports on the internet.</li><li>use <code>web</code> sharing; easily share files with others using a single <code>zrok</code> command</li></ul><p>Let's take a look at how to get started with <code>zrok</code>.</p><divclass="theme-admonition theme-admonition-note alert alert--secondary admonition_LlT9"><divclass="admonitionHeading_tbUL"><spanclass="admonitionIcon_kALy"><svgviewBox="0 0 14 16"><pathfill-rule="evenodd"d="M6.3 5.69a.942.942 0 0 1-.28-.7c0-.28.09-.52.28-.7.19-.18.42-.28.7-.28.28 0 .52.09.7.28.18.19.28.42.28.7 0 .28-.09.52-.28.7a1 1 0 0 1-.7.3c-.28 0-.52-.11-.7-.3zM8 7.99c-.02-.25-.11-.48-.31-.69-.2-.19-.42-.3-.69-.31H6c-.27.02-.48.13-.69.31-.2.2-.3.44-.31.69h1v3c.02.27.11.5.31.69.2.2.42.31.69.31h1c.27 0 .48-.11.69-.31.2-.19.3-.42.31-.69H8V7.98v.01zM7 2.3c-3.14 0-5.7 2.54-5.7 5.68 0 3.14 2.56 5.7 5.7 5.7s5.7-2.55 5.7-5.7c0-3.15-2.56-5.69-5.7-5.69v.01zM7 .98c3.86 0 7 3.14 7 7s-3.14 7-7 7-7-3.12-7-7 3.14-7 7-7z"></path></svg></span><mdxadmonitiontitle><code>zrok</code> moves fast!</mdxadmonitiontitle></div><divclass="admonitionContent_S0QG"><p><code>zrok</code> is currently in a closed-beta phase and requires an invitation token. If you would like to try <code>zrok</code> and provide
feedback, please send an email to <ahref="mailto:invite@zrok.io."target="_blank"rel="noopener noreferrer">invite@zrok.io.</a><code>zrok</code> is an open source project and is in its early development
phases. We're doing our development publicly. See the <ahref="https://github.com/orgs/openziti/projects/16"target="_blank"rel="noopener noreferrer">roadmap</a> for details
about the project. We are highly interested in feedback as we continue to iterate quickly. Please provide feedback in
<ahref="https://openziti.discourse.group/"target="_blank"rel="noopener noreferrer">Discourse</a>, raise <ahref="https://github.com/openziti/zrok/issues"target="_blank"rel="noopener noreferrer">GitHub Issues</a>, or reach
out directly.</p></div></div><h2class="anchor anchorWithStickyNavbar_LWe7"id="downloading-zrok">Downloading zrok<aclass="hash-link"href="#downloading-zrok"title="Direct link to heading"></a></h2><p>Releases are also available from the <code>zrok</code> project repository on GitHub at <ahref="https://github.com/openziti/zrok/releases/latest"target="_blank"rel="noopener noreferrer">https://github.com/openziti/zrok/releases/latest</a></p><h3class="anchor anchorWithStickyNavbar_LWe7"id="extract-zrok-distribution">Extract zrok Distribution<aclass="hash-link"href="#extract-zrok-distribution"title="Direct link to heading"></a></h3><p>Move the downloaded <code>zrok</code> distribution into a directory on your system. In my case, I've placed it in my home directory:</p><divclass="codeBlockContainer_Ckt0 theme-code-block"style="--prism-color:#F8F8F2;--prism-background-color:#282A36"><divclass="codeBlockContent_biex"><pretabindex="0"class="prism-code language-text codeBlock_bY9V thin-scrollbar"><codeclass="codeBlockLines_e6Vv"><spanclass="token-line"style="color:#F8F8F2"><spanclass="token plain">$ ls -lF zrok*</span><br></span><spanclass="token-line"style="color:#F8F8F2"><spanclass="token plain">-rwxr-xr-x 1 michael michael 12724747 Jan 17 12:57 zrok_0.3.0-rc1_linux_amd64.tar.gz*</span><br></span></code></pre><divclass="buttonGroup__atx"><buttontype="button"aria-label="Copy code to clipboard"title="Copy"class="clean-btn"><spanclass="copyButtonIcons_eSgA"aria-hidden="true"><svgclass="copyButtonIcon_y97N"viewBox="0 0 24 24"><pathd="M19,21H8V7H19M19,5H8A2,2 0 0,0 6,7V21A2,2 0 0,0 8,23H19A2,2 0 0,0 21,21V7A2,2 0 0,0 19,5M16,1H4A2,2 0 0,0 2,3V17H4V3H16V1Z"></path></svg><svgclass="copyButtonSuccessIcon_LjdS"viewBox="0 0 24 24"><pathd="M21,7L9,19L3.5,13.5L4.91,12.09L9,16.17L19.59,5.59L21,7Z"></path></svg></span></button></div></div></div><p>Create a directory where the extracted distribution will sit:</p><divclass="codeBlockContainer_Ckt0 theme-code-block"style="--prism-color:#F8F8F2;--prism-background-color:#282A36"><divclass="codeBlockContent_biex"><pretabindex="0"class="prism-code language-text codeBlock_bY9V thin-scrollbar"><codeclass="codeBlockLines_e6Vv"><spanclass="token-line"style="color:#F8F8F2"><spanclass="token plain">$ mkdir zrok</span><br></span><spanclass="token-line"style="color:#F8F8F2"><spanclass="token plain">$ cd zrok/</span><br></span></code></pre><divclass="buttonGroup__atx"><buttontype="button"aria-label="Copy code to clipboard"title="Copy"class="clean-btn"><spanclass="copyButtonIcons_eSgA"aria-hidden="true"><svgclass="copyButtonIcon_y97N"viewBox="0 0 24 24"><pathd="M19,21H8V7H19M19,5H8A2,2 0 0,0 6,7V21A2,2 0 0,0 8,23H19A2,2 0 0,0 21,21V7A2,2 0 0,0 19,5M16,1H4A2,2 0 0,0 2,3V17H4V3H16V1Z"></path></svg><svgclass="copyButtonSuccessIcon_LjdS"viewBox="0 0 24 24"><pathd="M21,7L9,19L3.5,13.5L4.91,12.09L9,16.17L19.59,5.59L21,7Z"></path></svg></span></button></div></div></div><p>Extract the <code>zrok</code> distribution:</p><divclass="codeBlockContainer_Ckt0 theme-code-block"style="--prism-color:#F8F8F2;--prism-background-color:#282A36"><divclass="codeBlockContent_biex"><pretabindex="0"class="prism-code language-text codeBlock_bY9V thin-scrollbar"><codeclass="codeBlockLines_e6Vv"><spanclass="token-line"style="color:#F8F8F2"><spanclass="token plain">$ tar zxvf ../zrok_0.3.0-rc1_linux_amd64.tar.gz</span><br></span><spanclass="token-line"style="color:#F8F8F2"><spanclass="token plain">CHANGELOG.md</span><br></span><spanclass="token-line"style="color:#F8F8F2"><spanclass="token plain">README.md</span><br></span><spanclass="token-line"style="color:#F8F8F2"><spanclass="token plain">zrok</span><br></span></code></pre><divclass="buttonGroup__atx"><buttontype="button"aria-label="Copy code to clipboard"title="Copy"class="clean-btn"><spanclass="copyButtonIcons_eSgA"aria-hidden="true"><svgclass="copyButtonIcon_y97N"viewBox="0 0 24 24"><pathd="M19,21H8V7H19M19,5H8A2,200,06,7V21A2,200,08,23H19A2,200,021,21V7A2,200,019,5M16,1H4A
<imgloading="lazy"alt="Share Details"src="/assets/images/zrok_web_console_share_detail-9c3f99ededaba7d1225cacd5ec81a06d.png"width="1556"height="1229"class="img_ev3q"></p><p>If we click on the <em>frontend endpoint</em> a new browser tab opens and we see the content of our share:
<imgloading="lazy"alt="Share Frontend"src="/assets/images/zrok_web_console_share_frontend-d36b169cea46f834e74af4aa456d0b89.png"width="1556"height="1229"class="img_ev3q"></p><p>If we click on the environment in the explorer, we're shown all of the shares for that environment (including our new share), along with a spark line that shows the activity:</p><p><imgloading="lazy"alt="Environment Spark Line"src="/assets/images/zrok_web_console_environment_spark-eeea921884089d320f4b9b2ba2038a1d.png"width="1556"height="1229"class="img_ev3q"></p><p>And as soon as I terminate the <code>zrok share</code> client, the resources are removed from the <code>zrok</code> environment.</p><p>If we try to reload the frontend endpoint in our web browser, we'll see:</p><p><imgloading="lazy"alt="Not Found"src="/assets/images/zrok_not_found-fa3415937c341eb10e1eb98c9b063583.png"width="1556"height="1229"class="img_ev3q"></p><h3class="anchor anchorWithStickyNavbar_LWe7"id="private-shares">Private Shares<aclass="hash-link"href="#private-shares"title="Direct link to heading"></a></h3><p><code>zrok</code> also provides a powerful <em>private</em> sharing model. If I execute the following command:</p><divclass="codeBlockContainer_Ckt0 theme-code-block"style="--prism-color:#F8F8F2;--prism-background-color:#282A36"><divclass="codeBlockContent_biex"><pretabindex="0"class="prism-code language-text codeBlock_bY9V thin-scrollbar"><codeclass="codeBlockLines_e6Vv"><spanclass="token-line"style="color:#F8F8F2"><spanclass="token plain">$ zrok share private http://localhost:8080</span><br></span></code></pre><divclass="buttonGroup__atx"><buttontype="button"aria-label="Copy code to clipboard"title="Copy"class="clean-btn"><spanclass="copyButtonIcons_eSgA"aria-hidden="true"><svgclass="copyButtonIcon_y97N"viewBox="0 0 24 24"><pathd="M19,21H8V7H19M19,5H8A2,2 0 0,0 6,7V21A2,2 0 0,0 8,23H19A2,2 0 0,0 21,21V7A2,2 0 0,0 19,5M16,1H4A2,2 0 0,0 2,3V17H4V3H16V1Z"></path></svg><svgclass="copyButtonSuccessIcon_LjdS"viewBox="0 0 24 24"><pathd="M21,7L9,19L3.5,13.5L4.91,12.09L9,16.17L19.59,5.59L21,7Z"></path></svg></span></button></div></div></div><p>The <code>zrok</code> service will respond with the following:</p><divclass="codeBlockContainer_Ckt0 theme-code-block"style="--prism-color:#F8F8F2;--prism-background-color:#282A36"><divclass="codeBlockContent_biex"><pretabindex="0"class="prism-code language-text codeBlock_bY9V thin-scrollbar"><codeclass="codeBlockLines_e6Vv"><spanclass="token-line"style="color:#F8F8F2"><spanclass="token plain">access your share with: zrok access private wvszln4dyz9q</span><br></span></code></pre><divclass="buttonGroup__atx"><buttontype="button"aria-label="Copy code to clipboard"title="Copy"class="clean-btn"><spanclass="copyButtonIcons_eSgA"aria-hidden="true"><svgclass="copyButtonIcon_y97N"viewBox="0 0 24 24"><pathd="M19,21H8V7H19M19,5H8A2,2 0 0,0 6,7V21A2,2 0 0,0 8,23H19A2,2 0 0,0 21,21V7A2,2 0 0,0 19,5M16,1H4A2,2 0 0,0 2,3V17H4V3H16V1Z"></path></svg><svgclass="copyButtonSuccessIcon_LjdS"viewBox="0 0 24 24"><pathd="M21,7L9,19L3.5,13.5L4.91,12.09L9,16.17L19.59,5.59L21,7Z"></path></svg></span></button></div></div></div><p>Rather than allowing access to your service through a public frontend, a <em>private</em> share is only exposed to the underlying OpenZiti network, and can only be accessed using the <code>zrok access</code> command.</p><p>The <code>zrok access private wvszln4dyz9q</code> command can be run by any <code>zrok</code> user, allowing them to create and bind a local HTTP listener, that allows for private access to your shared resources.</p><h3class="anchor anchorWithStickyNavbar_LWe7"id="proxy-backend-mode">Proxy Backend Mode<aclass="hash-link"href="#proxy-backend-mode"title="Direct link to heading"></a></h3><p>Without specifying a <em>backend mode</em>, the <code>zrok share</code> command will assume that you're trying to share a <code>proxy</code> resource. A <code>proxy</code> resource is usually some private HTTP/HTTPS endpoint (like a development
