Install wstunnel with Homebrew, MacPorts, Nix, scoop

Project links

• Homepage
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• wstunnel

Project history

The upstream README says wstunnel was inspired by an older npm package named `wstunnel`, but was remade so users would not need npm and Node.js. The project was originally written in Haskell and later moved to Rust; the README calls v7.0.0 a complete Rust rewrite that is not compatible with earlier versions and keeps the previous Haskell implementation on a separate branch.

The Rust rewrite was motivated by maintenance and performance concerns. The maintainer cites lower jitter from avoiding Haskell garbage collection, a more homogeneous command-line interface, reverse tunneling support, traffic that better resembles normal traffic, and easier long-term maintenance because the Haskell ecosystem had become harder for the maintainer to keep up with.

Adoption history

wstunnel's adoption is concentrated among users who need a single-file tunnel that can survive HTTP-only or proxy-constrained networks. The README's examples cover ordinary port forwarding, UDP DNS forwarding, SOCKS5 and HTTP proxy modes, transparent proxying, Unix sockets, and using stdio as an SSH ProxyCommand transport.

The GitHub releases page shows an active v10 series, and the project publishes container images through GitHub Packages in addition to binary releases. That packaging footprint reflects its operational audience: people copying a tunnel binary or container to constrained client and server environments.

How it is used

A common pattern is to run a public wstunnel server and then start a local client with one or more `-L` local-to-remote forwards or `-R` remote-to-local forwards. For SSH, the README documents a stdio tunnel suitable for `ssh -o ProxyCommand=...`; for browser or whole-session use, it can expose SOCKS5 or HTTP proxy listeners.

The tool is often used where WebSocket over TLS is more likely to pass through middleboxes than raw SSH, WireGuard, or application-specific TCP/UDP traffic. The README cautions that HTTP/2 tunneling is harder behind reverse proxies and CDNs because buffering and protocol conversion can break streaming.

Why package nerds care

wstunnel is notable because it sits in the pragmatic tunneling family with tools such as chisel, gost, boringproxy, and SSH ProxyCommand setups, but keeps a very explicit WebSocket/HTTP transport identity. The Haskell-to-Rust rewrite also makes it a useful example of a network utility migrating runtimes to improve distribution and maintenance.

Timeline

• Original era: wstunnel was implemented in Haskell, inspired by an npm WebSocket tunnel package.
• v7.0.0: The project was rewritten in Rust with an incompatible command-line and protocol transition from the Haskell version.
• 2020s: The README documents WebSocket and HTTP/2 transports, reverse tunneling, SOCKS5/HTTP proxy modes, mTLS, IPv6, and standalone binaries.
• 2026: The GitHub releases page lists active v10.x releases.

Related projects

• The README links the older npm `wstunnel` package as the inspiration for this implementation.
• The README points to the Haskell branch for users interested in the pre-v7 implementation.

Sources

• https://github.com/erebe/wstunnel#readme
• https://github.com/erebe/wstunnel/pkgs/container/wstunnel
• https://github.com/erebe/wstunnel/releases
• https://github.com/erebe/wstunnel/tree/haskell