Deploy a public Langflow server
By default, your Langflow server at http://localhost:7860
isn't exposed to the public internet.
However, you can forward Langflow server traffic with a forwarding platform like ngrok or zrok to make your server public.
When your Langflow server is public, you can do things like deploy your Langflow MCP server externally, serve API requests, and share your playground externally.
Prerequisites
-
Install a reverse proxy or forwarding service.
This guide uses ngrok, but you can use any similar reverse proxy or forwarding platform.
If you want to follow along with this guide, install ngrok and create an ngrok authtoken.
Expose your Langflow server with ngrok
-
Start Langflow:
_10uv run langflow run -
In another terminal window, use your ngrok authtoken to authenticate your local ngrok server:
_10ngrok config add-authtoken NGROK_AUTHTOKEN -
Use ngrok to expose your Langflow server to the public internet:
_10ngrok http http://localhost:7860This example assumes that you use the default Langflow listening address at
http://localhost:7860
. If you have a different listening address, you must modify this command accordingly.The ngrok session starts in your terminal and deploys an ephemeral domain with no authentication. To add authentication or deploy a static domain, see the ngrok documentation.
The
Forwarding
line prints the forwarding address for your Langflow server:_10Forwarding https://94b1-76-64-171-14.ngrok-free.app -> http://localhost:7860The forwarding address acts as a reverse proxy for your Langflow server, and ngrok forwards your local traffic to this domain.
-
To verify that your Langflow server is publicly available, navigate to the forwarding address URL, such as
https://94b1-76-64-171-14.ngrok-free.app
.
Use a public Langflow server
When your Langflow server is public, you can do things like deploy your Langflow MCP server externally, serve API requests, and share a Playground as a public website.
Deploy your MCP server externally
After you deploy a public Langflow server, you can also access your Langflow projects' MCP servers publicly.
To do this, use your server's forwarding address when you connect a client to a Langflow MCP server.
Serve API requests
To send requests to a public Langflow server's Langflow API endpoints, use the server's domain as the base URL for your API requests. For example:
_10curl -X POST \_10 "$PUBLIC_SERVER_DOMAIN/api/v1/webhook/$FLOW_ID" \_10 -H "Content-Type: application/json" \_10 -H "x-api-key: $LANGFLOW_API_KEY" \_10 -d '{"data": "example-data"}'
For flows created on public Langflow servers, the code snippets generated in the API access pane automatically use your public server's domain.
You also use your public domain when making Langflow API calls in scripts, including the code snippets that are automatically generated by Langflow.
For example, the following code snippet calls an ngrok domain to trigger the specified flow (d764c4b8...
):
_29import requests_29_29url = "https://3f7c-73-64-93-151.ngrok-free.app/api/v1/run/d764c4b8-5cec-4c0f-9de0-4b419b11901a" # The complete API endpoint URL for this flow_29_29# Request payload configuration_29payload = {_29 "output_type": "chat",_29 "input_type": "chat",_29 "input_value": "Hello"_29}_29_29# Request headers_29headers = {_29 "Content-Type": "application/json",_29 "x-api-key: $LANGFLOW_API_KEY"_29}_29_29try:_29 # Send API request_29 response = requests.request("POST", url, json=payload, headers=headers)_29 response.raise_for_status() # Raise exception for bad status codes_29_29 # Print response_29 print(response.text)_29_29except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e:_29 print(f"Error making API request: {e}")_29except ValueError as e:_29 print(f"Error parsing response: {e}")
For a demo of the Langflow API in a script, see the Quickstart.
Share your playground externally
The Shareable playground option exposes the Playground for a single flow at the /public_flow/{flow-id}
endpoint.
This allows you to share a public URL with another user that displays only the Playground chat window for the specified flow.
The user can interact with the flow's chat input and output and view the results without requiring a Langflow installation or API keys of their own.
The Sharable Playground is for testing purposes only.
The Playground isn't meant for embedding flows in applications. For information about running flows in applications or websites, see About developing and configuring Langflow applications and Publish flows.
To share a flow's Playground with another user, do the following:
- In Langflow, open the flow you want share.
- From the Workspace, click Share, and then enable Shareable Playground.
- Click Shareable Playground again to open the Playground window.
This window's URL is the flow's Sharable Playground address, such as
https://3f7c-73-64-93-151.ngrok-free.app/playground/d764c4b8-5cec-4c0f-9de0-4b419b11901a
. - Send the URL to another user to give them access to the flow's Playground.