Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions and answers to help you set up and troubleshoot TestingBot Tunnel.

How do I use the tunnel with manual (live) testing?

When starting a manual test session, you can select which tunnel to use from the session configuration screen. This works across all platforms: desktop VMs, simulators/emulators, and physical devices.

Team members can also start shared tunnels that everyone on the team can use during manual testing.

How do I handle Certificate Pinning in my mobile app?

By default, TestingBot Tunnel performs SSL interception (also called "SSL bumping") to handle common certificate issues like self-signed or expired certificates. All TestingBot VMs and devices are configured to trust our CA certificate.

If your app uses certificate pinning, download the TestingBot CA certificate and add it to your app's trusted certificates.

Alternatively, you can disable SSL interception by passing noSSLBump: true as a capability or by starting the tunnel with the --nobump flag.

How many tunnels can I run simultaneously?

The number of simultaneous tunnels depends on your account plan. The default limit is 2 concurrent tunnels. Upgrade your plan if you need more.

Can I use localhost with the tunnel?

Desktop VMs: Yes, localhost works on all desktop VMs. The following ports are proxied by default: 80, 443, 3000, 3001, 3030, 3400, 8080.

For additional ports, use the localHttpPorts or localHttpsPorts capabilities with an array of port numbers.

Mobile devices: Simulators, emulators and physical devices cannot resolve localhost. Instead, create a custom hostname in your hosts file on the machine running the tunnel:

# Add to /etc/hosts on your tunnel machine
127.0.0.1 mywebsite.local

Then use http://mywebsite.local in your tests. The tunnel will route requests to your local server.

Can I use WebSockets or SSE with the tunnel?

Yes, TestingBot Tunnel v4+ supports WebSockets (ws:// and wss://) and Server-Sent Events (SSE).

To enable WebSocket support, start the tunnel with both --nobump and --nocache flags to disable SSL interception:

java -jar testingbot-tunnel.jar --nocache --nobump

WebSocket connections cannot use localhost directly. Create a custom hostname in your /etc/hosts file instead:

127.0.0.1  localhost
127.0.0.1  testingbot.test

Then connect using ws://testingbot.test:80. The tunnel forwards the request to your local machine.

How can I improve tunnel performance?

Use the --fast-fail-regexps (or -F) option to bypass the tunnel for domains that don't affect your tests, such as analytics, ads or third-party trackers:

java -jar testingbot-tunnel.jar -F ".*google-analytics\.com.*,.*facebook\.com.*"

This reduces the number of requests proxied through the tunnel, improving overall test speed.

Can I use the same tunnel for both virtual and real devices?

Yes, a single tunnel instance works with desktop VMs, simulators/emulators and physical devices. There's no need to start separate tunnels for different device types.