If you’re building an MCP server and you want a public model (ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini) to actually call it, you hit the same wall: All the frontier models need a public HTTPS URL.
So instead of hacking on whatever MCP tool you were working on, now you’ve got to figure out tunneling, infra, or weird gNAT issues when you are just trying to hack.
Today we shipped Hosted Clusters in Pomerium Zero — our first hosted data plane — built for remote MCP servers.
If you’ve got SSH (and you do), just type
ssh -R 0 pom.runIn the terminal from the machine where your MCP server is listening.
Sign in, and Pomerium hands you a public HTTPS URL that forwards back to your localhost over an SSH reverse tunnel. No public NAT? No problem.
Now ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude — anything that can hit an MCP endpoint — can reach the MCP server you’re hacking on without you needing to deploy infra.
This replaces the whole “I just need a URL” dance:
no tunnel or VPN client to install (vs ngrok, funnels, Cloudflare Tunnel, etc.)
no TLS setup
no fiddling with ephemeral URLs
you still get sign-in + policy (the way Pomerium works), instead of “here’s a public URL, hope nothing weird happens”
Best of all, it’s just SSH. And you’ve already got it.
I’ve been testing a little SQLite MCP server locally. Tools like list_tables, query, that kind of thing.
Now the flow is:
run the server
ssh -R 0 pom.run
paste the HTTPS URL into ChatGPT’s Apps SDK (here’s a template)
ask ChatGPT to call a tool
it hits my laptop immediately
That’s it. MCP dev loop stays tight and light.
Hosted clusters are now live for everyone in Pomerium Zero. Right now these tunnels are MCP-only. We want this specific workflow to feel great before we broaden it. So give us feedback (feedback@pomerium.com).
docs: https://www.pomerium.com/docs/guides/local-mcp
template for ChatGPT apps SDK: https://github.com/pomerium/chatgpt-app-typescript-template
Happy hacking this holiday season 🎄, Bobby
Stay up to date with Pomerium news and announcements.
Embrace Seamless Resource Access, Robust Zero Trust Integration, and Streamlined Compliance with Our App.
Use Cases
Quicklinks
Stay Connected
Stay up to date with Pomerium news and announcements.
