Portal: An End-to-End Encrypted Open Relay for Forwarding Local Services to External Networks

AI and Websites

The emergence of AI code assistants such as Codex, Gemini, and Claude Code is completely transforming the paradigm of website development. Websites that once required several to dozens of people to divide the work and collaborate in order to be served can now be completed by a single creator working alone. This means that the web is no longer the exclusive domain of large organizations, but is evolving into a space for creative individuals.

AI has lowered the barriers to programming and opened an era in which anyone with an idea can build their own service directly. However, a significant gap still exists between creating a website and making it public to the world. This is not a technical limitation, but an artificial barrier created by the structure of the modern web.

The Centralized Web Environment

Despite its name, the World Wide Web of today is extremely centralized. Large platforms monopolize public IP and domain systems, and under the pretext of accessibility and convenience, they restrict individuals' freedom to host their own content.

Within this structure, most creators come to a halt in the face of the barriers of domains and infrastructure. They may be able to build a website, but they cannot show it to the world. As a result, individuals are limited to consuming content within the framework of large platforms, and they are not guaranteed the right to host and operate their own ideas directly.

Portal: Public Open Relay To Access Localhost

Portal begins precisely from this awareness of the problem. What would change in the world if anyone could connect a service running on their own computer to the world? Portal connects the local environment directly to the web, allowing individuals to easily deploy their own services. To this end, Portal has the following characteristics.

1. Portal separates web hosting from content creation. Here, the host no longer functions as a platform operator, but solely as a relay that transmits individuals' content. The subject of content is always the individual, and Portal merely relays end-to-end encrypted connections without storing or controlling personal data. This means that the ownership of services and the structure of rewards belong entirely to the creator.

2. Portal is easy for anyone to use. App developers do not need complex cloud configuration or server infrastructure knowledge in order to deploy to Portal. By importing an SDK and adding just a few lines of code, a local server immediately extends into a public service accessible from anywhere in the world.

3. Portal is a fully open-source project and is not controlled by any specific central server or administrator. Anyone with a public IP address may deploy a Portal instance and allow it to relay the content of other creators. Creators may freely choose the Portal they trust, or operate their own Portal node directly.

YouTube and the Web

When examining the centralization of the modern web, YouTube offers an important lesson. In the past, the broadcasting industry was a centralized model that monopolized both the production and distribution of content. However, by opening the domain of content production to individuals, YouTube created an unprecedented ecosystem in which millions of creators participate. Anyone can become a broadcaster with a single camera, and in terms of the diversity, speed, and scale of content, the traditional broadcasting system can no longer keep pace with YouTube.

Portal extends this revolution into the domain of web hosting. By returning the right to publish to the world, which was once monopolized by large clouds and platforms, to individuals, it will make the creation and distribution of the web completely free.