UBTW

Un-Block The World — web proxy for the school Chromebook. Two engines live in this repo: nodeunblocker.com (recommended) and Riptide (backup).

Use it

1. On github.com, open this repo → Code → Codespaces → Create codespace on main. A VS Code editor opens in the browser.
2. In the terminal at the bottom of the Codespace, run:

   cd nodeunblocker.com
   npm install
   npm start

3. A popup appears for port 8080 — click Open in Browser.
4. Critical, don't skip: open the Ports tab at the bottom, right-click port 8080 → Port Visibility → Public. Without this the URL shows a GitHub login wall and the school Chromebook can't reach it.
5. Copy the forwarded URL (looks like https://<something>-8080.app.github.dev). Open it in any browser, type a blocked URL in the box, go.

To stop the proxy: Ctrl+C in the terminal. To shut the whole Codespace and free your monthly hours: go to github.com/codespaces → click … next to the Codespace → Stop.

Riptide (backup)

If a site doesn't render right under nodeunblocker, try Riptide instead:

cd Riptide
npm install
npm start

Same port-forward + Public-visibility step. Riptide runs a quick webpack build on first launch — give it 5–10 seconds to bind before you click the popup.

Notes

• Don't post the URL anywhere public. Anyone with it can route traffic through the Codespace.
• The URL changes for each new Codespace. To keep the same URL, resume an existing Codespace (Code → Codespaces → click the existing one) instead of creating a new one each time.
• Codespaces has a monthly free quota; a proxy session uses a few minutes of it.
• If npm install ever errors with "no package.json" or similar, one of the proxy folders has gone empty — re-pull main and try again.