Using Self-Signed Certificates for Local Development¶

For local development, you can create a self-signed certificate and use it directly with Vuer. This approach doesn’t require a proxy service, but browsers will show a security warning (which is expected for self-signed certificates).

Production Use

For production deployments with a public domain, use Let’s Encrypt to obtain a trusted certificate. For localhost/local network development, the self-signed approach below is recommended.

Step 1: Generate a Self-Signed Certificate¶

Run the following command in your terminal to create the certificate files:

openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:2048 \
  -keyout key.pem \
  -out cert.pem \
  -days 365 \
  -nodes \
  -subj "/CN=localhost"

This creates two files:

  • key.pem: the private key

  • cert.pem: the certificate (valid for 365 days)

Set the proper permissions so Vuer can read them:

chmod 644 key.pem
chmod 644 cert.pem

Step 2: Launch Vuer with TLS¶

You can use the certificate like this:

from vuer import Vuer

# Create Vuer instance with TLS
# host="0.0.0.0" allows connections from any network interface,
# enabling access from other devices on your local network (e.g., VR headsets)
vuer = Vuer(host="0.0.0.0", port=8012)
vuer.cert = './cert.pem'
vuer.key = './key.pem'

# Your Vuer code here...

Step 3: Access the Secure Service¶

Find your local IP address (e.g., 192.168.1.100). You have two options for accessing Vuer:

Option A: Self-Hosted Web Client

Access Vuer directly from your local server:

https://<your-local-IP>:8012/?ws=wss://<your-local-IP>:8012

Example:

https://192.168.1.100:8012/?ws=wss://192.168.1.100:8012

Option B: Using vuer.ai Web Client

Alternatively, use the hosted Vuer web client and point it to your local websocket:

https://vuer.ai/?ws=wss://<your-local-IP>:8012

Example:

https://vuer.ai/?ws=wss://192.168.1.100:8012

This option is convenient because you don’t need to serve the web client yourself. However, if you’re loading static files (like URDF models or textures), you must use absolute URLs instead of relative paths. For example:

sess.upsert @ URDF(
    src='https://192.168.1.100:8012/static/urdf/robot.urdf',
    key='robot',
)

Instead of:

sess.upsert @ URDF(
    src='static/urdf/robot.urdf',  # This won't work with vuer.ai
    key='robot',
)

Certificate Warning

Since the certificate is self-signed, your browser will show a security warning. This is expected in local development. You’ll need to click through the warning to proceed (usually “Advanced” → “Proceed to site”).