norri

Work in Progress: These docs are incomplete and may contain inaccuracies. Norri is not yet available for download.

Remote Access

By default, Norri is designed to be used on your local network. That is the safest starting point because your media server, library paths, users, and playback traffic stay inside your home network unless you deliberately expose them.

If you want to use Norri while you are away from home, choose a remote access method that matches how much of your home network you want to make reachable. A private VPN is usually the lowest-risk option for personal or household use. A public HTTPS address can also work, but it needs more care because it puts the service on the internet.

Before you expose Norri

Do the local setup first. Confirm that Norri works from another device on your home network, that libraries scan correctly, and that playback works locally before you add remote access. If local access is unreliable, a tunnel, proxy, or VPN will make the problem harder to diagnose.

Use HTTPS for any public address, keep your router and reverse proxy updated, and avoid exposing Norri directly through an open HTTP port. If your remote access method supports access controls, limit access to the people who actually need it.

Private VPN access

A VPN such as Tailscale or WireGuard lets your phone, laptop, or tablet reach Norri as if the device were still at home. This is usually the best fit when you only need access for yourself or a small household, because Norri does not need to be published as a public website.

After the VPN is connected, open Norri using the same local address or internal DNS name you use at home. If that does not work, test another local service through the VPN first so you can tell whether the issue is Norri-specific or a general network routing problem.

Reverse proxy with HTTPS

A reverse proxy such as Caddy or nginx can put Norri behind a domain name with HTTPS. This is useful when you want a normal browser address like https://norri.example.com, but it also means the address is reachable from the public internet.

See Reverse Proxy Setup for the basic Caddy and nginx patterns. Keep the proxy configuration small at first, then add any extra access controls or network restrictions once the basic HTTPS route works.

Cloudflare Tunnel

Cloudflare Tunnel can publish a service without opening an inbound port on your router. It is often convenient on Unraid and other home-server setups, but you should still treat it as a public remote access path and configure access controls where appropriate.

Troubleshooting remote access

When remote access fails, test in this order:

  1. Open Norri from another device on your local network.
  2. Confirm the server is listening on the expected local address and port.
  3. Check the VPN, tunnel, or reverse proxy logs before changing Norri settings.
  4. If you use a domain name, verify that DNS points at the correct proxy or tunnel endpoint.
  5. Test from a network outside your home, such as mobile data, so you are not accidentally testing through local routing.

If local access works but remote access does not, the problem is usually in the VPN, proxy, tunnel, router, firewall, or DNS layer rather than in Norri itself.