APP Proxy — Start & Restart Guide
Every step to get the server and tunnel running — from cold boot to quick restart after sleep.
Runs server.js at localhost:3000. Handles all API requests, ARIA chat proxy, client management. Must be running for anything to work.
Exposes localhost:3000 to the internet at the permanent URL. Runs in its own terminal window — that window must stay open and minimized, never closed.
Both pm2 and ngrok run on your machine. Sleep is OK — pm2 and ngrok survive sleep. Shutdown or restart requires a manual restart using the steps below.
Press Win + R on your keyboard → type exactly: shell:startup Hit Enter. A File Explorer window opens directly to the startup folder. Double-click Applanta-Proxy-Tunnel.bat. Done — server and tunnel both start.
Alternative — navigate manually in File Explorer:
Open File Explorer → click the address bar at the top → paste this path and hit Enter: C:\Users\ririg\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup Double-click Applanta-Proxy-Tunnel.bat.
Step 1 — Start the server: cd "C:\Users\ririg\OneDrive\Documents\Applanta-Master-Official\Engineering-Apps\APPLANTA-PROXY" && pm2 resurrect Step 2 — Start the tunnel: "C:\Users\ririg\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WinGet\Packages\Ngrok.Ngrok_Microsoft.Winget.Source_8wekyb3d8bbwe\ngrok.exe" http --domain=acting-parameter-ice.ngrok-free.dev 3000
To find the bat file: Press Win + R → type
shell:startup → Enter → right-click the bat → Send to Desktop.
pm2 resurrect.
To verify the public URL is reachable, open a browser and visit: https://acting-parameter-ice.ngrok-free.dev/health You should see a JSON response with
"status": "ok".
| Problem | Fix |
|---|---|
| ARIA not responding in DASH | Server or tunnel is down. Run pm2 list — if stopped, run pm2 resurrect. Then check ngrok window is still open. |
| ngrok window was closed | Reopen it: double-click the bat file or paste the ngrok command into a new terminal. URL stays the same. |
| Server error after a code change | In APPLANTA-PROXY folder: pm2 restart applanta-proxy --update-env |
| pm2 list shows "errored" | Run pm2 logs applanta-proxy --lines 20 to see the error, then fix it and run pm2 restart applanta-proxy |
| Full clean restart | Double-click Applanta-Proxy-Tunnel.bat — starts everything from scratch. |
| Client getting interstitial warning page | ngrok free tier shows a warning to first-time visitors. Fix: upgrade ngrok to paid plan ($8/mo at ngrok.com). Do this before first real APP client. |
The ngrok terminal window keeps the public tunnel alive. If you close it, the URL goes dead and clients can't reach the server. Always minimize, never close.
Always use start_goat.bat. Same rule here — always use the bat file or pm2 for the proxy, never start server.js directly.
The Anthropic key, master API key, and ARIA secret are stored in APPLANTA-PROXY/.env on your machine. Never in browser code, never shared, never committed to git.
C:\Users\ririg\OneDrive\Documents\Applanta-Master-Official\Engineering-Apps\APPLANTA-PROXY\
C:\Users\ririg\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\Applanta-Proxy-Tunnel.bat