Pico
title: pico radar_quadrant: Platforms radar_ring: Assess radar_position: outer created: 2026-05-22 last_updated: 2026-05-27 related: ["CloudflarePages", "CloudflareWorkers", "Counterscale"]
pico is a collection of SSH-native web services for developers. All interaction happens through standard Unix tools — scp, rsync, sftp — using an SSH key as the sole identity mechanism. No web dashboard, no proprietary CLI, no account password.
Pages — static site hosting. Deploy by copying files over SSH:
rsync -r ./dist/ user@pico.sh:~/Tuns — HTTPS, WSS, and TCP tunnels from localhost to the public internet, analogous to ngrok but operated via SSH. No agent to install; uses the SSH connection directly.
Prose — Markdown blog publishing. Write posts locally, publish with scp.
Pastes — code snippet sharing via scp or sftp.
Pipe — authenticated Unix pipes over SSH; send command output from one machine to another.
RSS-to-Email — feed notification service, configured via SSH.
Full self-host support via Docker Compose (docker-compose.prod.yml). The entire platform runs on your own infrastructure with no dependency on pico.sh's managed service. A SELFHOST.md documents the setup process.
pico occupies a distinct niche from Cloudflare Pages (CDN-backed, Git-triggered) and conventional static hosts (web dashboards, OAuth logins). The value proposition is developer ergonomics: any machine with an SSH key and standard Unix tools can publish, share, or expose services with a single command. The Tuns service is the most immediately useful for active development — receiving webhooks or sharing a local server for demos without installing ngrok or configuring port forwarding.
pico sits at Platforms → Assess outer. The zero-install deployment model and SSH-key-as-identity approach suit terminal-native developers who find web dashboards friction. The self-hosted Docker Compose path removes managed-service dependency. 1,300 stars, v3.28.1, actively maintained. Position moved outer on 2026-05-27: radar/platforms/CloudflareTunnel is now confirmed in production as a macOS launchd service, covering the persistent service exposure use case that pico Tuns also addresses. pico Tuns retains value for ephemeral development scenarios (zero-install, SSH-key only, no Cloudflare dependency) but the tunnel use case is no longer unanswered on this radar. Trial gate: a completed deployment using at least one service (Pages or Tuns) against a real project where Cloudflare Tunnel is not applicable.
