wslink

Single-binary TCP bridge between Windows and WSL. Zero-config, no dependencies, no installation. Statically linked Go binary.

Problem

WSL2 has its own virtual network. TCP services on localhost inside WSL are not always reachable from Windows (and vice versa) - depends on WSL version, distro state, and corporate proxies. The Windows tooling (netsh interface portproxy, wsl --list) requires admin, gets out of sync, and breaks on reboot.

Solution

wslink is a single Go binary that runs on either side and proxies TCP traffic:

flowchart TD
    A[User runs wslink forward 8000] --> B{Which OS?}
    B -->|Windows| C[wsl.exe --list --running]
    C --> D[hostname -I inside distro]
    D --> E[Target: WSL IP + port]
    B -->|WSL/Linux| F["/etc/resolv.conf"]
    F --> G[Parse nameserver = Windows host IP]
    G --> H[Target: Windows IP + port]
    E --> I[Listen on 127.0.0.1:8000]
    H --> I
    I --> J[Accept TCP connections]
    J --> K[Bidirectional io.Copy proxy]

Loading

Direct TCP proxy - no netsh, no iptables, no admin, no leftover state. Press Ctrl-C and it's gone.

Install

One-line installer

Windows

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pyrofast/wslink/main/install.ps1 | iex

Linux

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pyrofast/wslink/main/install.sh | bash

Manual

Grab a binary from the latest release:

OS	Arch	Binary
Windows	amd64	wslink-windows-amd64.zip
Windows	arm64	wslink-windows-arm64.zip
Linux	amd64	wslink-linux-amd64.tar.gz
Linux	arm64	wslink-linux-arm64.tar.gz

Usage

You run wslink on the side where the client connects. It forwards the port to the other side.

From Windows (reach a service inside WSL)

Your app runs in WSL, you want to hit it from Windows:

# WSL side: start your service (example)
python3 -m http.server 8000

# Windows side: run wslink to bridge
wslink forward 8000
# Now you can open http://127.0.0.1:8000 in Windows browser

If you have multiple WSL distros, pick one:

wslink forward 8000 --wsl-name Ubuntu

From WSL (reach a service on Windows)

Your app runs on Windows, you want to hit it from WSL:

# Windows side: start your service (example)
python -m http.server 8000

# WSL side: run wslink to bridge
wslink forward 8000
# Now you can open http://127.0.0.1:8000 inside WSL

If auto-detect fails, specify the Windows IP:

wslink forward 8000 --windows-host 172.20.0.1

Advanced

# Skip auto-detect: target host:port directly
wslink forward 8000 --connect 192.168.1.5:8000

# Expose to LAN (not just localhost)
wslink forward 8000 --listen 0.0.0.0

Flags

wslink forward <port> [flags]

  --connect <host:port>    Target directly (skip auto-detect)
  --listen <addr>          Listen address (default 127.0.0.1)
  --wsl-name <distro>      WSL distro name (Windows only)
  --windows-host <ip>      Windows host IP (WSL only)

Requirements

Requirement	Details
OS	Windows 10/11 with WSL2, or WSL2/Linux
Runtime	Static binary, no dependencies
Elevation	None (raw TCP, no kernel hooks)

Architecture

wslink (Go, statically linked)
  |-- Auto-detect target
  |     Windows -> wsl.exe --list + hostname -I
  |     WSL     -> /etc/resolv.conf nameserver
  |-- TCP listener (net.Listen)
  |-- Per-connection goroutine
        |-- io.Copy bidirectional proxy

One goroutine per connection, two io.Copy goroutines for the bidirectional pipe. Releases are 1-2 MB statically linked binaries - no runtime, no CGO, no libc.