# Browser access on your network

How to open your desktop board in a browser on the same computer or on your local network, what a network browser can do, and the risks of doing it.

The Borago Board desktop app can serve its own board over plain HTTP, so a browser on the same computer, or any device on your local network, opens the same board the desktop window shows. The work still runs on the desktop. This is off by default, and the network option asks you to confirm, because it has no login at all.

## Goal

Your desktop board open in a browser, on this computer or on another device on the same network, and turned off again when you no longer need it.

## Before you start

- The desktop app. Only the desktop can serve its board this way. The cloud board and the phone are a different route, see [Cloud sync, browser and phone](/docs/guides/cloud-sync-browser-and-phone/).
- A network you trust, if you intend to reach the board from another device.

## Steps

1. **Open the setting.** Open Settings, then **Browser access**. This category is shown in the desktop app only.

2. **Switch on Expose to web.** Turn on **Expose to web**. Two more controls appear. **Reachable from** offers **This machine only** and **This machine + LAN**. **Port** is the port to serve on and defaults to 8484.

![Settings, Browser access, with Expose to web switched on, Reachable from set to This machine only, and the port.](/images/docs/browser-access-2.webp)

3. **Choose who can connect.** **This machine only** serves the board to programs on this computer alone. Nothing on the network can reach it. **This machine + LAN** serves the board to every device on your network. Choosing it opens a confirmation, **Expose the board to your network?**, which states that anyone who can reach the port can open the board, create tasks and run the AI with no login. Press **Enable LAN access** to accept, or **Cancel**.

4. **Save and read the address.** Press Save. The card then shows the address the server is running on and an **Open** button that opens it in your browser. The address shown uses localhost and works on this computer. From another device on the network, use the computer's own network address or hostname with the same port, for example `http://192.168.1.20:8484`.

5. **Use the board in the browser.** The browser shows the same board the desktop window does. Tasks, projects, chat, notes, attachments, the terminal, scripts, container start and stop, the firewall rule and the notification bell all work, and every change appears in the desktop window live. Runs execute on the desktop, in the project's container, exactly as if you had pressed the button there.

6. **Know what a network browser cannot do.** It cannot browse the computer's folders. The folder picker for a project's local path is available only in the desktop window, since letting a browser read the computer's files is the one thing this feature withholds. Everything else on the board is served.

7. **Understand what protects the board.** With **This machine only**, the server listens on the computer's loopback address, so only programs running on this computer can connect. With **This machine + LAN**, nothing gates access. There is no password, no login and no encryption. The traffic is plain HTTP on your local network, so anyone on that network who can reach the port can read and change everything on the board, run the AI on your key, and open a terminal in your containers. Keep the LAN option for networks you trust, and use cloud sync for access from anywhere else.

8. **Turn it off.** Open Settings, then **Browser access**, turn off **Expose to web** and save. The server stops at once and open browser tabs lose their connection. Switching back to **This machine only** and saving restarts the server for this computer alone.

## If it did not work

- **The address does not open from another device.** Check that **Reachable from** is **This machine + LAN**, that the device is on the same network, and that the computer's firewall allows the port. Use the computer's network address, not localhost.
- **The server did not start.** Another program holds the port. Change **Port** to a free number above 1024 and save.
- **A browser on the network cannot pick a project folder.** That is by design. Set the folder in the desktop window, or press **Create a folder for me** in the project's **Project Info** tab, which works from the browser. See [Creating a project](/docs/guides/creating-a-project/).

Related: [Cloud sync, browser and phone](/docs/guides/cloud-sync-browser-and-phone/), [Ports and LAN access](/docs/guides/ports-and-lan-access/), [Settings reference](/docs/reference/settings/), [Security](/security/)