---
title: "Access AI-Toolkit UI from Colab with Cloudflared"
date: 2026-02-05T10:00:00.000Z
author: Z.SHINCHVEN
tags: [ai, colab, cloudflare, python, guide]
canonical: https://atlassc.net/2026/02/05/access-ai-toolkit-ui-from-colab-with-cloudflared
---
Running AI tools in Google Colab is powerful, but accessing web interfaces can sometimes be tricky. This guide shows you how to expose the AI-Toolkit UI to the public internet securely using `cloudflared`.

## Quick Command

Copy and paste the following code block into a cell in your Google Colab notebook to start the UI and generate a public access URL.

```python
#@title Run AI Tooklit UI
%cd /content/ai-toolkit/ui

import subprocess
import threading
import time
import socket
import urllib.request

def iframe_thread(port):
  while True:
      time.sleep(0.5)
      sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
      result = sock.connect_ex(('127.0.0.1', port))
      if result == 0:
        break
      sock.close()
  print("\nAI-Toolkit UI finished loading, trying to launch cloudflared (if it gets stuck here cloudflared is having issues)\n")

  p = subprocess.Popen(["cloudflared", "tunnel", "--url", "http://127.0.0.1:{}".format(port)], stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
  for line in p.stderr:
    l = line.decode()
    if "trycloudflare.com " in l:
      print("This is the URL to access AI Tookit UI:", l[l.find("http"):], end='')
    #print(l, end='')


threading.Thread(target=iframe_thread, daemon=True, args=(8675,)).start()

# Replace YOUR_SUPER_SECRET_PASSWORD_HERE with your own password
!AI_TOOLKIT_AUTH=YOUR_SUPER_SECRET_PASSWORD_HERE npm run build_and_start
```

## How It Works

1.  **Port Monitoring**: The script runs a background thread that continuously checks if port `8675` (the default port for AI-Toolkit UI) is open on `localhost`.
2.  **Cloudflared Tunnel**: Once the port is active, it launches `cloudflared` to create a secure tunnel pointing to `http://127.0.0.1:8675`.
3.  **URL Extraction**: It parses the output from Cloudflare to find the `trycloudflare.com` URL and prints it for you to click.
4.  **Secure Access**: The application starts with `AI_TOOLKIT_AUTH` enabled, ensuring that only users with the password can access your instance.