Download the Hongshi kernel suitable for your device.

Sixteen seconds end to end: the relay starts, the kernel claims a tunnel, and the address it prints is the one your friends type in.
Official WebUI shell The graphical shell for hongshic — no parameters, no terminal.
Platform Download Size
Windows windows-amd64 hongshi-windows-amd64.exeDownload —
Linux linux-amd64 hongshi-linux-amd64Download —
Android android-arm64 hongshi-android-arm64.apkDownload —
Kernel hongshic itself, for launchers and scripts.
Platform Kernel download Size
Windows windows-amd64 hongshic-windows-amd64.exeDownload —
macOS macos-amd64 hongshic-macos-amd64Download —
macOS macos-arm64 hongshic-macos-arm64Download —
Linux linux-amd64 hongshic-linux-amd64Download —
Linux linux-arm64 hongshic-linux-arm64Download —

Usage Guide

With the WebUI shell

  1. Open your world to LAN in the game and note the port it shows. Minecraft defaults to 25565, but any port works.
  2. In the shell, fill in the address of a relay server and that local game port.
  3. Start the tunnel. The shell shows the join address it was given.
  4. Send that address to your friends. They paste it into Direct Connect — nothing to install on their side.

The shell is a front end for the same kernel, so the connection behaves identically to the command line below.

With the kernel on the command line

  1. Run it with the relay address. That is the only argument without a default.
  2. Read the endpoint it prints, and hand that out.
hongshic -t your.relay.address
# only if the relay was moved off the default ports
hongshic -t 1.2.3.4 --control-port 18080 --data-port 18000

No config file. Every kernel setting is a command-line argument. On success it prints the address to share:

INFO hongshi::client: tunnel created, hand the endpoint above to the players
     uuid=... port=34575 endpoint=1.2.3.4:34575
Kernel arguments
Argument Short Default Meaning
--to <ADDR> -t required Relay server address (IP or hostname)
--game-port <N> -p 25565 Local game port
--game-host <IP> 127.0.0.1 Local game address
--control-port <N> 8080 Relay control plane
--data-port <N> 8000 Relay data plane
--print-version -v — Print version, then exit
--print-help -h — Print help, then exit

The kernel connects lazily. It only reaches your local game port once a player actually sends traffic, so you can start it before the game — and running it needs no administrator rights.