Portal exists because trying software is still weirdly fake. We send landing pages, videos, and demos - but the first time someone actually uses a product still requires signups, installs, or a sales call. Portal lets you send a browser session, which can be open to any real, running state of your product. That could be opened to localhost:3000, with an extension installed, or logged into a demo account with safety, resets, and optional AI. You get analytics. The link allows a temp session.
Why is it still so hard to let someone actually try software?
Last year I was in a disability lab in Seattle, showing someone a Chrome extension I’d built to control a computer with voice.
They were excited - but when it came time to install, they hesitated & didn't trust downloading this thing.
I remember thinking: Why can’t I just send a link to a computer where this is already running?
That question stuck with me.
What Portal does
Portal turns a browser session (a real product state) into a shareable link.
Clicking a Portal feels like opening someone else’s browser - already set up - that you can safely explore.
When multiple people open a Portal, each gets their own isolated session automatically.
A Portal might open to:
a logged-in dashboard
a demo account with real data
a specific onboarding step
a localhost or Chrome extension w/ 10 min temp/limited access & analytics on use
No installs. No signups. No pretending. Just click & you’re in.
How it works (high level)
Think of a Portal like a booth at a science fair - an iPad already open to the app, with guardrails.
Each Portal is:
the real UI, fully interactive
opened in a specific chosen state
sandboxed with guardrails & expiring access
optionally joined by an AI you control (to answer questions or run a demo)
instrumented with analytics on clicks and hesitation
You choose the state, who leads (user or AI), and the rules of the sandbox that is contained in a stateful URL. When someone opens the link, that session comes alive. Most Portals take under a minute to create, with zero code.
Demos (led by an AI agent or self-serve w/ AI to answer Qs) are just one use case
People use Portals to:
share hard-to-set-up products instantly, trialing conversion / user insight lifts
run self-serve onboarding or research
send links in Slack instead of Looms
end presentations with actual software, not slides
soon embed specific experiences on their sites
Using an unreleased multiplayer beta, I send Portals to my parents to scroll through news articles together instead of screen sharing, and drop a Portal instead of sharing on Zooms.
A moment that made it click
At a South Park Commons demo event, I ended with a QR code.
25 founders scanned it - and instantly opened isolated instances of my localhost app on their phones, with a Chrome extension already installed.
No installs. No screen sharing. No pretending.
They didn’t watch a demo. They experienced the product.
The vision
We’re building Portal as a new primitive for the web: shareable links to live product states, for the next billion stateful products.
If Google Docs made documents shareable, Portal makes software experiences shareable.
Technically, it’s an interesting idea — I hadn’t thought about this before. But what about marketing? Usually, registration equals an email address, which is valuable information, and if the user doesn’t buy, you can follow up with emails and convert them later.
Huge congrats on the Portal launch Zach! Such a clean idea -- makes me wonder if we can do the same for app launches too. If it’s a React Native app, can Portal help test specific features? Also love the low-res product video -- 2006 throw back
Congrats on the launch of Portal! It’s awesome to see a solution that makes trying out products so seamless.
Just curious, how’s the response been so far? What kind of marketing goals or strategies are you focusing on to spread the word? Would love to hear how you're planning to get more people to try it!
This is sick! 🚀 I’m curious in terms of how it works - like users can navigate the software with and without chat? And is there an option to reset the db changes that were made or something like that?
Congrats on the launch! Portal makes “try the real product, not the demo” finally feel native to the web—links to live, sandboxed sessions are such an obvious next primitive
📌 Hey Product Hunt - I’m Zach, founder of Portal
👉 Try a live Portal here: www.makeportals.com/try-producthunt
Portal started with a simple question:
Why is it still so hard to let someone actually try software?
Last year I was in a disability lab in Seattle, showing someone a Chrome extension I’d built to control a computer with voice.
They were excited - but when it came time to install, they hesitated & didn't trust downloading this thing.
I remember thinking: Why can’t I just send a link to a computer where this is already running?
That question stuck with me.
What Portal does
Portal turns a browser session (a real product state) into a shareable link.
Clicking a Portal feels like opening someone else’s browser - already set up - that you can safely explore.
When multiple people open a Portal, each gets their own isolated session automatically.
A Portal might open to:
a logged-in dashboard
a demo account with real data
a specific onboarding step
a localhost or Chrome extension w/ 10 min temp/limited access & analytics on use
No installs. No signups. No pretending.
Just click & you’re in.
How it works (high level)
Think of a Portal like a booth at a science fair - an iPad already open to the app, with guardrails.
Each Portal is:
the real UI, fully interactive
opened in a specific chosen state
sandboxed with guardrails & expiring access
optionally joined by an AI you control (to answer questions or run a demo)
instrumented with analytics on clicks and hesitation
You choose the state, who leads (user or AI), and the rules of the sandbox that is contained in a stateful URL.
When someone opens the link, that session comes alive. Most Portals take under a minute to create, with zero code.
Demos (led by an AI agent or self-serve w/ AI to answer Qs) are just one use case
People use Portals to:
share hard-to-set-up products instantly, trialing conversion / user insight lifts
run self-serve onboarding or research
send links in Slack instead of Looms
end presentations with actual software, not slides
soon embed specific experiences on their sites
Using an unreleased multiplayer beta, I send Portals to my parents to scroll through news articles together instead of screen sharing, and drop a Portal instead of sharing on Zooms.
A moment that made it click
At a South Park Commons demo event, I ended with a QR code.
25 founders scanned it - and instantly opened isolated instances of my localhost app on their phones, with a Chrome extension already installed.
No installs. No screen sharing. No pretending.
They didn’t watch a demo.
They experienced the product.
The vision
We’re building Portal as a new primitive for the web: shareable links to live product states, for the next billion stateful products.
If Google Docs made documents shareable, Portal makes software experiences shareable.
www.makeportals.com/try-producthunt
Vid making a Portal: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7422078545230843904/
If anything feels unclear, broken, or surprisingly powerful, I’d genuinely love your feedback - and how you’d want to use a Portal.