Gitpod Local Companion - localhost is going remote

Gitpod has released a preview version of its Local Companion app that enables localhost access to any TCP port in a remote workspace regardless of protocol. The app runs locally and creates automatically tunneled connections to workspaces, either privately or publicly. This feature opens up environments or frameworks that assume localhost access, such as web frameworks like Svelte, and allows bundlers like Parcel or Webpack hot reloading without requiring any changes. It also supports non-HTTP protocols, including MQTT based brokers and AMQP based services. The current preview release has some limitations, such as one-way tunneling (local -> workspace), but future updates may include features like two-way tunneling, listing workspaces and ports, starting/stopping port forwarding from the command line, and connecting a local VS Code instance to a workspace.