About vbse.net

A private marketplace for self-hosted services — discover, subscribe, and connect without exposing anything to the public internet.

What it is

vbse.net is a marketplace and connectivity layer for self-hosted services. Providers publish a service to a shared catalogue; consumers discover it and subscribe. For managed services, the connection is established automatically over an encrypted private network — no public IP addresses, no exposed ports, and no firewall changes on either side. The platform handles discovery, access control, and private name resolution so that operators can share infrastructure the way they'd share a link.

Two ways to offer a service

Both tracks share the same registration, catalogue, and billing — they differ only in who owns the connectivity.

Managed recommended

The provider's server joins the vbse.net private network with a single command. The platform provisions per-subscription access and a private hostname automatically. Consumers connect over an encrypted, peer-to-peer link — neither side ever exposes a public IP or open port.

External bring your own

The provider lists a service reachable by any method they choose — a public URL, SSH, a Tailscale share, a custom VPN, or anything else. vbse.net is the discovery and contact layer only; the provider keeps full control of access. Listings go live immediately.

How connectivity works

For managed services, every subscription is enforced at the network layer — access is scoped to a single service, not the whole network:

  1. A subscription provisions a least-privilege grant: the consumer's device can reach exactly that one service, and nothing else.
  2. A private hostname is created for the service, resolvable only inside the network.
  3. The consumer connects over an end-to-end encrypted, peer-to-peer link — direct when the network allows it, transparently relayed when NAT requires it.

Real IP addresses are never exchanged, and access is revoked within seconds when a subscription ends. External services are reached using the provider's own instructions — vbse.net does not route, inspect, or relay that traffic.

Storage fabric

Beyond service sharing, vbse.net offers distributed storage as a first-class service. Operators can contribute capacity and earn credits; consumers provision encrypted, S3-compatible storage backed by the network. Data is erasure-coded and distributed across independent nodes, so no single operator holds a usable copy. Usage and rewards are settled through an internal credit ledger.

Sign-in & access

Sign in with a Google or Microsoft account through a dedicated single sign-on service. Sessions are short-lived and the platform stores no long-lived credentials. Accounts are activated after email verification — there's no manual approval queue.

Who it's for

vbse.net is built for operators and teams who self-host and want a private, low-friction way to share services with each other. Managed providers need a server with a service on a fixed port. External providers need only a connection method. Consumers install a lightweight network client and subscribe to what they need.

Open-source & licenses

vbse.net is built on the following open-source projects:

Headscale — BSD 3-Clause
Open-source coordination server for the private network. Copyright © 2020 Juan Font.
github.com/juanfont/headscale
Tailscale client — BSD 3-Clause
Network client used by providers and consumers to join the private network.
github.com/tailscale/tailscale
Storj — AGPL-3.0
The distributed storage fabric is built on Storj, decentralized object-storage software. Storj is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0; the corresponding source — including any modifications — is available from the project repository.
github.com/storj/storj

Use of the Headscale, Tailscale, and Storj names does not imply endorsement by their respective authors.