Your Public IP Address

What is an IP address and why do you need it

Think of the internet as a huge city, and every device as a house. An IP address is like your house's street address. Without it, mail (data) just can't find where to go.

When you visit a website, your computer says: "Hey, I'm 192.168.1.100, send me the page from Google.com". The server replies: "Okay, 192.168.1.100, here's your page". That's how the whole internet works. Technical details on Wikipedia.

Public vs private — what's the difference?

Your public IP is your router's address on the internet. The whole world can see it. When you visit a website, it sees this address, not your laptop's address.

Your private IP is your laptop's address in your home network (usually something like 192.168.1.100). Only your router can see it. It's like an apartment number — the mailman only knows the building address, and then they figure out who gets what inside.

Why I built this IP tool

To be frank, I grew weary of constantly searching for "my current IP address" whenever I needed to configure firewalls or troubleshoot network connectivity. Existing solutions are typically either ad-heavy, sluggish, or feature outdated interfaces from the early 2000s. I decided to develop a superior alternative.

Initially conceived as a weekend experiment, this evolved into a comprehensive learning journey. My goal was to determine whether I could construct a solution that combines performance with dependability — advertising-free, focusing solely on core functionality that addresses a specific need effectively.

While I've been utilizing AWS and serverless architectures for years, this marked my first attempt at integrating all components into a unified system: Lambda handles request processing, Terraform manages infrastructure, Astro generates the frontend. An engaging technical exercise!

The financial aspect is particularly appealing — operational costs are negligible. AWS billing amounts to mere cents for this traffic volume. Users benefit from a responsive, dependable service.

ip.zvoznikau.net — this is my way of showing that even simple things can be done with quality. Without unnecessary complexity, but with attention to detail.

The API works at https://ip.zvoznikau.net/api/ip — feel free to use it in your scripts or applications.

curl -s https://ip.zvoznikau.net/api/ip -H "X-Forwarded-For: 8.8.8.8" | jq
{
  "ip": "8.8.8.8",
  "country": "US",
  "country_name": "United States",
  "city": "Mountain View",
  "limit_remaining": 99
}

The frontend is minimal and optimized for speed — no heavy frameworks like React or Vue unless absolutely required. Fully responsive and lightweight.

What it does

Shows your public IP right away, no hassle. Plus all the browser, system, and network info — sometimes useful for debugging. Especially when you need to check if VPN is working or figure out NAT issues. Basically, a simple tool for simple tasks.

What it's built with

Frontend on Astro with Tailwind CSS — builds fast and doesn't lag. Everything sits in AWS S3 behind CloudFront (CDN). API runs on Lambda through API Gateway, using GeoLite2 for geolocation (free database from MaxMind, Updated: 2026-01-30). DynamoDB for request counters and stats. Made it a PWA — can install as an app. All infrastructure in Terraform, deploy through GitHub Actions. Pretty standard serverless stack.

Want to work together?

If you have interesting projects in infrastructure or development — let's discuss! I'm a DevOps engineer and developer who loves solving complex problems and building reliable systems.

Over the past few years, I've helped launch dozens of projects — from simple websites to complex microservice architectures. I specialize in AWS, automation, and scaling.

Drop me a line on LinkedIn — I'm always open to interesting opportunities!