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# http-server: a simple static HTTP server | |
`http-server` is a simple, zero-configuration command-line static HTTP server. It is powerful enough for production usage, but it's simple and hackable enough to be used for testing, local development and learning. | |
 | |
## Installation: | |
#### Running on-demand: | |
Using `npx` you can run the script without installing it first: | |
npx http-server [path] [options] | |
#### Globally via `npm` | |
npm install --global http-server | |
This will install `http-server` globally so that it may be run from the command line anywhere. | |
#### Globally via Homebrew | |
brew install http-server | |
#### As a dependency in your `npm` package: | |
npm install http-server | |
## Usage: | |
http-server [path] [options] | |
`[path]` defaults to `./public` if the folder exists, and `./` otherwise. | |
*Now you can visit http://localhost:8080 to view your server* | |
**Note:** Caching is on by default. Add `-c-1` as an option to disable caching. | |
## Available Options: | |
| Command | Description | Defaults | | |
| ------------- |-------------|-------------| | |
|`-p` or `--port` |Port to use. Use `-p 0` to look for an open port, starting at 8080. It will also read from `process.env.PORT`. |8080 | | |
|`-a` |Address to use |0.0.0.0| | |
|`-d` |Show directory listings |`true` | | |
|`-i` | Display autoIndex | `true` | | |
|`-g` or `--gzip` |When enabled it will serve `./public/some-file.js.gz` in place of `./public/some-file.js` when a gzipped version of the file exists and the request accepts gzip encoding. If brotli is also enabled, it will try to serve brotli first.|`false`| | |
|`-b` or `--brotli`|When enabled it will serve `./public/some-file.js.br` in place of `./public/some-file.js` when a brotli compressed version of the file exists and the request accepts `br` encoding. If gzip is also enabled, it will try to serve brotli first. |`false`| | |
|`-e` or `--ext` |Default file extension if none supplied |`html` | | |
|`-s` or `--silent` |Suppress log messages from output | | | |
|`--cors` |Enable CORS via the `Access-Control-Allow-Origin` header | | | |
|`-o [path]` |Open browser window after starting the server. Optionally provide a URL path to open. e.g.: -o /other/dir/ | | | |
|`-c` |Set cache time (in seconds) for cache-control max-age header, e.g. `-c10` for 10 seconds. To disable caching, use `-c-1`.|`3600` | | |
|`-U` or `--utc` |Use UTC time format in log messages.| | | |
|`--log-ip` |Enable logging of the client's IP address |`false` | | |
|`-P` or `--proxy` |Proxies all requests which can't be resolved locally to the given url. e.g.: -P http://someurl.com | | | |
|`--proxy-options` |Pass proxy [options](https://github.com/http-party/node-http-proxy#options) using nested dotted objects. e.g.: --proxy-options.secure false | | |
|`--username` |Username for basic authentication | | | |
|`--password` |Password for basic authentication | | | |
|`-S`, `--tls` or `--ssl` |Enable secure request serving with TLS/SSL (HTTPS)|`false`| | |
|`-C` or `--cert` |Path to ssl cert file |`cert.pem` | | |
|`-K` or `--key` |Path to ssl key file |`key.pem` | | |
|`-r` or `--robots` | Automatically provide a /robots.txt (The content of which defaults to `User-agent: *\nDisallow: /`) | `false` | | |
|`--no-dotfiles` |Do not show dotfiles| | | |
|`--mimetypes` |Path to a .types file for custom mimetype definition| | | |
|`-h` or `--help` |Print this list and exit. | | | |
|`-v` or `--version`|Print the version and exit. | | | |
## Magic Files | |
- `index.html` will be served as the default file to any directory requests. | |
- `404.html` will be served if a file is not found. This can be used for Single-Page App (SPA) hosting to serve the entry page. | |
## Catch-all redirect | |
To implement a catch-all redirect, use the index page itself as the proxy with: | |
``` | |
http-server --proxy http://localhost:8080? | |
``` | |
Note the `?` at the end of the proxy URL. Thanks to [@houston3](https://github.com/houston3) for this clever hack! | |
## TLS/SSL | |
First, you need to make sure that [openssl](https://github.com/openssl/openssl) is installed correctly, and you have `key.pem` and `cert.pem` files. You can generate them using this command: | |
``` sh | |
openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -new -nodes -x509 -days 3650 -keyout key.pem -out cert.pem | |
``` | |
You will be prompted with a few questions after entering the command. Use `127.0.0.1` as value for `Common name` if you want to be able to install the certificate in your OS's root certificate store or browser so that it is trusted. | |
This generates a cert-key pair and it will be valid for 3650 days (about 10 years). | |
Then you need to run the server with `-S` for enabling SSL and `-C` for your certificate file. | |
``` sh | |
http-server -S -C cert.pem | |
``` | |
If you wish to use a passphrase with your private key you can include one in the openssl command via the -passout parameter (using password of foobar) | |
e.g. | |
`openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -passout pass:foobar -keyout key.pem -x509 -days 365 -out cert.pem` | |
For security reasons, the passphrase will only be read from the `NODE_HTTP_SERVER_SSL_PASSPHRASE` environment variable. | |
This is what should be output if successful: | |
``` sh | |
Starting up http-server, serving ./ through https | |
http-server settings: | |
CORS: disabled | |
Cache: 3600 seconds | |
Connection Timeout: 120 seconds | |
Directory Listings: visible | |
AutoIndex: visible | |
Serve GZIP Files: false | |
Serve Brotli Files: false | |
Default File Extension: none | |
Available on: | |
https://127.0.0.1:8080 | |
https://192.168.1.101:8080 | |
https://192.168.1.104:8080 | |
Hit CTRL-C to stop the server | |
``` | |
# Development | |
Checkout this repository locally, then: | |
```sh | |
$ npm i | |
$ npm start | |
``` | |
*Now you can visit http://localhost:8080 to view your server* | |
You should see the turtle image in the screenshot above hosted at that URL. See | |
the `./public` folder for demo content. | |