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[](https://github.com/http-party/http-server/actions)
[](https://www.npmjs.com/package/http-server) [](https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/http-server) [](https://www.npmjs.com/package/http-server)
[](https://github.com/http-party/http-server)
# 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.
|
