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https://github.com/http-party/http-server

a simple zero-configuration command-line http server
https://github.com/http-party/http-server

command-line hacktoberfest hosting http server static

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a simple zero-configuration command-line http server

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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.



![Example of running http-server](https://github.com/http-party/http-server/raw/master/screenshots/public.png)



## 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.