http-server(1)

💖 http-server(1) — the manual, but make it cute 💖

okay bestie, gather round, because today we're talking about http-server — it's a manual page for your new favorite little command, and yes it lives in section 1 of the manual (the "commands you type at a shell" section, iykyk). it's a simple, zero-configuration command-line http server. that's the whole vibe. let's go 🦋

🌸 NAME 🌸

http-server — a simple zero-configuration command-line http server ✨

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

http-server [PATH] [OPTIONS]

that's it. that's the whole summoning ritual. 💅

🫶 DESCRIPTION 🫶

so http-server is a simple, zero-configuration command-line http server. no cap. you don't gotta write a config file, you don't gotta set up a framework, you just point it at some files and it serves them. iconic behavior.

and here's the thing — it's genuinely powerful enough for production usage, but it's also simple and hackable enough to be used for testing, local development, and learning. so like. it can do the big serious job AND it can be your lil study buddy. main character energy fr fr. 💜

✨ OPTIONS ✨

okay here's the full menu, no skips, no cuts, every single one:

• [PATH] — the directory to serve. defaults to ./public if that exists, and ./ otherwise. so if you got a public folder it's gonna assume that's the one. 👑
• -p, --port PORT — which port to use. if you pass 0, it goes looking for the first available port, starting at 8080. default is 8080. 🍓
• -a ADDRESS — the address to use. default is 0.0.0.0. (that's the "everybody come on in" address, bestie.)
• -d — show directory listings. default is true. yes queen, list them directories.
• -i — display autoIndex. default is true.
• -g, --gzip — serve gzip files when possible. default is false.
• -b, --brotli — serve brotli files when possible. if both brotli and gzip are enabled, brotli takes precedence. default is false.
• -e, --ext EXTENSION — default file extension when none is provided.
• -s, --silent — suppress log messages from output. quiet mode, shhh. 🤫
• --cors [HEADERS] — enable CORS via the "Access-Control-Allow-Origin" header. optionally you can hand it a CORS headers list separated by commas.
• -o [PATH] — open the default browser window after starting the server. optionally you can give it a URL path to open the browser window to. so it just... opens itself. show-off. 💅
• -c TIME — cache time (max-age) in seconds. to disable caching, use -c -1. default is 3600.
• -U, --utc — use UTC time format in log messages.
• --log-ip — enable logging of the client IP address.
• -P, --proxy — fallback proxy if the request cannot be resolved.
• --proxy-options — pass proxy options using nested dotted objects.
• --username USERNAME — username for basic authentication. can also be specified with the environment variable NODE_HTTP_SERVER_USERNAME. defaults to none.
• --password PASSWORD — password for basic authentication. can also be specified with the environment variable NODE_HTTP_SERVER_PASSWORD. defaults to none.
• -S, --tls, --ssl — enable https. 🔒
• -C, --cert [FILE] — path to the SSL certificate file. if not specified, uses cert.pem.
• -K, --key [FILE] — path to the SSL key file. if not specified, uses key.pem. the passphrase will be read from NODE_HTTP_SERVER_SSL_PASSPHRASE (if set).
• -r, --robots [USER-AGENT] — respond to /robots.txt requests. if not specified, uses "User-agent: *\nDisallow: /]".
• --no-dotfiles — do not show dotfiles. 🙈
• -h, --help — print usage and exit. your lil helper.
• -v, --version — print version and exit.

🦋 FILES 🦋

• index.html will be served as the default file to any directory requests. it's the welcoming committee. 🎀
• 404.html will be served if a file is not found. this can be used for SPA hosting to serve the entry page. so when something's missing, this is what shows up instead of a sad default error. 💀➡️💖

👑 COPYING 👑

Copyright (c) 2011-2022 Charlie Robbins, Marak Squires, and the Contributors. Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

bestie that's the legal bit and we do not mess with the legal bit. all caps means it MEANS it. 😭 read it, respect it, move on. 🫶

⭐ VERSION ⭐

Version 0.12.2 ✨

and that's the whole page, bestie!! this manual came from the GNU fam and it's dated April 2020 — so go forth, serve some files, and be the zero-config icon you were born to be. slay, periodt, no cap 💖🌸🎀🦋✨