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***This is the documentation for the next version. For the previous release, see the [prev](https://github.com/75lb/local-web-server/tree/prev) branch. To install this prerelease: `$ npm i -g local-web-server@next`***
# local-web-server
A simple web-server for productive front-end development. Typical use cases:
* Front-end Development * Static or Single Page App development * Re-route paths to local or remote resources * Bundle with your front-end project * Very little configuration, just a few options * Outputs a dynamic statistics view to the terminal * Configurable log output, compatible with [Goaccess, Logstalgia and glTail](https://github.com/75lb/local-web-server/blob/master/doc/visualisation.md) * Back-end service mocking * Prototype a web service, microservice, REST API etc. * Mocks are defined with config (static), or code (dynamic). * CORS-friendly, all origins allowed by default. * Proxy server * Map local routes to remote servers. Removes CORS pain when consuming remote services. * File sharing
**Requires node v4.0.0 or higher**.
## Synopsis
local-web-server is a simple command-line tool. To use it, from your project directory run `ws`.
<pre><code>$ ws --help
<strong>local-web-server</strong>
A simple web-server for productive front-end development.
<strong>Synopsis</strong>
$ ws [<server options>] $ ws --config $ ws --help
<strong>Server</strong>
-p, --port number Web server port. -d, --directory path Root directory, defaults to the current directory. -f, --log-format string If a format is supplied an access log is written to stdout. If not, a dynamic statistics view is displayed. Use a preset ('none', 'dev','combined', 'short', 'tiny' or 'logstalgia') or supply a custom format (e.g. ':method -> :url'). -r, --rewrite expression ... A list of URL rewrite rules. For each rule, separate the 'from' and 'to' routes with '->'. Whitespace surrounded the routes is ignored. E.g. '/from -> /to'. -s, --spa file Path to a Single Page App, e.g. app.html. -c, --compress Serve gzip-compressed resources, where applicable. -b, --forbid path ... A list of forbidden routes. -n, --no-cache Disable etag-based caching -forces loading from disk each request. --verbose Verbose output, useful for debugging.
<strong>Misc</strong>
-h, --help Print these usage instructions. --config Print the stored config.
Project home: https://github.com/75lb/local-web-server </code></pre>
## Examples
For the examples below, we assume we're in a project directory looking like this:
```sh . ├── css │ └── style.css ├── index.html └── package.json ```
All paths/routes are specified using [express syntax](http://expressjs.com/guide/routing.html#route-paths). To run the example projects linked below, clone the project, move into the example directory specified, run `ws`.
### Static site
Fire up your static site on the default port: ```sh $ ws serving at http://localhost:8000 ```
[Example](https://github.com/75lb/local-web-server/tree/master/example/simple).
### Single Page Application
You're building a web app with client-side routing, so mark `index.html` as the SPA. ```sh $ ws --spa index.html ```
By default, typical SPA paths (e.g. `/user/1`, `/login`) would return `404 Not Found` as a file does not exist with that path. By marking `index.html` as the SPA you create this rule:
*If a static file at the requested path exists (e.g. `/css/style.css`) then serve it, if it does not (e.g. `/login`) then serve the specified SPA and handle the route client-side.*
[Example](https://github.com/75lb/local-web-server/tree/master/example/spa).
### URL rewriting
Your application requested `/css/style.css` but it's stored at `/build/css/style.css`. To avoid a 404 you need a rewrite rule:
```sh $ ws --rewrite '/css/style.css -> /build/css/style.css' ```
Or, more generally (matching any stylesheet under `/css`):
```sh $ ws --rewrite '/css/:stylesheet -> /build/css/:stylesheet' ```
With a deep CSS directory structure it may be easier to mount the entire contents of `/build/css` to the `/css` path:
```sh $ ws --rewrite '/css/* -> /build/css/$1' ```
this rewrites `/css/a` as `/build/css/a`, `/css/a/b/c` as `/build/css/a/b/c` etc.
#### Proxied requests
If the `to` URL contains a remote host, local-web-server will act as a proxy - fetching and responding with the remote resource.
Mount the npm registry locally: ```sh $ ws --rewrite '/npm/* -> http://registry.npmjs.org/$1' ```
Map local requests for repo data to the Github API: ```sh $ ws --rewrite '/:user/repos/:name -> https://api.github.com/repos/:user/:name' ```
[Example](https://github.com/75lb/local-web-server/tree/master/example/rewrite).
### Mock Responses
Mocks give you full control over the response headers and body returned to the client. They can be used to return anything from a simple html string to a resourceful REST API. Typically, they're used to mock services but can be used for anything.
In the config, define an array called `mocks`. Each mock definition maps a <code>[route](http://expressjs.com/guide/routing.html#route-paths)</code> to a `response`. A simple home page: ```json { "mocks": [ { "route": "/", "response": { "body": "<h1>Welcome to the Mock Responses example</h1>" } } ] } ```
Under the hood, the property values from the `response` object are written onto the underlying [koa response object](https://github.com/koajs/koa/blob/master/docs/api/response.md). You can set any valid koa response properies, for example [type](https://github.com/koajs/koa/blob/master/docs/api/response.md#responsetype-1): ```json { "mocks": [ { "route": "/", "response": { "type": "text/plain", "body": "<h1>Welcome to the Mock Responses example</h1>" } } ] } ```
To define a **conditional response**, set a `request` object on the mock definition. The `request` value acts as a query - the response defined will only be returned if each property of the `request` query matches. For example, return an XML response *only* if the request headers include `accept: application/xml`, else return 404 Not Found.
```json { "mocks": [ { "route": "/two", "request": { "accepts": "xml" }, "response": { "body": "<result id='2' name='whatever' />" } } ] } ```
To specify **multiple potential responses**, set an array of mock definitions to the `responses` property. The first response with a matching request query will be sent. In this example, the client will get one of two responses depending on the request method:
```json { "mocks": [ { "route": "/three", "responses": [ { "request": { "method": "GET" }, "response": { "body": "<h1>Mock response for 'GET' request on /three</h1>" } }, { "request": { "method": "POST" }, "response": { "status": 400, "body": { "message": "That method is not allowed." } } } ] } ] } ```
The examples above all returned static data. To define a **dynamic response**, create a mock module. Specify its path in the `module` property: ```json { "mocks": [ { "route": "/four", "module": "/mocks/stream-self.js" } ] } ```
Here's what the `stream-self` module looks like. The module should export a mock definition (an object, or array of objects, each with a `response` and optional `request`). In this example, the module simply streams itself to the response but you could set `body` to *any* [valid value](https://github.com/koajs/koa/blob/master/docs/api/response.md#responsebody-1). ```js const fs = require('fs')
module.exports = { response: { body: fs.createReadStream(__filename) } } ```
For more power, define the response as a function. It will receive the [koa context](https://github.com/koajs/koa/blob/master/docs/api/context.md) as its first argument. Now you have full programmatic control over the response returned. ```js module.exports = { response: function (ctx) { ctx.body = '<h1>I can do anything i want.</h1>' } } ```
If the route contains tokens, their values are passed to the response. For example, with this mock... ```json { "mocks": [ { "route": "/players/:id", "module": "/mocks/players.js" } ] } ```
...the `id` value is passed to the `response` function. For example, a path of `/players/10?name=Lionel` would pass `10` to the response function. Additional, the value `Lionel` would be available on `ctx.query.name`: ```js module.exports = { response: function (ctx, id) { ctx.body = `<h1>id: ${id}, name: ${ctx.query.name}</h1>` } } ```
Here's an example of a REST collection (users). The config: ```json { "mocks": [ { "route": "/users", "module": "/mocks/users.js" } ] } ```
[Example](https://github.com/75lb/local-web-server/tree/master/example/mock).
### Stored config
Use the same options every time? Persist then to `package.json`: ```json { "name": "example", "version": "1.0.0", "local-web-server": { "port": 8100, "forbid": "*.json" } } ```
or `.local-web-server.json` ```json { "port": 8100, "forbid": "*.json" } ```
local-web-server will merge and use all config found, searching from the current directory upward. In the case both `package.json` and `.local-web-server.json` config is found in the same directory, `.local-web-server.json` will take precedence. Options set on the command line take precedence over all.
To inspect stored config, run: ```sh $ ws --config ```
### Logging
By default, local-web-server outputs a simple, dynamic statistics view. To see traditional web server logs, use `--log-format`:
```sh $ ws --log-format combined serving at http://localhost:8000 ::1 - - [16/Nov/2015:11:16:52 +0000] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200 12290 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_11_1) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/48.0.2562.0 Safari/537.36" ```
The format value supplied is passed directly to [morgan](https://github.com/expressjs/morgan). The exception is `--log-format none` which disables all output.
### Access Control
By default, access to all files is allowed (including dot files). Use `--forbid` to establish a blacklist: ```sh $ ws --forbid '*.json' '*.yml' serving at http://localhost:8000 ```
[Example](https://github.com/75lb/local-web-server/tree/master/example/forbid).
### Other usage
#### Debugging
Prints information about loaded middleware, arguments, remote proxy fetches etc. ```sh $ ws --verbose ```
#### Compression
Serve gzip-compressed resources, where applicable ```sh $ ws --compress ```
#### Disable caching
Disable etag response headers, forcing resources to be served in full every time. ```sh $ ws --no-cache ```
#### mime-types
You can set additional mime-type/extension mappings, or override the defaults by setting a `mime` value in the stored config. This value is passed directly to [mime.define()](https://github.com/broofa/node-mime#mimedefine). Example:
```json { "mime": { "text/plain": [ "php", "pl" ] } } ```
[Example](https://github.com/75lb/local-web-server/tree/master/example/mime-override).
#### Log Visualisation
Instructions for how to visualise log output using goaccess, logstalgia or gltail [here](https://github.com/75lb/local-web-server/blob/master/doc/visualisation.md).
## Install
Ensure [node.js](http://nodejs.org) is installed first. Linux/Mac users may need to run the following commands with `sudo`.
```sh $ npm install -g local-web-server ```
This will install the `ws` tool globally. To see the available options, run: ```sh $ ws --help ```
## Distribute with your project
The standard convention with client-server applications is to add an `npm start` command to launch the server component.
1\. Install the server as a dev dependency
```sh $ npm install local-web-server --save-dev ```
2\. Add a `start` command to your `package.json`:
```json { "name": "example", "version": "1.0.0", "local-web-server": { "port": 8100, "forbid": "*.json" }, "scripts": { "start": "ws" } } ```
3\. Document how to build and launch your site
```sh $ npm install $ npm start serving at http://localhost:8100 ```
## API Reference
* [local-web-server](#module_local-web-server) * [localWebServer([options])](#exp_module_local-web-server--localWebServer) ⇒ <code>[KoaApplication](https://github.com/koajs/koa/blob/master/docs/api/index.md#application)</code> ⏏ * [~rewriteRule](#module_local-web-server--localWebServer..rewriteRule)
<a name="exp_module_local-web-server--localWebServer"></a> ### localWebServer([options]) ⇒ <code>[KoaApplication](https://github.com/koajs/koa/blob/master/docs/api/index.md#application)</code> ⏏
Returns a Koa application you can launch or mix into an existing app.
**Kind**: Exported function **Params** - [options] <code>object</code> - options - [.static] <code>object</code> - koa-static config - [.root] <code>string</code> <code> = "."</code> - root directory - [.options] <code>string</code> - [options](https://github.com/koajs/static#options) - [.serveIndex] <code>object</code> - koa-serve-index config - [.path] <code>string</code> <code> = "."</code> - root directory - [.options] <code>string</code> - [options](https://github.com/expressjs/serve-index#options) - [.forbid] <code>Array.<string></code> - A list of forbidden routes, each route being an [express route-path](http://expressjs.com/guide/routing.html#route-paths). - [.spa] <code>string</code> - specify an SPA file to catch requests for everything but static assets. - [.log] <code>object</code> - [morgan](https://github.com/expressjs/morgan) config - [.format] <code>string</code> - [log format](https://github.com/expressjs/morgan#predefined-formats) - [.options] <code>object</code> - [options](https://github.com/expressjs/morgan#options) - [.compress] <code>boolean</code> - Serve gzip-compressed resources, where applicable - [.mime] <code>object</code> - A list of mime-type overrides, passed directly to [mime.define()](https://github.com/broofa/node-mime#mimedefine) - [.rewrite] <code>[Array.<rewriteRule>](#module_local-web-server--localWebServer..rewriteRule)</code> - One or more rewrite rules - [.verbose] <code>boolean</code> - Print detailed output, useful for debugging
**Example** ```js const localWebServer = require('local-web-server') localWebServer().listen(8000) ``` <a name="module_local-web-server--localWebServer..rewriteRule"></a> #### localWebServer~rewriteRule
The `from` and `to` routes are specified using [express route-paths](http://expressjs.com/guide/routing.html#route-paths)
**Kind**: inner typedef of <code>[localWebServer](#exp_module_local-web-server--localWebServer)</code> **Properties**
| Name | Type | Description | | --- | --- | --- | | from | <code>string</code> | request route | | to | <code>string</code> | target route |
**Example** ```json { "rewrite": [ { "from": "/css/*", "to": "/build/styles/$1" }, { "from": "/npm/*", "to": "http://registry.npmjs.org/$1" }, { "from": "/:user/repos/:name", "to": "https://api.github.com/repos/:user/:name" } ] } ```
* * *
© 2015 Lloyd Brookes <75pound@gmail.com>. Documented by [jsdoc-to-markdown](https://github.com/jsdoc2md/jsdoc-to-markdown).
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