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[](https://www.npmjs.org/package/local-web-server)[](https://www.npmjs.org/package/local-web-server)[](https://travis-ci.org/75lb/local-web-server)[](https://david-dm.org/75lb/local-web-server)[](https://github.com/feross/standard)
***This is the documentation for the next version. For the previous release, see the `prev` branch. To install this prerelease: `$ npm i -g local-web-server@^1.0.0-beta`***
# local-web-serverA simple web-server for productive front-end development. Typical use cases:
* Front-end Development * Static or Single Page App development * reroute 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. * CORS-friendly, all origins allowed by default.* Proxy server * Useful to workaround CORS issues with remote servers* File sharing
**Requires node v4.0.0 or higher**.
## Synopsislocal-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$ wsserving 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 urls (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
Mock a data service, serve any custom/dynamic content.
A mock definition maps a route to a response. Mock a home page.```json{ "mocks": [ { "route": "/", "response": { "body": "<h1>Welcome to the Mock Responses example</h1>" } } ]}```
Conditional response, depending on the request.```json{ "mocks": [ { "route": "/two", "request": { "accepts": "xml" }, "response": { "body": "<result id='2' name='whatever' />" } } ]}```
Multiple potential responses. First request to match.```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." } } } ] } ]}```
More dynamic response.```json{ "mocks": [ { "route": "/four", "module": "/mocks/four.js" } ]}```
Tokens in the route are passed to the response.```json{ "mocks": [ { "route": "/five/:id\\?name=:name", "module": "/mocks/five.js" } ]}```
[Example](https://github.com/75lb/local-web-server/tree/master/example/mock).
### Stored config
Use the same port and blacklist every time? Persist it 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. Command-line options take precedence over all.
To inspect stored config, run:```sh$ ws --config```
### LoggingBy default, local-web-server outputs a simple, dynamic statistics view. To see traditional web server logs, use `--log-format`:
```sh$ ws --log-format combinedserving 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-typesYou 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 VisualisationInstructions for how to visualise log output using goaccess, logstalgia or gltail [here](https://github.com/75lb/local-web-server/blob/master/doc/visualisation.md).
## InstallEnsure [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 projectThe 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 startserving at http://localhost:8100```
## API Reference
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© 2015 Lloyd Brookes <75pound@gmail.com>. Documented by [jsdoc-to-markdown](https://github.com/jsdoc2md/jsdoc-to-markdown).
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