Setting Up a Local Web Server using Node.js

When you're working on a site or web app, there will be times when you need to test files as if they were being served from a remote web server, similar to how they are when you browse the web normally.

If you don't have your own server, or just want to test files locally, you can set up a local web server on your computer to simulate one to do the job, and this tutorial is here to teach you how.

Prerequisites

1. Node and NPM installed. If you don't have them installed, follow our how to install Node guide.

Install http-server

With Node and NPM installed, we can move forward and install the Node package called http-server, which is a simple zero-configuration HTTP server that serves up static files.

BASH
npm install http-server -g

This command will install it on your computer globally so you can use it anywhere.

Therefore, after you have navigated to your folder via the command line, start the server using this command:

BASH
http-server -o

If successful, you should see something similar to this:

BASH
http-server -o
Starting up http-server, serving ./
Available on:
    http://192.168.1.8:8080
    http://127.0.0.1:8080
Hit CTRL-C to stop the server

Upon seeing this, a browser window should have opened for you automatically, but if not, you can manually head to http://127.0.0.1:8080 to see the folder that you used the command on being served.

Happy coding! 😄

Resources

• http-server Package Website

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