http-server-rs-0.0.38 is not a library.

http-server: a simple static HTTP server 🚀🦀

Rewrite of the popular npm package http-server in Rust with some extras included.

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.

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/7b6bbee0-3428-4c9f-80a6-2804ddac6e01

Installation

Cargo

# Installs globally
cargo install http-server-rs

NPM

# Installs to ./node_modules
npm install http-server-rs
npx http-server-rs --help

If you want to override the binary used (for custom platforms)

npm install http-server-rs

export HTTP_SERVER_RS_BIN_OVERRIDE=/path/to/http-server-rs
npx http-server-rs --help # Uses the override

Manual Install

Download the latest binary from GitHub Releases and add it to your PATH.

Update with http-server-rs update

# Linux AMD64 (Change for your platform)
curl -L --url https://github.com/alshdavid/http-server-rs/releases/latest/download/http-server-rs-linux-amd64.tar.gz | tar -xvzf - -C $HOME/.local/bin

# Add to PATH if not already there:
echo "\nexport \PATH=\$PATH:\$HOME/.local/bin\n" >> $HOME/.zshrc
echo "\nexport \PATH=\$PATH:\$HOME/.local/bin\n" >> $HOME/.bashrc

Example Usage

# Use default configuration
http-server-rs serve

# Enable CORS, reroute requests to index.html and automatically compress served files
http-server-rs serve --cors --spa -Z ./public

# Responds with headers required for SharedArrayBuffer
http-server-rs serve --shared-array-buffer ./public

# Automatically transpiles TypeScript to JavaScript on request
http-server-rs serve --transpile ./public

# Proxy /api to an external backend (quotes are required)
http-server-rs serve --proxy "path=/api&target=http://localhost:3000" ./public

# Custom Headers
http-server-rs serve -H X-Custom-Header:some-value

# Update the binary to the latest release
http-server-rs update

Usage: http-server-rs <COMMAND>

Commands:
  serve   Serve a target directory over HTTP
  update  Update the binary to the latest release
  help    Print this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)

Options:
  -h, --help  Print help

Usage: http-server-rs serve [OPTIONS] [SERVE_DIR]

Arguments:
  [SERVE_DIR]  Target directory to serve [default: .]

Options:
  -a, --address <ADDRESS>
          [default: 0.0.0.0]
  -p, --port <PORT>
          [default: 8080]
      --spa
          Redirect requests to /index.html for Single Page Applications
  -c, --cache-time <CACHE_TIME>
          Cache control time [default: 0]
  -Z, --compress
          Compress responses (JIT)
  -H, --header <HEADERS>
          Custom headers (Format "key:value")
      --auth <BASIC_AUTH>
          Put server behind basic auth (Format "username:password")
      --cors
          Enable CORS header
  -S, --shared-array-buffer
          Enable headers for SharedArrayBuffer
  -Q, --quiet
          Don't print any logs to terminal
  -t, --transpile
          Transpile served files
      --no-source-maps
          Don't generate source maps for transpiled files
  -w, --watch
          Watch folder for changes and trigger a browser reload
      --watch-dir <WATCH_DIR>
          Watch for changes [default: SERVE_DIR]
      --watch-debounce-delay <WATCH_DEBOUNCE_DELAY>
          Debounce delay in milliseconds before watched changes trigger a reload [default: 200]
      --no-watch-inject
          Don't automatically inject watch listener into html
      --skip-upgrade-check
          Skip checking for a newer release on startup
      --stream-buffer-size <STREAM_BUFFER_SIZE>
          Configure the buffer size when streaming files [default: 4000]
      --proxy <PROXY>
          Reverse proxy routes (URL-encoded, e.g. "path=/api&target=http://localhost:3000&secure=false&change_origin=false&path_rewrite[key]=^/api&path_rewrite[value]=")
  -h, --help
          Print help

Live Transpile TypeScript

Will live transpile TypeScript to JavaScript on request. This allows serving TypeScript sources directly to the browser without a build step.

This is designed to simplify local development for bundler-less configurations. Use native ESM imports built into your browser and create your project without a build step.

http-server-rs serve --transpile --port 8080 ./testing/transpile/react

# Returns transpiled JavaScript that runs directly in the browser
curl http://localhost:8080/app.tsx

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/3d1bc313-e898-42bb-8c8f-a8023c41ec35

Notes;

Use builtin import syntax and get npm packages from a CDN like esm.sh
Use importmap to map ESM imports to Node.js resolution patterns
npm install is only required for types. Unfortunately this requires full package installation until the TypeScript team comes to a decision on remote declaration file
For performance sensitive applications, you'll still probably want to use a bundler for production - but who know, this might be good enough for most use cases

Watch Mode

http-server under --watch mode can watch the served directory for changes and emit an event to the client notifying of a change. By default the server will intercept html files and inject a JavaScript script which subscribes to change events and triggers a page reload.

http-server-rs serve --watch ./dist

To customize the reload functionality, disable the auto-inject script, manually subscribe to change events and trigger the desired functionality.

http-server-rs serve --watch --no-watch-inject ./dist

<html>
  <head>
    <script>
      new EventSource("/.http-server-rs/reload")
        .onmessage = () => window.location.reload();
    </script>
  </head>
  <body>
    <script src="./app.js"></script>
  </body>
</html>

http-server-rs 0.0.38