Create a Local Web Server on Mac with Ease

Are you looking for a quick and easy way to create a local web server on your Mac? Look no further! In this article, we'll explore the steps to set up a local web server using http-server, a popular and widely-used command-line tool.

### Installing Http-Server

To get started, you'll need to install http-server on your Mac. You can do this by installing it globally via Homebrew by running the following command:

```

brew install http-server

```

Alternatively, you can install it using npm (Node Package Manager) by running the following command:

```

npm install -global http-server

```

### Running Http-Server

Once installed, you can run http-server from the command line to start your local web server. To do this, simply type:

```

http-server

```

By default, http-server will serve files from the current directory and listen on port 8080. If you want to specify a different port or directory, you can use options such as `-p` or `-c`.

For example, to look for an open port starting at 8080, you can run:

```

http-server -p 0

```

To disable caching and serve files from a specific directory, you can run:

```

http-server -c-1 /public/

```

### Serving Gzipped Files

One of the powerful features of http-server is its ability to serve gzipped versions of your files. If a gzipped version of a file exists and the request accepts gzip encoding, http-server will automatically serve the compressed version.

For example, if you have a file called `/public/some-file.js` and a gzipped version of that file called `/public/some-file.js.gz`, http-server will serve the gzipped version if the client requests it with gzip encoding.

### Using Npx

Another convenient feature of http-server is its support for npx, which allows you to run the script without installing it first. To use npx, simply type:

```

npx http-server

```

This can be especially useful for testing or development purposes, where you may not want to install a dependency globally.

###

Http-server is a powerful and easy-to-use tool for creating a local web server on your Mac. With its zero-configuration setup and support for gzipped files, it's perfect for production usage, testing, local development, and learning. Whether you're a developer or just someone who wants to test out some code locally, http-server is definitely worth checking out.

Create a local web server mac