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Live-server

This is a little development server with live reload capability. Use it for hacking your HTML/JavaScript/CSS files, but not for deploying the final site.

Installation

You need node.js and npm. You should probably install this globally. 

$ npm install -g live-server

Usage from command line

Issue the command live-server in your project's directory. Alternatively you can add the path to serve as a command line parameter.

This will automatically launch the default browser. When you make a change to any file, the browser will reload the page - unless it was a CSS file in which case the changes are applied without a reload.

Command line parameters:

  • --port=NUMBER: select port to use, default: PORT env var or 8080
  • --host=ADDRESS: select host address to bind to, default: IP env var or 0.0.0.0 ("any address")
  • --no-browser: suppress automatic web browser launching
  • --browser=BROWSER: specify browser to use instead of system default
  • --quiet | -q: suppress logging
  • --verbose | -V: more logging (logs all requests, shows all listening IPv4 interfaces, etc.)
  • --open=PATH: launch browser to PATH instead of server root
  • --watch=PATH: comma-separated string of paths to exclusively watch for changes (default: watch everything)
  • --ignore=PATH: comma-separated string of paths to ignore (anymatch-compatible definition)
  • --ignorePattern=RGXP: Regular expression of files to ignore (ie .*.jade) (DEPRECATED in favor of --ignore)
  • --no-css-inject: reload page on CSS change, rather than injecting changed CSS
  • --middleware=PATH: path to .js file exporting a middleware function to add; can be a name without path nor extension to reference bundled middlewares in middleware folder
  • --entry-file=PATH: serve this file (server root relative) in place of missing files (useful for single page apps)
  • --mount=ROUTE:PATH: serve the paths contents under the defined route (multiple definitions possible)
  • --spa: translate requests from /abc to /#/abc (handy for Single Page Apps)
  • --wait=MILLISECONDS: (default 100ms) wait for all changes, before reloading
  • --htpasswd=PATH: Enables http-auth expecting htpasswd file located at PATH
  • --cors: Enables CORS for any origin (reflects request origin, requests with credentials are supported)
  • --https=PATH: PATH to a HTTPS configuration module
  • --https-module=MODULE_NAME: Custom HTTPS module (e.g. spdy)
  • --proxy=ROUTE:URL: proxy all requests for ROUTE to URL
  • --help | -h: display terse usage hint and exit
  • --version | -v: display version and exit

Default options

If a file ~/.live-server.json exists it will be loaded and used as default options for live-server on the command line.

See also

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