livelocalhost

LiveLocalhost

GitHub | npm | sponsor | BlueSky | craigbuckler.com

A simple localhost development server with hot reloading. Serves any local directory, watches for file changes, and triggers live browser reloading.

Command line usage

Run LiveLocalhost from the command line:

npx livelocalhost

You can also install it globally:

npm install livelocalhost -g

and serve static files using:

llh

or

livelocalhost

Once started, you can access http://localhost:8000/ in your browser.

Options

Options can can be set with --name=value, or --name value format.

parameter	description
-e, --env <file>	load defaults from an .env file
-p, --serveport <port>	HTTP port (default 8000)
-d, --servedir <dir>	directory to serve (./)
-r, --reloadservice <path>	path to reload service (/livelocalhost.service)
-j, --hotloadJS	enable hot reloading of JavaScript files (false)
-w, --watchDebounce <ms>	debounce time for file changes (default 600)
-l, --accessLog	show server access log (false)
-v, --version	show application version
-?, --help	show CLI help
-E, --helpenv	show .env/environment variable help
-A, --helpapi	show Node.js API help

Browser live reloading is available when:

• the application has permission to watch files, and
• --reloadservice is a URL path starting /

By default, the Server Sent Events service path for live reloading is /livelocalhost.service and a client-side script at /livelocalhost.service.js is injected into all HTML files. You need only change --reloadservice if that path is already in use or you want to disable live reloading.

Live reloading is disabled when you set any value that does not start with /.

Hot reloading of client-side JavaScript is disabled unless you enable --hotloadJS. This refreshes the whole page when any JavaScript file changes.

--watchDebounce sets a delay time to ensures multiple file changes do not trigger more than one live reload.

Examples:

llh --serveport 8080 --servedir=./build/ --reloadservice /reload

The first two non-dashed parameters are presumed to be the port and directory:

llh 8080 ./build/

You can also use environment variables to configure options - enter llh -E for details.

Stop the server with Ctrl | Cmd + C.

Node.js module usage

You can use livelocalhost in your Node.js projects - enter llh -A for details.

Install it into your project:

npm install livelocalhost

Optionally add --save-dev to ensure it's only loaded in development mode.

Import the module into a JavaScript file (such as index.js):

import { livelocalhost } from 'livelocalhost';

set options as necessary, e.g.

livelocalhost.serveport = 8080;
livelocalhost.servedir = './build/';
livelocalhost.reloadservice = '/reload';
livelocalhost.hotloadJS = true;
livelocalhost.watchDebounce = 2000;
livelocalhost.accessLog = true;

(If not explicitly set, the options fall back to environment variables and defaults.)

Execute the .start() method:

livelocalhost.start();

Launch your application as normal, e.g. node index.js.

Changes

1.2.0, 7 June 2025

• disable live reloading when --reloadservice does not start with /
• disable live reloading when the app does not have permission to watch files
• help and README updates

1.1.1, 5 June 2025

• minor logging updates

1.1.0, 3 June 2025

• new accessLog option
• uses ConCol for prettier console logging
• improved CLI argument parsing, help, and README

1.0.3, 14 May 2025

• now works on Windows (path issue fixed)

1.0.2, 23 April 2025

• all CSS files are hot reloaded if one changes to ensure @import works.
• fixed bug that reloaded all <link> elements such as sitemaps, feeds, and favicons.

1.0.1, 23 April 2025

• package.json fix.