The serve-static npm package is used to serve static files such as images, CSS files, and JavaScript files. It is built on top of the core 'http' module in Node.js and provides a middleware that can be used with frameworks like Express to serve files from a directory in the file system.

What are serve-static's main functionalities?

Basic static file serving

This code sample demonstrates how to serve static files from a directory named 'public'. When a request is made to the server, it will look for files in this directory to serve.

const express = require('express');
const serveStatic = require('serve-static');

const app = express();

app.use(serveStatic('public'));

app.listen(3000);

Customizing cache control

This code sample shows how to customize cache control headers for the files served. The 'maxAge' option sets the cache control max-age directive in seconds, and the 'setHeaders' function allows for further customization of the headers.

const express = require('express');
const serveStatic = require('serve-static');

const app = express();

app.use(serveStatic('public', {
  maxAge: '1d',
  setHeaders: function (res, path) {
    res.setHeader('Cache-Control', 'public, max-age=86400')
  }
}));

app.listen(3000);

Serving files from multiple directories

This code sample demonstrates how to serve static files from multiple directories. The first 'serveStatic' serves files from the 'public' directory, while the second one serves files from the 'media' directory under the '/media' path.

const express = require('express');
const serveStatic = require('serve-static');

const app = express();

app.use(serveStatic('public'));
app.use('/media', serveStatic('media'));

app.listen(3000);

Other packages similar to serve-static

Readme

Source

Serve Static

Previously connect.static().

Usage:

var connect = require('connect');
var serveStatic = require('serve-static');

var app = connect();

app.use(serveStatic('public/ftp', {'index': 'default.html'}));
app.listen();

License

The MIT License (MIT)

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

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Last updated on 07 Apr 2014

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