# Install http-server with Homebrew, Nix

Simple zero-configuration command-line HTTP server. Version 14.1.1 via Homebrew; verified from local package data. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#http-server.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:http-server
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install http-server
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

### Linux

- Nix (92%):

```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#http-server
```

  Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/ht/http-server/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:http-server
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 14.1.1
- **Source summary:** Simple zero-configuration command-line HTTP server
- **Homepage:** <https://github.com/http-party/http-server>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/http-party/http-server>
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- http-server (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 14.1.1
## Project history and usage

http-server is a Node.js command-line static HTTP server. Its README describes a zero-configuration server that is simple enough for testing, local development, and learning, but also includes practical options for caching, directory listings, proxying, TLS, headers, and authentication.

### Project history

The GitHub repository was created in June 2011, and npm registry metadata records the package beginning the same day with version 0.1.0. The project became one of the standard Node-era answers to 'serve this folder over localhost' before npx made one-off CLI execution common.

The package evolved from a tiny static-file helper into a more featureful local server. The README documents installation through npx, global npm, Homebrew, dependency installation, and Docker builds, while release metadata shows the project reaching the 14.x line in 2021 and 2022.

### Adoption history

http-server's adoption is visible across npm, GitHub, and Homebrew: the official README includes npm and Homebrew badges, GitHub displays a large star/fork footprint and many dependents, and the input metadata records Homebrew and Nix packaging. Its popularity comes from needing no application framework when all a developer wants is static files over HTTP.

### How it is used

Common use is `npx http-server` or a global `http-server` command pointed at a directory. Options cover port and address selection, cache control, gzip and Brotli serving, CORS headers, custom headers, SPA-style proxy fallback, TLS certificates, basic authentication, robots.txt generation, and MIME overrides.

### Why package nerds care

For package nerds, http-server is a classic small CLI that became infrastructure glue. It sits at the intersection of npm's executable-bin model, frontend local development, static-site demos, and Homebrew packaging for JavaScript tools that people want outside a single Node project.

### Timeline

- 2011: The http-party/http-server repository was created on GitHub.
- 2011: The npm package was created with early 0.1.x versions.
- 2017: The GitHub release list includes the 0.10.0 release.
- 2021: The project published the 13.x and 14.0.0 release lines.
- 2022: The project published the 14.1.x release line.

### Related projects

- Related tools include Python's built-in simple HTTP server, serve, live-server, Caddy, Vite dev server workflows, and the Rust http-server package. It also uses Node and npm conventions for command distribution.

### Sources

- Official GitHub README/release metadata and npm registry metadata.


## Security Notes

broad file, network, media, or database tool signal.

- **Geiger risk:** blue / medium
- broad file, network, media, or database tool signal

## Other Package-Manager Records

- Nix - http-server: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/ht/http-server/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1


## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/http-server.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/http-server.yml)


## Sources

- pkg.so package database
- Geiger risk classifier
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation
- external package-manager database matches
- cross-ecosystem install command graph