Development Server

js-cgi includes a built-in development server for local development. No Apache or Nginx required — just run your scripts and see the results in your browser.

Starting the Server

# Start on default port (8000)
js-cgi --serve

# Specify a port
js-cgi --serve 3000

# Specify host and port
js-cgi --serve 0.0.0.0:8080

# Specify a document root
js-cgi --serve 8000 /path/to/project

# With a custom ini file
js-cgi --ini=/path/to/js-cgi.ini --serve 8000

How It Works

• .js files are executed through the js-cgi engine
• Static files (HTML, CSS, images, fonts, etc.) are served directly
• index.js is used as the directory index (falls back to index.html)
• Each request forks a new process — same isolation as production CGI
• Errors are displayed in the browser and logged to the terminal

Example

Create an index.js file:

const name = request.query.name || "World";
print(`<h1>Hello, ${name}!</h1>`);

Start the server and visit http://localhost:8000/?name=Developer:

$ js-cgi --serve 8000
js-cgi development server
Listening on http://localhost:8000
Document root: /home/user/project
Press Ctrl+C to stop.

[GET] 200 /

Extensions

The dev server loads extensions from the same ini configuration as production. Pass --ini to specify which extensions to load:

js-cgi --ini=/etc/js-cgi/js-cgi.ini --serve 8000

Limitations

The development server is designed for local development only. For production use, deploy with Apache (CGI), Nginx (FastCGI), or use the standalone FastCGI server.