Start a connect web server.
Getting Started
This plugin requires Grunt ~0.4.0
If you haven't used Grunt before, be sure to check out the Getting Started guide, as it explains how to create a Gruntfile as well as install and use Grunt plugins. Once you're familiar with that process, you may install this plugin with this command:
npm install grunt-contrib-connect --save-dev
Once the plugin has been installed, it may be enabled inside your Gruntfile with this line of JavaScript:
grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-connect');
Connect task
Run this task with the grunt connect
command.
Note that this server only runs as long as grunt is running. Once grunt's tasks have completed, the web server stops. This behavior can be changed with the keepalive option, and can be enabled ad-hoc by running the task like grunt connect:keepalive
.
This task was designed to be used in conjunction with another task that is run immediately afterwards, like the grunt-contrib-qunit plugin qunit
task.
Options
port
Type: Integer
Default: 8000
The port on which the webserver will respond. The task will fail if the specified port is already in use. You can use the special values 0
or '?'
to use a system-assigned port.
protocol
Type: String
Default: 'http'
May be 'http'
or 'https'
.
hostname
Type: String
Default: '0.0.0.0'
The hostname the webserver will use.
Setting it to '*'
will make the server accessible from anywhere.
base
Type: String
or Array
Default: '.'
The base (or root) directory from which files will be served. Defaults to the project Gruntfile's directory.
Can be an array of bases to serve multiple directories. The last base given will be the directory to become browse-able.
directory
Type: String
Default: null
Set to the directory you wish to be browse-able. Used to override the base
option browse-able directory.
keepalive
Type: Boolean
Default: false
Keep the server alive indefinitely. Note that if this option is enabled, any tasks specified after this task will never run. By default, once grunt's tasks have completed, the web server stops. This option changes that behavior.
This option can also be enabled ad-hoc by running the task like grunt connect:targetname:keepalive
debug
Type: Boolean
Default: false
Set the debug
option to true to enable logging instead of using the --debug
flag.
livereload
Type: Boolean
or Number
Default: false
Set to true
or a port number to inject a live reload script tag into your page using connect-livereload.
This does not perform live reloading. It is intended to be used in tandem with grunt-contrib-watch or another task that will trigger a live reload server upon files changing.
open
Type: Boolean
or String
or Object
Default: false
Open the served page in your default browser. Specifying true
opens the default server URL, specifying a URL opens that URL or specify an object with the following keys to configure open directly (each are optional):
{
target: 'http://localhost:8000', // target url to open
appName: 'open', // name of the app that opens, ie: open, start, xdg-open
callback: function() {} // called when the app has opened
}
useAvailablePort
Type: Boolean
Default: false
If true
the task will look for the next available port after the set port
option.
middleware
Type: Function
or Array
Default: Array
of connect middlewares that use options.base
for static files and directory browsing
As an Array
:
grunt.initConfig({
connect: {
server: {
options: {
middleware: [
function myMiddleware(req, res, next) {
res.end('Hello, world!');
}
],
},
},
},
});
As a function
:
grunt.initConfig({
connect: {
server: {
options: {
middleware: function(connect, options, middlewares) {
// inject a custom middleware into the array of default middlewares
middlewares.push(function(req, res, next) {
if (req.url !== '/hello/world') return next();
res.end('Hello, world from port #' + options.port + '!');
});
return middlewares;
},
},
},
},
});
Lets you add in your own Connect middlewares. This option expects a function that returns an array of middlewares. See the project Gruntfile and project unit tests for a usage example.
Usage examples
Basic Use
In this example, grunt connect
(or more verbosely, grunt connect:server
) will start a static web server at http://localhost:9001/
, with its base path set to the www-root
directory relative to the gruntfile, and any tasks run afterwards will be able to access it.
// Project configuration.
grunt.initConfig({
connect: {
server: {
options: {
port: 9001,
base: 'www-root'
}
}
}
});
If you want your web server to use the default options, just omit the options
object. You still need to specify a target (uses_defaults
in this example), but the target's configuration object can otherwise be empty or nonexistent. In this example, grunt connect
(or more verbosely, grunt connect:uses_defaults
) will start a static web server using the default options.
// Project configuration.
grunt.initConfig({
connect: {
uses_defaults: {}
}
});
Multiple Servers
You can specify multiple servers to be run alone or simultaneously by creating a target for each server. In this example, running either grunt connect:site1
or grunt connect:site2
will start the appropriate web server, but running grunt connect
will run both. Note that any server for which the keepalive option is specified will prevent any task or target from running after it.
// Project configuration.
grunt.initConfig({
connect: {
site1: {
options: {
port: 9000,
base: 'www-roots/site1'
}
},
site2: {
options: {
port: 9001,
base: 'www-roots/site2'
}
}
}
});
Roll Your Own
Like the Basic Use example, this example will start a static web server at http://localhost:9001/
, with its base path set to the www-root
directory relative to the gruntfile. Unlike the other example, this is done by creating a brand new task. in fact, this plugin isn't even installed!
// Project configuration.
grunt.initConfig({ /* Nothing needed here! */ });
// After running "npm install connect --save-dev" to add connect as a dev
// dependency of your project, you can require it in your gruntfile with:
var connect = require('connect');
// Now you can define a "connect" task that starts a webserver, using the
// connect lib, with whatever options and configuration you need:
grunt.registerTask('connect', 'Start a custom static web server.', function() {
grunt.log.writeln('Starting static web server in "www-root" on port 9001.');
connect(connect.static('www-root')).listen(9001);
});
Support for HTTPS
A default certificate authority, certificate and key file are provided and pre-
configured for use when protocol
has been set to https
.
NOTE: No passphrase set for the certificate. If you are getting warnings in Google Chrome, add 'server.crt' (from 'node_modules/tasks/certs') to your keychain. In OS X, after you add 'server.crt', right click on the certificate, select 'Get Info' - 'Trust' - 'Always Trust', close window, restart Chrome.
Advanced HTTPS config
If the default certificate setup is unsuitable for your environment, OpenSSL can be used to create a set of self-signed certificates with a local ca root.
### Create ca.key, use a password phrase when asked
### When asked 'Common Name (e.g. server FQDN or YOUR name) []:' use your hostname, i.e 'mysite.dev'
openssl genrsa -des3 -out ca.key 1024
openssl req -new -key ca.key -out ca.csr
openssl x509 -req -days 365 -in ca.csr -out ca.crt -signkey ca.key
### Create server certificate
openssl genrsa -des3 -out server.key 1024
openssl req -new -key server.key -out server.csr
### Remove password from the certificate
cp server.key server.key.org
openssl rsa -in server.key.org -out server.key
### Generate self-siged certificate
openssl x509 -req -days 365 -in server.csr -signkey server.key -out server.crt
For more details on the various options that can be set when configuring SSL, please see the Node documentation for TLS.
Grunt configuration would become
// Project configuration.
grunt.initConfig({
connect: {
server: {
options: {
protocol: 'https',
port: 8443,
key: grunt.file.read('server.key').toString(),
cert: grunt.file.read('server.crt').toString(),
ca: grunt.file.read('ca.crt').toString()
},
},
},
});
Grunt Events
The connect plugin will emit a grunt event, connect.{taskName}.listening
, once the server has started. You can listen for this event to run things against a keepalive server, for example:
grunt.registerTask('jasmine-server', 'start web server for jasmine tests in browser', function() {
grunt.task.run('jasmine:tests:build');
grunt.event.once('connect.tests.listening', function(host, port) {
var specRunnerUrl = 'http://' + host + ':' + port + '/_SpecRunner.html';
grunt.log.writeln('Jasmine specs available at: ' + specRunnerUrl);
require('open')(specRunnerUrl);
});
grunt.task.run('connect:tests:keepalive');
});
Release History
- 2014-02-27 v0.7.1 Fixes issue with the '*' hostname option.
- 2014-02-18 v0.7.0 Update connect to ~2.13.0. Default hostname switched to '0.0.0.0'. Modified options.middleware to accept an array or a function.
- 2013-12-29 v0.6.0 Open options.hostname if provided. Update connect-livereload to ~0.3.0. Update connect to ~2.12.0. Use well-formed ssl certificates. Support all options of open. Make directory browseable when base is a string.
- 2013-09-05 v0.5.0 Add 'open' option.
- 2013-09-05 v0.4.2 Un-normalize options.base as it should be a string or an array as the user has set. Fix setting target hostname option.
- 2013-09-02 v0.4.1 Browse-able directory is the last item supplied to bases. Added directory option to override browse-able directory.
- 2013-09-01 v0.4.0 Fix logging of which server address. Ability to set multiple bases. Event emitted when server starts listening. Support for HTTPS. debug option added to display debug logging like the --debug flag. livereload option added to inject a livereload snippet into the page.
- 2013-04-10 v0.3.0 Add ability to listen on system-assigned port.
- 2013-03-07 v0.2.0 Upgrade connect dependency.
- 2013-02-17 v0.1.2 Ensure Gruntfile.js is included on npm.
- 2013-02-15 v0.1.1 First official release for Grunt 0.4.0.
- 2013-01-18 v0.1.1rc6 Updating grunt/gruntplugin dependencies to rc6. Changing in-development grunt/gruntplugin dependency versions from tilde version ranges to specific versions.
- 2013-01-09 v0.1.1rc5 Updating to work with grunt v0.4.0rc5.
- 2012-11-01 v0.1.0 Work in progress, not yet officially released.
Task submitted by "Cowboy" Ben Alman
This file was generated on Fri Feb 28 2014 22:38:50.