Expose static file over http

Serve static file over http

PM2 can serve static file very easily with the pm2 serve feature. It support serving raw files from a specified folder or you can serve a SPA (Single Page Application) with it.

CLI

Serve your static files (like a frontend app) over http with a simple command :

pm2 serve <path> <port>

The current folder will be used if you don’t precise <path>, for the port the default one is 8080. You can use the same options as a normal application like --name or --watch.

Process file

You can declare in a process file that you want a special dir to be served, to do so :

module.exports = {
  script: "serve",
  env: {
    PM2_SERVE_PATH: '.',
    PM2_SERVE_PORT: 8080
  }
}

You just need to add PM2_SERVE_PATH and PM2_SERVE_PORT to env variables to specify the path and the port, the default are the same as the CLI.

Serving SPA: redirect all to index.html

To automatically redirect all queries to the index.html use the --spa option:

pm2 serve --spa

Via a process file:

module.exports = {
  script: "serve",
  env: {
    PM2_SERVE_PATH: '.',
    PM2_SERVE_PORT: 8080,
    PM2_SERVE_SPA: 'true',
    PM2_SERVE_HOMEPAGE: './index.html'
  }
}

Protect access with password

To basic protect the access to the exposed files you can use the --basic-auth-username and --basic-auth-password:

pm2 serve --basic-auth-username <username> --basic-auth-password <password>

Via a process file:

module.exports = {
  script: "serve",
  env: {
    PM2_SERVE_PATH: '.',
    PM2_SERVE_PORT: 8080,
    PM2_SERVE_BASIC_AUTH: 'true',
    PM2_SERVE_BASIC_AUTH_USERNAME: 'example-login',
    PM2_SERVE_BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD: 'example-password'
  }
}