7 ms·

Devd: a small, self-contained web daemon for developers

229 points by cortesi 11y ago

jaredhalpert 11y ago
Thanks - I hate development. Tools like this make my life mildly less painful.
whalesalad 11y ago
python -m SimpleHTTPServer
- vinaybn 11y ago
  live reload?
- digitalblade 11y ago
  Devd is a single statically compiled binary with no external dependencies, and is released for OSX, Linux and Windows. Don't want to install Node or Python in that light-weight Docker instance you're hacking in? Just copy over the devd binary and be done with it.
- vshan 11y ago
  ruby -run -ehttpd <directory> -p8000 Can customize the directory.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
nikolay 11y ago
What's wrong with Caddy [0]? [0] https://caddyserver.com/ https://caddyserver.com/
- ics 11y ago
  Searching Caddy's Github repo, 0 hits on 'livereload'. I usually do the python or ruby one-liner when I need a quick webserver, but if devd does dead simple LiveReload I might start using it just for that.
- teh_klev 11y ago
  "It started as a weekend stress-relief hack " "This isn't terribly surprising, since I wrote it to scratch my own idiosyncratic itch" This is hacker news remember.
  - nikolay 11y ago
    How can I forget, right? Hackers unite.
    - teh_klev 11y ago
      Yes we should. Technically OP should have prefixed with "Show HN:" which is what it is perhaps. Not all "Show HN:" posts exhibit brilliance or originality or solve a problem or as in this case solve a problem for the OP for which there is already an outstanding solution (I guess originality), but the existing solution doesn't fit their use-case. And you know as hackers (I still am at 48 yrs old) if there's an itch needing to be scratched why not show off a bit of code, it's one of the best things about HN, we learn so much from each other this way, either through (constructive) criticism or just looking at a nice bunch of code. So, yes, hackers unite.
- mateuszf 11y ago
  No support for livereload.
  - nikolay 11y ago
    https://github.com/mholt/caddy/issues/new https://github.com/mholt/caddy/issues/new
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
benatkin 11y ago
This is great! Love the name. With its reverse proxy it's instantly usable on my current project. The CLI option syntax is nifty.
- vezzy-fnord 11y ago
  Name is identical to FreeBSD's device node manager.
deevus 11y ago
This is cool! I've added it to scoop[0] [0]: http://scoop.sh http://scoop.sh
distrill 11y ago
This is exactly what I've been looking for recently. Live reload is very nice, I'm excited to give this a shot.
necubi 11y ago
I wrote something similar, called Slinky [0], which also transparently compiles various compiled web langauges (SASS, HAML, CoffeeScript, TypeScript, etc.). The issue with these systems is that they lie in between something like Python's SimpleHTTPServer and a complete frontend development tool like Grunt or Gulp. They're great for small projects, but have trouble scaling up. [0] https://github.com/mwylde/slinky https://github.com/mwylde/slinky
- cortesi 11y ago
  Slinky looks very neat! I do feel it inhabits a very different niche from devd, though. I have no ambitions for devd to compete with tools like Grunt, Gulp or Slinky. Devd has a simple job: it just serves files and triggers livereload when files change, and is completely agnostic about the build process. That means it works very well as a complement to Gulp - in fact, this is one of my primary use cases for devd. My gulp setups are simpler now: I've ditched Connect and node livereload libraries, and instead gulp JUST renders files to disk. It's early days, but having two sharp tools each doing what they do best seems to work well. I should add that I definitely don't think there's one "right way" to do this stuff. I love the fact that we're free to explore variations to see what works and what doesn't. The more things we try the merrier!
  - gknoy 11y ago
    This reply, and your perspectives on sharp tools, really make me smile. I'm definitely going to go use your tool, now. :)
  - alessioalex 11y ago
    It looks nice. I did a similar thing with a project of mine: https://github.com/alessioalex/reloadify https://github.com/alessioalex/reloadify It serves files and does livereload as well. Can be used programatically or as a CLI: `reloadify -f static -p 8080`.
  - mcrider 11y ago
    Do you have an example gulpfile that uses devd? I've had a lot of trouble getting connect + nodemon to work well together and would love a better solution.
simonw 11y ago
I love that it has bandwidth/latency simulation built in as a core feature. Super useful.
Juha 11y ago
Just what I need, even has the folder-index view that I need. Python SimpleHTTPServer has been getting stuck sometimes for me lately when used through Chrome. Maybe the way it loads resources in parallel changed or something.
lucaspiller 11y ago
> Want to know what it's like to use your fancy 5mb HTML5 app from a mobile phone in Botswana? Look up the bandwidth and latency here [0] In my experience I would take this listing as a grain of salt. Maybe that's what you get on a decent business connection, but a home or mobile connection is likely going to have a much higher latency. It also doesn't take into account where your servers are - latency from Europe to West US on a good connection is 200ms+. [0] http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/service-provider/global-cloud-index-gci/CloudIndex_Supplement.html http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/service-pr...
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
andmarios 11y ago
Kudos! I believe it will replace python's http server in my workflow.
cubancigar11 11y ago
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1327035/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1327035/ ?
8ig8 11y ago
See also mitmproxy by the same developer. I find mitmproxy a joy to use. https://github.com/mitmproxy/mitmproxy https://github.com/mitmproxy/mitmproxy
PythonicAlpha 11y ago
This seems to be exactly what I needed for some of my projects. A simple application that can be used on my dev-system to be used as reverse-proxy for different servers. Of course, I could use nginx, but fiddling with configuration files on dev-systems is not so cool. Also even nginx is not lightweight enough to me. This looks really very neat! I will try it soon. Thank you!
Touche 11y ago
I don't understand why developers like these small web server tools that you have to remember to start on every project you work with. Setting up Apache or Nginx is harder but you have to do it 1 time ever and then you're done. Just server your entire dev folder and be done with it, never have to worry about static file serving again.
- falcolas 11y ago
  I have never known Apache or Nginx to offer live reloading of changed assets. Sure, it only removes 4-5 keystrokes from your workflow, but if I were developing assets live, I could certainly see the value in my changes appearing live in a second window. The simple (multi-endpoint) reverse proxying is certainly a nice-to-have when developing as well.

229 points by cortesi 11y ago

jaredhalpert 11y ago

Thanks - I hate development. Tools like this make my life mildly less painful.

whalesalad 11y ago

python -m SimpleHTTPServer

vinaybn 11y ago
live reload?
digitalblade 11y ago
Devd is a single statically compiled binary with no external dependencies, and is released for OSX, Linux and Windows. Don't want to install Node or Python in that light-weight Docker instance you're hacking in? Just copy over the devd binary and be done with it.
vshan 11y ago
ruby -run -ehttpd <directory> -p8000 Can customize the directory.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

nikolay 11y ago

What's wrong with Caddy [0]? [0] https://caddyserver.com/ https://caddyserver.com/

ics 11y ago
Searching Caddy's Github repo, 0 hits on 'livereload'. I usually do the python or ruby one-liner when I need a quick webserver, but if devd does dead simple LiveReload I might start using it just for that.
teh_klev 11y ago
"It started as a weekend stress-relief hack " "This isn't terribly surprising, since I wrote it to scratch my own idiosyncratic itch" This is hacker news remember.
- nikolay 11y ago
  How can I forget, right? Hackers unite.
  - teh_klev 11y ago
    Yes we should. Technically OP should have prefixed with "Show HN:" which is what it is perhaps. Not all "Show HN:" posts exhibit brilliance or originality or solve a problem or as in this case solve a problem for the OP for which there is already an outstanding solution (I guess originality), but the existing solution doesn't fit their use-case. And you know as hackers (I still am at 48 yrs old) if there's an itch needing to be scratched why not show off a bit of code, it's one of the best things about HN, we learn so much from each other this way, either through (constructive) criticism or just looking at a nice bunch of code. So, yes, hackers unite.
mateuszf 11y ago
No support for livereload.
- nikolay 11y ago
  https://github.com/mholt/caddy/issues/new https://github.com/mholt/caddy/issues/new
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]

benatkin 11y ago

This is great! Love the name. With its reverse proxy it's instantly usable on my current project. The CLI option syntax is nifty.

vezzy-fnord 11y ago
Name is identical to FreeBSD's device node manager.

deevus 11y ago

This is cool! I've added it to scoop[0] [0]: http://scoop.sh http://scoop.sh

distrill 11y ago

This is exactly what I've been looking for recently. Live reload is very nice, I'm excited to give this a shot.

necubi 11y ago

I wrote something similar, called Slinky [0], which also transparently compiles various compiled web langauges (SASS, HAML, CoffeeScript, TypeScript, etc.). The issue with these systems is that they lie in between something like Python's SimpleHTTPServer and a complete frontend development tool like Grunt or Gulp. They're great for small projects, but have trouble scaling up. [0] https://github.com/mwylde/slinky https://github.com/mwylde/slinky

cortesi 11y ago
Slinky looks very neat! I do feel it inhabits a very different niche from devd, though. I have no ambitions for devd to compete with tools like Grunt, Gulp or Slinky. Devd has a simple job: it just serves files and triggers livereload when files change, and is completely agnostic about the build process. That means it works very well as a complement to Gulp - in fact, this is one of my primary use cases for devd. My gulp setups are simpler now: I've ditched Connect and node livereload libraries, and instead gulp JUST renders files to disk. It's early days, but having two sharp tools each doing what they do best seems to work well. I should add that I definitely don't think there's one "right way" to do this stuff. I love the fact that we're free to explore variations to see what works and what doesn't. The more things we try the merrier!
- gknoy 11y ago
  This reply, and your perspectives on sharp tools, really make me smile. I'm definitely going to go use your tool, now. :)
- alessioalex 11y ago
  It looks nice. I did a similar thing with a project of mine: https://github.com/alessioalex/reloadify https://github.com/alessioalex/reloadify It serves files and does livereload as well. Can be used programatically or as a CLI: `reloadify -f static -p 8080`.
- mcrider 11y ago
  Do you have an example gulpfile that uses devd? I've had a lot of trouble getting connect + nodemon to work well together and would love a better solution.

simonw 11y ago

I love that it has bandwidth/latency simulation built in as a core feature. Super useful.

Juha 11y ago

Just what I need, even has the folder-index view that I need. Python SimpleHTTPServer has been getting stuck sometimes for me lately when used through Chrome. Maybe the way it loads resources in parallel changed or something.

lucaspiller 11y ago

> Want to know what it's like to use your fancy 5mb HTML5 app from a mobile phone in Botswana? Look up the bandwidth and latency here [0] In my experience I would take this listing as a grain of salt. Maybe that's what you get on a decent business connection, but a home or mobile connection is likely going to have a much higher latency. It also doesn't take into account where your servers are - latency from Europe to West US on a good connection is 200ms+. [0] http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/service-provider/global-cloud-index-gci/CloudIndex_Supplement.html http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/service-pr...

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

andmarios 11y ago

Kudos! I believe it will replace python's http server in my workflow.

cubancigar11 11y ago

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1327035/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1327035/ ?

8ig8 11y ago

See also mitmproxy by the same developer. I find mitmproxy a joy to use. https://github.com/mitmproxy/mitmproxy https://github.com/mitmproxy/mitmproxy

PythonicAlpha 11y ago

This seems to be exactly what I needed for some of my projects. A simple application that can be used on my dev-system to be used as reverse-proxy for different servers. Of course, I could use nginx, but fiddling with configuration files on dev-systems is not so cool. Also even nginx is not lightweight enough to me. This looks really very neat! I will try it soon. Thank you!

Touche 11y ago

I don't understand why developers like these small web server tools that you have to remember to start on every project you work with. Setting up Apache or Nginx is harder but you have to do it 1 time ever and then you're done. Just server your entire dev folder and be done with it, never have to worry about static file serving again.

falcolas 11y ago
I have never known Apache or Nginx to offer live reloading of changed assets. Sure, it only removes 4-5 keystrokes from your workflow, but if I were developing assets live, I could certainly see the value in my changes appearing live in a second window. The simple (multi-endpoint) reverse proxying is certainly a nice-to-have when developing as well.