alt Hacker Newswe need a way to access locally running web apps without doing an ugly http://localhost:8022 and having to remember that.
I'd say http://localapps should give an overview of all web apps running locally, with links to them. Those links should follow a naming scheme where the hostname ends with `.local` or smth.
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Rather than typing http://localhost:8022, name each app and put them behind one local proxy:
1. In /etc/hosts (or dnsmasq): 127.0.0.1 ourapp.test 2. Caddy in front: ourapp.test { reverse_proxy localhost:8022 }
Caddy auto-provisions local certs, so you get https://ourapp.test, no ugly ports and no "not secure" prompt.
For the overview idea: a tiny local dashboard that scans common dev ports (3000, 5173, 8080...) and lists each running app by name is a ~100-line utility. This is exactly the kind of small tool I build, happy to make a quick version for you.
Won't that be cluttered by various random processes listening via 0/0? Perhaps we need a standardized service that web apps can register with.
Bring back installable PWA on desktop
> I'd say http://localapps should give an overview of all web apps running locally, with links to them.
Malware will thank you.
Hah, I was dealing with this problem today.
My approach: Add entries for my localhost apps to `/etc/hosts`, and set up nginx as a reverse proxy.
Now when I go to `http://myapp.local` in the browser, `/etc/hosts` tells it to go to `localhost:80`. The http server sitting there knows which port to send the request to. I also made a systemd service that starts nginx automatically.
Now I have meaningful URLs for local apps, and I don't have to remember which one is listening on which port.