Serve a folder.
That’s the whole idea.
Install it, point it at your local HTML project, and you have a real web server on a real port. Use it as a Dart library, a single binary, or a desktop app — the same engine underneath all three.
Three ways to run it
One engine, three front doors.
The command line and the app are both wrappers around the library, so they behave identically. Pick whichever suits the moment — a build script, a terminal, or a window.
A Dart package you add to your own project. Describe the server with ServerParams, call start(), and you are serving. Published on pub.dev.
- Static and REST modes
- Optional SSL
- Request logging to file
- Directory listing
The same server compiled to a single native binary with no runtime to install. Point it at a folder and a port and it runs.
- One file, no dependencies
- Flags for host, port, root, SSL
- Built with dart compile exe
A desktop front end for people who would rather not use a terminal. Pick a folder, set a port, press start — and stop it again when you are done.
- Windows, macOS and Linux
- No flags to remember
- Built with Flutter Up
What it does
Small on purpose.
Not a web framework, and not trying to be. It takes a directory and puts it on a port, with the few options you actually end up needing.
Why bother
Double-clicking the file only gets you so far.
Every local HTML project reaches the point where it needs to be served rather than opened.
Open an HTML file directly and module imports, fetch calls and anything CORS-sensitive fail — for reasons that have nothing to do with your code. Served over HTTP, the page behaves the way it will in production.
Point it at the output folder your bundler just produced and click through the real thing, rather than trusting that the dev server and the build agree.
Serve on your machine’s network address and load the site on a phone or tablet on the same Wi-Fi. Rather more convincing than a narrow browser window.
No configuration file, no project scaffold, no global install of a runtime you did not want. A folder and a port is the entire mental model.
Downloads
Installers are on their way back.
FileHeron has been built for macOS, Windows and Linux before, and those builds are being prepared again. In the meantime the library is on pub.dev and the source is on GitHub, so you can compile it yourself with a single dart compile exe.