Localhost Starter Kit
This guide walks developers through running Javaika Frameworks locally on their machine - with HTTPS support,
ideal for your free-tier access tokens; for this guide we will use PowerShell for all operations.
1. Install Node.js
1. Go to https://nodejs.org
2. Download the LTS (Long-Term Support) version for your Operating System (OS).
3. Run the installer and ensure the "Add to PATH" option is checked.
4. Once installed, open PowerShell and verify installation of Node
and Node Package Manager (NPM):
node -v
npm -v
2. Create Your Local Project Folder
Create a working folder anywhere, e.g.:
Windows
mkdir C:\javaika-localhost
cd C:\javaika-localhost
Mac/Linux
mkdir ~/javaika-localhost
cd ~/javaika-localhost
3. Install Express
Within the 'javaika-localhost' directory in PowerShell, run the following command to install Express.
npm install express
At this point you shoud observe the following files and folders under the 'javaika-localhost' folder.
1. package-lock.json file (created when installing Node dependencies (i.e. Express)
2. node_modules folder (where Node dependencies are installed)
4. Create Project Files
Inside the 'javaika-localhost' folder, create the following files:
1. index.html
javaika-localhost/public/index.html # Your local webpage
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang = "en-AU">
<head>
<title>Localhost Example</title>
<meta name = "description" content = "Demo of running localhost.">
<meta name = "viewport" content = "width=device-width, user-scalable=yes">
<meta name = "keywords" content = "localhost demo">
<meta http-equiv = "Content-Type" content = "text/html;charset=UTF-8">
</head>
<body>
<h1>Hello Localhost!</h1>
</body>
</html>
2. http-server.js
javaika-localhost/http-server.js # Standard local server
const express = require('express');
const path = require('path');
const app = express();
const PORT = 8080;
// Serve static files (HTML, JS, CSS) from the "public" folder
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'public')));
// Parse JSON bodies (for POST requests)
app.use(express.json());
// Start the server
app.listen(PORT, () => {
console.log(`Local server running on http://localhost:${PORT}`);
});
3. package-json
javaika-localhost/package.json
{
"name": "javaika-localhost",
"version": "1.0.0",
"description": "Some description",
"main": "index.js",
"scripts":
{
"test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
},
"keywords": [],
"author": "Some author",
"license": "ISC",
"type": "commonjs",
"devDependencies":
{
"http-server": "^14.1.1"
},
"dependencies":
{
"express": "^5.1.0"
}
}
5. Setup Secure Localhost (optional but highly recommended)
1. Inside the 'javaika-localhost' folder, create https-server.js
javaika-localhost/https-server.js # Secure local server
const https = require('https');
const fs = require('fs');
const express = require('express');
const app = express();
// Serve static files (your local project)
app.use(express.static('public'));
// HTTPS credentials
const options = {
key: fs.readFileSync('key.pem'),
cert: fs.readFileSync('cert.pem')
};
// Start HTTPS server
https.createServer(options, app).listen(8443, () => {
console.log('HTTPS localhost running on https://localhost:8443');
});
2. Install Chocolatey by running the following commands in order:
Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force
[System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol =
[System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072
iex((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString
('https://community.chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))
3. Install mkcert inside Chocolatey
choco install mkcert -y
4. Install the local certificate authority (CA)
mkcert -install
5. Generate certificates for localhost
mkcert localhost 127.0.0.1 ::1
This creates two files in the current directory:
1. localhost.pem (the certificate) - rename this to cert.pem
2. localhost-key.pem (the private key) - rename this to key.pem
6. Run the localhost server and verify the connection
node http-server.js
node https-server.js
Your localhost server should now be available at 'http://localhost:8080'
For secure localhost it will be available at 'https://localhost:8443'
