Baywatch

Baywatch runs webapps on-demand, and reverse-proxy them so they're available at http://example.localhost/.

No need to run npm run dev, docker-compose up etc. Your apps will spin up when you make an HTTP request, and shut down after your configured inactivity period. Configure as many apps as you want - they take zero resources unless you use them, and you'll never need to remember a port number again.

Configuration

Baywatch looks for its config at ~/.config/baywatch/config.yaml, falling back to /etc/baywatch/config.yaml. You can override this with --config <path>.

bind: 0.0.0.0
port: 80
domain: localhost
idle_timeout: 900

services:
  myapp:
    port: 3000
    command: npm start
    pwd: ~/projects/myapp
    idle_timeout: 300

  api:
    port: 8000
    command: cargo run --release
    pwd: ~/projects/api

  freetar:
    port: 22001
    command: uvx freetar
    idle_timeout: 60
    env:
      FREETAR_PORT: "22001"

Each service is accessible at <name>.<domain> - with the config above, http://myapp.localhost proxies to port 3000.

Service options

Field	Required	Default	Description
port	yes		Port the service listens on
command	yes		Shell command to start the service
pwd	no	cwd	Working directory (supports ~)
idle_timeout	no	600	Seconds of inactivity before shutdown (overrides global)
env	no		Environment variables for the command

Global options

Field	Default	Description
bind	0.0.0.0	Address to listen on
port	80	Port to listen on
domain	localhost	Base domain for routing
idle_timeout	600	Default seconds of inactivity before shutdown
shutdown_grace	5	Seconds between SIGTERM and SIGKILL
startup_timeout	30	Seconds to wait for a service to respond

Running

Start directly:

baywatch

Or as a systemd user service:

systemctl --user enable --now baywatch

Set RUST_LOG=debug for verbose output.

Installing

Arch Linux (AUR)

# Using an AUR helper
yay -S baywatch

Debian/Ubuntu

Download the .deb from Releases:

sudo dpkg -i baywatch_0.1.1_amd64.deb

NixOS

Add the flake to your inputs and use the provided NixOS module or package.

Static binary

Download a static musl binary from Releases and put it in your PATH. Run sudo setcap cap_net_bind_service=+ep /usr/local/bin/baywatch to allow binding port 80 without root.

From source

cargo install baywatch