live-server

A lightweight static file server with live reload, written in C. No runtime dependencies beyond POSIX — just build and run.

Features

• Serves static files over HTTP with correct MIME types
• Live reload via Server-Sent Events — browser refreshes automatically on file save
• Cross-platform: macOS (kqueue) and Linux (inotify)
• Colored, leveled logging with millisecond timestamps
• Fork-per-connection model, no event loop library needed

Requirements

Platform	Toolchain
Linux	gcc, make
macOS	clang (Xcode CLT), make, argp-standalone

On macOS, install argp-standalone first:

brew install argp-standalone

Build

make strip        # release build (-O3)
make O_DEBUG=1    # debug build   (-g3 -DDEBUG)

The binary is placed at ./live-server.

Install

sudo make strip install                   # installs to /usr/local/bin
sudo make strip install PREFIX=~/.local   # installs to ~/.local/bin

To uninstall:

sudo make uninstall

Usage

live-server [OPTIONS]

Option	Short	Default	Description
--dir	-I	.	Directory to serve
--port	-P	8080	Port to listen on
--host	-H	localhost	Host to bind to
--browser	-B	—	Browser to open automatically
--log-level	-L	info	Log level: error warn info debug
--print-request	-R	—	Log each client request and headers

Examples

Serve the current directory on the default port:

live-server

Serve a build output folder on a custom port:

live-server -I ./dist -P 3000

Open in browser automatically on startup:

live-server -I ./site -B open       # macOS
live-server -I ./site -B xdg-open  # Linux

Expose on the local network:

live-server -H 0.0.0.0 -P 8080

How Live Reload Works

Every served HTML page is automatically injected with a small <script> that holds open a persistent SSE connection to /livereload. When any file in the served directory changes, the watcher signals all connected browsers to call window.location.reload().

No browser extension or manual script tag needed — it's injected at serve time.

The watcher backend is selected at compile time:

• macOS — kqueue via EVFILT_VNODE
• Linux — inotify via IN_CLOSE_WRITE | IN_MOVED_TO | IN_CREATE

Make Targets

Target	Description
make	Release build with -O3
make O_DEBUG=1	Debug build with -g3 -DDEBUG
make install	Install binary
make uninstall	Remove installed files
make strip	Strip debug symbols from binary
make clean	Remove build artifacts
make help	Show all targets

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License

MIT