exprexo

hacked javascript freshly served

exprexo and javascript make the perfect blend

What is exprexo

exprexo is a zero-configuration command-line javascript server. Think about it like http-server but with dinamic .js files execution alongside of statics.

exprexo allows creating mocks easily and fast. Just run exprexo in any folder containing some paths with a get.js file and open your browser using the same path as the url. Your paths, your API.

Here a quick demo 👇

Animated explanation

Using exprexo with npx

Alternatively you can use exprexo without installing it, with the help of npx

npx exprexo

Installing as a dependency

Last but not least, you can use exprexo as a depency or development dependency of your project.

Install exprexo as a dependency

npm install exprexo

or install exprexo with -D flag to save it as a devDependency

npm install -D exprexo   # same as npm install --save-dev

Installing exprexo globally

Installation via npm:

npm install exprexo -g

This will install exprexo globally so that it may be run from the command line as exprexo.

Usage

exprexo [path] [options]

Available Options

Usage: exprexo [path] [options]

Mode
  --silent, -s  Make this exprexo in silence          [boolean] [default: false]
  --verbose     Make this exprexo loud as hell        [boolean] [default: false]

Options:
  --directory, -d  A cool directory to be served           [default: "./routes"]
  --open, -o       Open your browser at the served page         [default: false]
  --port, -p       A cool port for your exprexo                           [9000]
  --help           Show help                                           [boolean]
  --version        Show version number                                 [boolean]

Get started

Basic example, serving a simple JSON

On a terminal, run:

$ mkdir cool-stuff
$ cd cool-stuff

Create a file named get.json that may look as follows:

{
  "hello": "exprexo"
}

For having your exprexo served, run:

$ exprexo . --open

NOTE: The . tells exprexo to serve the same folder it is running on. The --open flag will open a browser at the given url.

Deeper routes

Let’s create a deeper endpoint, run:

$ mkdir -p routes/cool/user
$ cd routes/cool/user

Create a file named get.json that may look as follows:

{
  "id": "537",
  "name": "Mr Coffee",
  "nickname": "exprexo"
}

Now run the following and browse http://localhost:9000/cool/users

$ exprexo

NOTE: Notice there is no . argument, exprexo will serve routes folder by default.

And now some javascript!

Create a file named get.js inside routes/cool/user/ that may look as follows:

module.exports = {
  id: Math.floor(Math.random() * 20),
  name: 'Mr Coffee',
  nickname: 'exprexo',
}

NOTE: exprexo will try to serve at first *.js files, then *.json.

Read query params

Modify get.js inside routes/cool/user/ so it may look as follows:

module.exports = function(req, res) {
  const user = {
    id: Math.floor(Math.random() * 20),
    name: req.query.name,
    nickname: 'exprexo',
  }
  res.send(user)
}

Now run the following and open http://localhost:9000/cool/users/?name=cool

$ exprexo

NOTE: exprexo uses the same API as any express middleware.

Define req and res as your function arguments and it’s done. If you prefer a classic return statement exprexo will send that for you.

What about POST, PUT, PATCH and DELETE?

exprexo got you covered! Noticed how we have been creating get.json or get.js files? exprexo will match any request method to a file with the same method name.

Want a new POST endpoint? Create a post.json or post.js, it’s that easy.

You can create the following supported methods:

Method	exprexo file name
GET	`get.json` or `get.js`
POST	`post.json` or `post.js`
PUT	`put.json` or `put.js`
PATCH	`patch.json` or `patch.js`
DELETE	`delete.json` or `delete.js`

More examples

Visit the examples directory for some other demos like:

a simple counter
a function with no res.send
some html with template literals
some html with pug or jade

Thanks

indexzero for the great and inspirational http-server

Developing

Getting started

Clone or fork this repository.

Install dependencies with npm install.

Start developing with npm start or npm run watch if yo want livereload. If TDD is your thing run npm run watch:test.

Style

exprexo uses standardjs code style. Code will be tested, including linting before precommit with husky git hooks to avoid unnecesary amends and pushes.