Local

Do this on your own computer, where your site folders live. The local tool is small and stateless: it pushes your site folders up to the server, which serves each over HTTPS. It runs the on-page automation first, then compares file metadata and uploads only what changed.

Download

Grab the local package: one versioned directory with everything it needs.

Download sitehoster-local-0.2.1.zip →

unzip sitehoster-local-0.2.1.zip
cd sitehoster-local-0.2.1
# what's inside:
#   sitehoster-local.js     the one command you run (sync + the browser tools, by switch)
#   config.example.json     config template (copy to config.json)
#   localhoster-common/     the shared toolkit
#   localhoster-tools/      web-logs, server-logs
#   sitehoster-tools/       automation-logs
#   sitehoster-sync/        the sync command + on-page automation

Configure it

Copy the template and fill it in: your server address, the token the installer printed, and the path to your folder of site folders. See the config file below.

cp config.example.json config.json

Sync

The first run uploads everything; each later run pushes only what changed. Pass the full path to your config. A folder named example.com goes live at example.com.

node sitehoster-local.js --config /path/to/config.json --sync

Keep it in sync

Schedule a periodic run (a cron entry, say). The same command also builds the browser tools: add --web-logs, --server-logs, --automation-logs, or --all.

node sitehoster-local.js --config /path/to/config.json --sync --automation-logs

Config file

The config file is a small JSON file on your own machine. It is the one file the local tool needs: it names your server, the token that reaches it, the folder of site folders you author, and where the tools pages are built.

{
  "sitehoster-config-serverAddress": "203.0.113.5",
  "sitehoster-config-apiToken": "the token the installer printed",
  "sitehoster-config-contentRoot": "/home/you/sitehoster/sites",
  "sitehoster-config-tools": "/home/you/sitehoster/sites/_tools"
}

A config file. Point the local tool at it with the --config option.

Four keys: your server, its token, the folder of sites you author, and where the tools pages are built.

Name	Type	Description
`sitehoster-config-serverAddress`	address	The IP address of your server. The local tool reaches the API there over HTTPS.
`sitehoster-config-apiToken`	string	The token the server installer printed. It authorises the local tool to push files and pull logs.
`sitehoster-config-contentRoot`	path	The absolute path of your folder of site folders. Each top-level folder named for a domain is one site.
`sitehoster-config-tools`	path	The absolute path where the local tool builds the tools pages: the web, server and automation browsers.

sitehoster-config-serverAddress

The IP address of your server, e.g. 203.0.113.5, a raw address with no scheme. The local tool reaches the API there over HTTPS, which Caddy terminates before proxying to the localhost API. Reaching a bare IP over HTTPS can only be a self-signed certificate, so the local tool skips certificate checks for an IP host; point a hostname you own at the box to get full verification.

sitehoster-config-apiToken

The token the server installer printed. The local tool sends it as a bearer header on every call; it is the box's one secret, so keep the config file private.

sitehoster-config-contentRoot

An absolute path to your folder of site folders. A folder named example.com becomes the site at example.com; the sync uploads it and the automation keeps its shared blocks in step. The local tool also mirrors the server's logs into _logs here. An absolute path means a run does the same thing from any working directory; a relative path is rejected. See Domains.

sitehoster-config-tools

An absolute path to where the local tool builds the tools pages: the web logs, server stats and automation browsers. It is usually _tools inside your content root. It is only needed when you run a browser tool.

Next steps

With a site synced, use the browser extension to make edits to your local sites by describing what you want while you browse them.