Setup HTTPS for local development using node.js and express.

In this article we are going to test our site locally in https using mkcert in node & express app. mkcert is a great tool to automatically generate and install SSL certificates.

Make sure we have node.js installed in our machine. You can download it here

🔧 Installation & Steps

1. Install Homebrew (package manager for mac os)

# only for mac users
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)"

2. Install mkcert to generate all TLS certificates.

For mac

brew install mkcert
brew install nss # if you use Firefox

For windows : Follow this instructions to install the mkcert.

3. Generate trusted cerificate locally

$ mkcert -install
# Created a new local CA
$ mkcert [domain name]
# In our case, we will use localhost
$ mkcert localhost

Above step will generate couple of files [domainname]-key.pem, [domainname].pem.

4. Create an node app and create server js file.

npm init
touch server.js

5. Install express js

npm install express

6. Copy these files created in step 3 [domainname]-key.pem, [domainname].pem and paste it in this folder.
7. Include this below code in server.js

"use strict"
const https = require("https")
const express = require("express")
const fs = require("fs")
// load the self-signed certificates
const options = {
  key: fs.readFileSync("[domainname]-key.pem"),
  cert: fs.readFileSync("[domainname].pem"),
}
const app = express()
app.get("/", (req, res, next) => {
  res.send("Localhost hosted in https !")
})
https.createServer(options, app).listen(3000)

8. Start the server

node server.js

9. Test the application by opening the browser and hitting the URL

https://localhost:3000/

💽 Test output in the browser

Output

📚 Reference

1. mkcert official documentation
2. How to use local https