[](https://forum.caddyserver.com) [](https://twitter.com/caddyserver) [](https://godoc.org/github.com/mholt/caddy) [](https://travis-ci.org/mholt/caddy) [](https://ci.appveyor.com/project/mholt/caddy) [](https://goreportcard.com/report/mholt/caddy) [](https://sourcegraph.com/github.com/mholt/caddy?badge) Caddy is a general-purpose web server for Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD, and [Android](https://github.com/mholt/caddy/wiki/Running-Caddy-on-Android). It is a capable but easier alternative to other popular web servers. [Releases](https://github.com/mholt/caddy/releases) · [User Guide](https://caddyserver.com/docs) · [Community](https://forum.caddyserver.com) **Attend the [Caddy launch event](https://www.facebook.com/events/1413078512092363/) on April 20! It's free, and we will try to get a live stream going.** Try browsing [the code on Sourcegraph](https://sourcegraph.com/github.com/mholt/caddy)! ## Menu - [Features](#features) - [Quick Start](#quick-start) - [Running from Source](#running-from-source) - [Running in Production](#running-in-production) - [Contributing](#contributing) - [About the Project](#about-the-project) ## Features - **Easy configuration** with Caddyfile - **Automatic HTTPS** via [Let's Encrypt](https://letsencrypt.org); Caddy obtains and manages all cryptographic assets for you - **HTTP/2** enabled by default (powered by Go standard library) - **Virtual hosting** for hundreds of sites per server instance, including TLS SNI - Experimental **QUIC support** for those that like speed - TLS session ticket **key rotation** for more secure connections - **Brilliant extensibility** so Caddy can be customized for your needs - **Runs anywhere** with **no external dependencies** (not even libc) ## Quick Start Caddy binaries have no dependencies and are available for every platform. Install Caddy any one of these ways: - **[Download page](https://caddyserver.com/download)** allows you to customize your build in the browser - **[Latest release](https://github.com/mholt/caddy/releases/latest)** for pre-built binaries - **curl [getcaddy.com](https://getcaddy.com)** for auto install: `curl https://getcaddy.com | bash` Once `caddy` is in your PATH, you can `cd` to your website's folder and run `caddy` to serve it. By default, Caddy serves the current directory at [localhost:2015](http://localhost:2015). To customize how your site is served, create a file named Caddyfile by your site and paste this into it: ```plain localhost gzip browse websocket /echo cat ext .html log /var/log/access.log proxy /api 127.0.0.1:7005 header /api Access-Control-Allow-Origin * ``` When you run `caddy` in that directory, it will automatically find and use that Caddyfile to configure itself. This simple file enables compression, allows directory browsing (for folders without an index file), hosts a WebSocket echo server at /echo, serves clean URLs, logs requests to access.log, proxies all API requests to a backend on port 7005, and adds the coveted `Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *` header for all responses from the API. Wow! Caddy can do a lot with just a few lines. To host multiple sites and do more with the Caddyfile, please see the [Caddyfile documentation](https://caddyserver.com/docs/caddyfile). Note that production sites are served over [HTTPS by default](https://caddyserver.com/docs/automatic-https). Caddy has a command line interface. Run `caddy -h` to view basic help or see the [CLI documentation](https://caddyserver.com/docs/cli) for details. **Running as root:** We advise against this. You can still listen on ports < 1024 using setcap like so: `sudo setcap cap_net_bind_service=+ep ./caddy` ## Running from Source Note: You will need **[Go 1.8](https://golang.org/dl/)** or newer. 1. `go get github.com/mholt/caddy/caddy` 2. `cd` into your website's directory 3. Run `caddy` (assuming `$GOPATH/bin` is in your `$PATH`) Caddy's `main()` is in the caddy subfolder. To recompile Caddy, use `build.bash` found in that folder. ## Running in Production The Caddy project does not officially maintain any system-specific integrations, but your download file includes [unofficial resources](https://github.com/mholt/caddy/tree/master/dist/init) contributed by the community that you may find helpful for running Caddy in production. How you choose to run Caddy is up to you. Many users are satisfied with `nohup caddy &`. Others use `screen`. Users who need Caddy to come back up after reboots either do so in the script that caused the reboot, add a command to an init script, or configure a service with their OS. ## Contributing **[Join our community](https://forum.caddyserver.com) where you can chat with other Caddy users and developers!** Please see our [contributing guidelines](https://github.com/mholt/caddy/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md) and check out the [developer wiki](https://github.com/mholt/caddy/wiki). We use GitHub issues and pull requests only for discussing bug reports and the development of specific changes. We welcome all other topics on the [forum](https://forum.caddyserver.com)! If you want to contribute to the documentation, please submit pull requests to [caddyserver/caddyserver.com](https://github.com/caddyserver/caddyserver.com). Thanks for making Caddy -- and the Web -- better! Special thanks to [](https://www.digitalocean.com) for hosting the Caddy project. ## About the Project Caddy was born out of the need for a "batteries-included" web server that runs anywhere and doesn't have to take its configuration with it. Caddy took inspiration from [spark](https://github.com/rif/spark), [nginx](https://github.com/nginx/nginx), lighttpd, [Websocketd](https://github.com/joewalnes/websocketd) and [Vagrant](https://www.vagrantup.com/), which provides a pleasant mixture of features from each of them. **The name "Caddy":** The name of the software is "Caddy", not "Caddy Server" or "CaddyServer". Please call it "Caddy" or, if you wish to clarify, "the Caddy web server". See [brand guidelines](https://caddyserver.com/brand). *Author on Twitter: [@mholt6](https://twitter.com/mholt6)*