fast-http-server

August 1, 2026 · View on GitHub

Super fast, zero configuration command line HTTP Server written in Crystal.

Quick Start

crystal run src/fast-http-server.cr

Or build and run:

shards build --release
./bin/fast-http-server

Open http://localhost:3000 - done. 🚀

Features

⚡ Zero config - Run and go, defaults to port 3000
📁 Static file serving - Serves files from current directory or specified path
🔗 Index redirect - Automatically redirects /blog/ to /blog/index.html
📂 Directory listing - Browse directories in browser (can be disabled)
🚀 25K req/sec - Fast enough for most use cases

Why fast-http-server?

Problem	Solution
"I just need to serve static files quickly"	One command, no config
"Python http.server is slow"	Crystal native speed, 25K req/sec
"I don't want Node/npm for a static server"	Single binary, no dependencies
"I need directory listing"	Built-in, toggle on/off

Usage

fast-http-server [port]

Argument	Default	Description
`port`	3000	Port to listen on
`-d, --directory`	`.`	Directory to serve
`-l, --listdir`	`yes`	Enable/disable directory listing

Examples

# Serve on port 5050
fast-http-server 5050

# Serve a specific directory
fast-http-server -d ./public

# Disable directory listing
fast-http-server -l no -d ./public

Installation

Option 1: Build from source

Requires Crystal 1.0+.

git clone https://github.com/sdogruyol/fast-http-server
cd fast-http-server
shards build --release
mv bin/fast-http-server /usr/local/bin/fast-http-server

Option 2: Quick alias

Add to your .bashrc, .zshrc, or config file:

alias fhs='fast-http-server'

Performance

~25,000 requests/sec on modest hardware.

wrk -c 100 -d 20 -t 4 http://localhost:3000

Requests/sec:  25102.60
Transfer/sec:  22.81MB
Latency (avg): 3.98ms
Latency (p99): 5.86ms

FAQ

How is this different from Python's http.server?

fast-http-server is ~50x faster, written in Crystal, and supports directory listing with index redirect out of the box.

Does it support HTTPS?

Not yet. For production, put it behind a reverse proxy like nginx or Caddy.

Can I use it in production?

It's designed for development and quick file sharing. For production, use nginx or Caddy.

License

MIT