// the take
A single-binary Go CLI that serves a directory over HTTP or HTTPS with zero config, written by eliben (known for well-crafted small Go tools). It's meant for local testing of static sites and quick file sharing, not production hosting.
Genuinely zero dependencies outside the stdlib for the server itself, and it ships as a `go run`-able one-liner so there's nothing to install for a quick use. The test suite uses txtar script tests (testdata/scripts) exercising real CLI behavior — CORS headers, TLS serving, silent mode, default dir — rather than just unit-testing internals. The flag set is small but covers the things you actually hit in practice: random port via `-port 0`, binding to a specific host/interface, and a `-cors` escape hatch.
No SPA fallback (serving index.html for unmatched routes), which is the first thing you need the moment you point this at a React/Vue build output instead of a plain static site. No directory listing toggle or custom headers support, so anything beyond 'serve these files' means reaching for something else. Last push was October 2024 — a year of silence on a 242-star repo suggests it's done, not actively maintained, so don't expect new flags or bug fixes if you hit an edge case. The whole server lives in one `internal/server/server.go` file, which is fine for what it does but means there's no room to extend without forking.
We read the README, the directory tree and a key source file in October 2026. Nobody pays to be listed. How we judge →