running live-server

Live-server is built to provide instant updates to your local browser every time a file is updated in your server. If you’re not receiving those updates, it could be because the WebSocket connection that live-server uses is blocked or not functioning properly. You might need to ensure that your firewall allows WebSocket connections.

Besides, if your live-server instance is running inside a Docker container or behind a reverse proxy, you may need to make sure these configurations also allow WebSocket traffic.

Make sure to check your browser console for any potential errors related to WebSocket connections.

Hope that this helps!

Heya,

When you run live-server on your remote server and connect to it with a local browser, the browser establishes a WebSocket connection back to the server for live-reloading. This WebSocket connection allows the server to send messages to the browser to trigger a page reload whenever files change.

The issue you’re encountering may be related to WebSockets not working correctly due to the following reasons:

1. WebSocket Port: The WebSocket may be trying to use a different port than 8080, and this port might not be open on your firewall.

2. WebSocket Origin Restrictions: There might be CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing) or origin restrictions preventing the WebSocket connection from being established.

Here’s how you can diagnose and potentially fix these issues:

1. Check the WebSocket Connection:

   • Open the Developer Tools in your browser (F12 or Ctrl+Shift+I / Cmd+Option+I).
   • Go to the Network tab.
   • Reload the page.
   • Filter by “WS” (which stands for WebSockets).
   • See if there’s a WebSocket connection. If it’s red or shows an error, you might get clues as to what’s going wrong.

2. Allowing All Origins in live-server:

   To avoid potential WebSocket origin issues, try running live-server with the following command:

live-server --no-cors

1. This disables CORS checks, which might solve the problem if it’s origin-related.

2. Check Other WebSocket Ports:

   If WebSockets are not using port 8080, you need to figure out which port they are using and open it on your firewall.

3. Use a Reverse Proxy:

   If you are familiar with tools like Nginx or Apache, you could set up a reverse proxy to handle the connection to the live-server. This way, you can ensure WebSockets work correctly, and you have more control over which ports are exposed and how traffic is routed.

4. Check Console for Errors:

   Inspect the browser console for any error messages. Sometimes these errors can provide hints or direct explanations of what’s going wrong.

5. Consider Using a Different Tool:

   If live-server continues to be problematic, you might consider other tools like BrowserSync, which can also handle live-reloading and might offer better configurability or clearer error messages.

Lastly, ensure you don’t have any browser extensions (like ad blockers or security extensions) that might be interfering with the WebSocket connections.

Hi there,

This sounds like an issue with your host binding. By default, many local development servers bind to localhost or 127.0.0.1. This means they only accept connections from the same machine they are running on. You need to ensure live-server binds to 0.0.0.0. This means it will accept connections from any IP address.

You can do this using:

live-server --host=0.0.0.0

After that, along with your firewall rule, it will be able to accept connections as normal.

Let me know how it goes!

Best,

Bobby