serve
Lightweight static file server with directory listing for local development and testing.
Dev workflow and config npm MIT
Used in agent projects
30
0.2% of 12,697 public repos built with AI coding agents
Rank in dev workflow and config
#61 of 88
by use in those projects
Downloads
3.9M
npm, last 7 days, serve
GitHub stars
9,903
last push Jun 30, 2026
How serve is used
serve is a dependency in 30 of the 12,697 public GitHub projects set up for AI coding agents that we scanned (0.2%), #61 of 88 in dev workflow and config. The most used alternative there is dotenv. Projects that use it most often also use Testing Library (43.3%), Playwright (JavaScript) (40.0%), Vitest (40.0%).
Often used with serve
| Testing Library | 43.3% of serve projects · 6.0× more than average |
|---|---|
| Playwright (JavaScript) | 40.0% of serve projects · 4.5× more than average |
| Vitest | 40.0% of serve projects · 3.3× more than average |
| Vite | 50.0% of serve projects · 2.2× more than average |
| Prettier | 43.3% of serve projects · 2.5× more than average |
| React | 66.7% of serve projects · 1.5× more than average |
| TypeScript | 73.3% of serve projects |
| jsdom | 23.3% of serve projects · 4.4× more than average |
By coding agent
| GitHub Copilot | 0.4% of projects set up for it |
|---|---|
| Cursor | 0.3% of projects set up for it |
| Claude Code | 0.2% of projects set up for it |
Share of public repos configured for each agent that list serve as a dependency.
Install
| Package | npm install serve |
|---|---|
| Main stacks | TypeScript / JavaScript (22), Next.js (5), Python (3) |
| Example projects | Asvarox/allkaraoke, alkem-io/client-web, FiniteSingularity/jern-gets-a-haircut, climax-solution/darkcorners |
Alternatives to serve
| Tool | Used in agent projects | Downloads / wk | GitHub stars | License |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| dotenv npm Load environment variables from .env files into process.env. |
2,001 (15.8%) | 189M | 20.5K | BSD-2-Clause |
| python-dotenv pypi Load environment variables from .env files in Python applications. |
828 (6.5%) | 156M | 8,898 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Husky npm Modern Git hooks manager for running tasks on git events. |
797 (6.3%) | 36.2M | 35.3K | MIT |
| lint-staged npm Run linters on git staged files to catch issues before commit. |
591 (4.7%) | 29.5M | 14.7K | MIT |
| concurrently npm Run multiple npm scripts concurrently for efficient development workflows. |
572 (4.5%) | 22.2M | 7,856 | MIT |
| cross-env npm Set environment variables across Windows, Mac and Linux in npm scripts. |
265 (2.1%) | 25.8M | 6,521 | MIT |
| Pydantic Settings pypi Settings management and configuration from environment variables using Pydantic. |
251 (2.0%) | 96.8M | 1,475 | — |
| Rich pypi Python library for rich text and beautiful formatting in terminal output. |
243 (1.9%) | 117M | 57.5K | MIT |