Python HTTPS Simple Server

When you need to quickly share files or test a web app, Python has a built-in answer, nothing extra to install. Many times Netcat¹ is enough for a single-use transfer, but when sharing multiple files or even a website, a proper HTTP server is more practical.

Python’s HTTPServer, or SimpleHTTPServer in Python 2, is a quick way to start a local HTTP server on your network.

NOTES

http.server is not recommended for production. It only implements basic security checks.

ssl.wrap_socket was deprecated in Python 3.7 and removed in Python 3.12. The Python 3 example below wraps the socket through an ssl.SSLContext instead. The Python 2 examples still call the removed function, so they will not run on a current interpreter.

Python 2 is deprecated and should be avoided if possible. Yet Python 2 Examples are still available below for legacy reference.

HTTP Web Server

The module can be easily invoked, from the directory we want to share, using the -m switch of the interpreter.

python3 -m http.server 8000

Or imported as a module, for additional configuration.

#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

import http.server
import socketserver

PORT = 8000

Handler = http.server.SimpleHTTPRequestHandler

with socketserver.TCPServer(("", PORT), Handler) as httpd:
  print("serving at port", PORT)
  httpd.serve_forever()

HTTP Web Server with SSL Support

Self-signed certificates

If you are going to create a server that provides SSL-encrypted connection services, you will need a certificate. Besides buying a certificate from a certification authority, another common practice is to generate a self-signed certificate. The simplest way to do this is with the OpenSSL tool, using something like the following:

openssl req -new -x509 -days 365 -nodes -out cert.pem -keyout cert.pem

HTTPS Server

#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

from http.server import HTTPServer
from http.server import SimpleHTTPRequestHandler
import ssl

server_address = ("localhost", 4443)
httpd = HTTPServer(server_address, SimpleHTTPRequestHandler)

context = ssl.SSLContext(ssl.PROTOCOL_TLS_SERVER)
context.load_cert_chain(certfile="cert.pem")

httpd.socket = context.wrap_socket(httpd.socket, server_side=True)
httpd.serve_forever()

load_cert_chain reads the private key from the certificate file when no keyfile is given, which is why the openssl command above writes both into cert.pem.

Python 2 (Legacy)

Python 2 reached end-of-life in January 2020. The examples below are kept for reference only.

Interpreter Module Invocation

python -m SimpleHTTPServer 8000

Imported Module - HTTP Server

#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

import SimpleHTTPServer
import SocketServer

PORT = 8000

Handler = SimpleHTTPServer.SimpleHTTPRequestHandler

httpd = SocketServer.TCPServer(("", PORT), Handler)

print "serving at port", PORT
httpd.serve_forever()

Imported Module - HTTPS Server

#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

import BaseHTTPServer
import SimpleHTTPServer
import ssl

httpd = BaseHTTPServer.HTTPServer(("localhost", 4443),
                                  SimpleHTTPServer.SimpleHTTPRequestHandler)
httpd.socket = ssl.wrap_socket(httpd.socket,
                               server_side=True,
                               certfile="cert.pem")
httpd.serve_forever()

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