Serve Static Files with Caddy: Minimal Setup Guide

This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Athreya aka Maneshwar

Hi there! I’m Maneshwar. Right now, I’m building LiveAPI, a first-of-its-kind tool that helps you automatically index API endpoints across all your repositories. LiveAPI makes it easier to discover, understand, and interact with APIs in large infrastructures.

Caddy is a lightweight, modern web server with automatic HTTPS, easy config, and a powerful plugin ecosystem. Here’s how to quickly serve static files with it.

1. Install Caddy

On Debian/Ubuntu:

sudo apt install -y debian-keyring debian-archive-keyring apt-transport-https
curl -1sLf 'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/caddy/stable/gpg.key' | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/caddy-stable-archive-keyring.gpg
curl -1sLf 'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/caddy/stable/debian.deb.txt' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/caddy-stable.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install caddy

2. Create Your Static Site Directory

mkdir -p /var/www/mysite
cd /var/www/mysite
echo "Hello from Caddy!" > index.html

You can place any static files here (HTML, CSS, JS, images, etc.).

3. Write the Caddyfile

Create a file named Caddyfile (default location: /etc/caddy/Caddyfile)

:80 {
    root * /var/www/mysite
    file_server
}

Explanation:

• :80 → Serve on HTTP port 80 (use yourdomain.com for HTTPS).
• root * /var/www/mysite → Set the root directory.
• file_server → Enable static file serving.

4. Reload Caddy

After saving the Caddyfile:

sudo systemctl reload caddy

Or if running manually:

caddy run --config /etc/caddy/Caddyfile

5. Test It

Visit:

http://localhost/

You should see: Hello from Caddy!

Bonus: Enable HTTPS with a Domain

Update your Caddyfile:

yourdomain.com {
    root * /var/www/mysite
    file_server
}

Caddy will automatically fetch and renew the SSL cert via Let’s Encrypt.

Make sure port 80 and 443 are open, and DNS is correctly set.

Optional: Directory Browsing

:80 {
    root * /var/www/mysite
    file_server browse
}

Permissions

Make sure the Caddy user can read the static files:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/mysite

Run Caddy Without Systemd (Manual Dev Mode)

caddy file-server --root /var/www/mysite --listen :8080

That’s it. Static hosting done right with minimal config.
Use it to serve SPAs, HTML dumps, or just quick previews.

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This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Athreya aka Maneshwar