wptserve

4.0.3 verified Sat May 09 auth: no python

wptserve is a Python web server designed for web browser testing, typically used within the web-platform-tests (WPT) framework. Version 4.0.3 is current. It provides a lightweight HTTP server with support for various protocols and features like piping, subdomains, and SSL. Releases are infrequent, tied to WPT updates.

pip install wptserve

Common errors

error ImportError: cannot import name 'WebTestHttpd' from 'wptserve' ↓

cause Attempting to import WebTestHttpd from top-level wptserve instead of wptserve.server.

fix

Use 'from wptserve.server import WebTestHttpd'.

error OSError: [Errno 98] Address already in use ↓

cause Port specified is already in use by another process.

fix

Specify a different port or kill the process using the port.

error wptserve.handlers.InvalidPathException ↓

cause The requested path does not exist or is outside the document root.

fix

Ensure the requested file exists within the doc_root directory.

Warnings

breaking Python 2 support dropped in wptserve 4.0.0. Python 3.6+ required. ↓

fix Upgrade to Python 3.6 or later.

breaking The 'wptserve' package on PyPI is unrelated to the 'wptserve' subpackage within wpt's tools/ serve module. Installing from PyPI gives a standalone server, not the WPT-integrated version. ↓

fix If you need the WPT-integrated server, use WPT's repository directly (pip install web-platform-tests).

gotcha WebTestHttpd does not automatically resolve relative paths for doc_root; it must be an absolute path. ↓

fix Use os.path.abspath() to convert relative paths.

Imports

wptserve.server.WebTestHttpd
wrong
```
from wptserve import WebTestHttpd
```
correct
```
from wptserve.server import WebTestHttpd
```
WebTestHttpd is in the server submodule, not top-level.

Quickstart

Starts a simple HTTP server serving static files.

from wptserve.server import WebTestHttpd
import os

server = WebTestHttpd(
    host='localhost',
    port=8000,
    doc_root='/path/to/static/files',
    key_file=os.environ.get('SSL_KEY_FILE', ''),
    cert_file=os.environ.get('SSL_CERT_FILE', '')
)
server.start()
print(f"Server running at http://{server.host}:{server.port}")
input("Press Enter to stop...")
server.stop()