I wished dealing with HTTPS on localhost was less painful. Like, couldn't the OS have a special built-in trusted cert which apps can use?

Last edited Oct 20, 2024 · 7:52 PM UTC

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Oh wow, this seems to have struck a nerve. Thx for all the great replies! I don't have a SoundCloud, but if you look for managed Apache Flink and realtime ETL, check out what we build at @Decodableco! Be excellent to each other ✌️.
Gunnar Morling 🌍
@gunnarmorling
21 Oct 2024
Wow, thanks a lot for all the replies, that's what I love this place for! As I've learned, both mkcert (github.com/FiloSottile/mkcer…) and Caddy (caddyserver.com/docs/quick-s…) automate the process of registering a local CA, giving you certificates (or HTTPS proxy) to work with.
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Replying to @gunnarmorling
I love Localcan for this: localcan.com/

LocalCan: Public URLs for developers, designers and agents

Put localhost on a stable public URL to test webhooks, OAuth, and payment callbacks, or share a live preview. Flat per-seat pricing, no usage bills.

localcan.com
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Interesting, thx for sharing!
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Replying to @gunnarmorling
Brew install mkcert and create a wildcard domain cert locally? Not tried this but hoping it will work (assuming you’re on macOS).
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Ended up with Caddy as a proxy for now. Like mkcert, it registers a local CA.
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Replying to @gunnarmorling
Try caddy 😊
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Interesting, how does it help with that?
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Replying to @gunnarmorling
1 - cr we te your won CA 2 - import into your browser 3 - create a CSR for local host 4 - sign it with your new CA 5 - set up the certificate and private key with your test server.
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I know, I know :) But it's quite a way from there to "something I just don't need to deal with".
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Replying to @gunnarmorling
Why HTTP isn’t good enough for localhost?
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In my case it's the Rust object-store crate which refuses plain HTTP, so I needed to set up HTTPS for MinIO running locally.
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Replying to @gunnarmorling
Letsencrypt is literally free
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Yeah, but it doesn't work for localhost.
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Replying to @gunnarmorling
@dotnet does this 💯💯 learn.microsoft.com/en-us/do…

dotnet dev-certs command - .NET CLI

The dotnet dev-certs command generates a self-signed certificate to enable HTTPS use in development.

learn.microsoft.com
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Replying to @gunnarmorling
You'll love what my graduate colleagues at BYU developed: secure socket APIs for OS kernels. usenix.org/system/files/logi… But until then, I made user-space @caddyserver a good solution for this.
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Replying to @gunnarmorling
Why use https on localhost?
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Replying to @gunnarmorling
Once upon a time, I bought the domain localcode.net, pointed it to 127.0.0.1, and generated certs using LetsEncrypt to help me with this. I still own it.
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Replying to @gunnarmorling
@kyrylok95
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Replying to @gunnarmorling
Localcan
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Replying to @gunnarmorling
@LocalCanApp does that without needing to touch the terminal. Also .local domains are visible on the whole local network.
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Replying to @gunnarmorling
Herd handles this automatically
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Replying to @gunnarmorling
+1 for caddy
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Replying to @gunnarmorling
Can easily be done with @Tailscale, where each machine can get a HTTPS certificate automatically: tailscale.com/kb/1153/enabli…
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Replying to @gunnarmorling
Honestly localhost should just be some kind of semi hardcoded exception in browsers
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Replying to @gunnarmorling
I have a cname that points all *.domain.com requests to 127.0.0.1 — then I run a single instance of @traefik to handle HTTPS termination using letsencrypt. It routed the requested hostname to the container via a label on the container. Once it’s setup it’s pretty painless and kind of a “set and forget” type setup.
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