caddy

Caddy (Dev Proxy)

Why Caddy

Two purposes in development:

  1. Frontend dev server isolation — http://localhost:9081 proxies /graphql, /api/*, /_system/*, /assets/* to the Go server (:8081), and everything else to the $mol dev server (:9080). This lets you develop frontend with hot reload while still talking to the real backend.

  2. HTTPS for third-party integrations — https://localhost:7081 provides TLS for features that require secure context (Cloudflare Turnstile captcha, OAuth callbacks, etc.). All traffic goes directly to the Go server.

Setup

# Install Caddy
brew install caddy  # macOS
# or: https://caddyserver.com/docs/install

# Generate local TLS certs (one-time)
mkcert -install
mkcert localhost 127.0.0.1

# Run
caddy run

Ports

Port Protocol Backend Use
9081 HTTP Go (:8081) + $mol (:9080) Frontend development with hot reload
7081 HTTPS Go (:8081) only Testing Turnstile, OAuth, secure-context features
8081 HTTP Go server directly API, backend-only work
9080 HTTP $mol dev server Frontend build/serve (not used directly)

When to use which

  • Day-to-day frontend dev: http://localhost:9081
  • Testing captcha / OAuth / HTTPS features: https://localhost:7081
  • Backend-only work: http://localhost:8081 (no Caddy needed)