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HostSwitch Tutorial

HostSwitch is a CLI tool for easily switching hosts settings in development and test environments. This tutorial covers everything from installing HostSwitch to basic usage and practical scenarios.

1. Installation​

First, let's install HostSwitch. Node.js (v20.0.0 or higher) is required.

npm install -g @milkmaccya2/hostswitch

Alternatively, you can run it directly with npx without installing.

npx @milkmaccya2/hostswitch list

2. Basic Usage​

HostSwitch has two modes: Interactive Mode and Command Line Argument Mode.

Interactive Mode​

Running hostswitch without arguments starts the interactive mode. You can navigate with arrow keys, so there's no need to memorize commands.

hostswitch

Follow the screen to "Switch profile", "List", "Create", "Edit", or "Delete".

Command Line Operations​

For scripts or those who prefer CLI, command line arguments are available.

List Profiles​

hostswitch list

Create Profile​

Create a new profile.

# Create an empty profile
hostswitch create development

# Create from current hosts file content
hostswitch create production --from-current

Edit Profile​

Edit the created profile with an editor.

hostswitch edit development

Switch Profile​

Switch hosts to the created profile. Default sudo privileges will be requested automatically if needed.

hostswitch switch development

3. Practical Scenarios​

Here are examples of using HostSwitch in a development flow.

Scenario A: Switching between Local Dev and Production​

In Web development, it's common to switch between a local server (localhost) and a production server.

  1. Create Local Profile

    hostswitch create local
    hostswitch edit local

    Content:

    127.0.0.1 api.myapp.com
    127.0.0.1 app.myapp.com

  2. Create Production Profile

    hostswitch create production
    hostswitch edit production

    Content (actual production IP):

    203.0.113.1 api.myapp.com
    203.0.113.2 app.myapp.com

  3. Switch Environment Switch to local during development:

    hostswitch switch local

    Switch to production when verifying production behavior:

    hostswitch switch production

Scenario B: Sharing Settings with Team​

If you want to use the same hosts settings as your team members, create a profile once and share its content.

# Create team common settings
hostswitch create team-env
hostswitch edit team-env
# (Paste shared settings)

Troubleshooting​

Permission Errors​

HostSwitch automatically requests sudo privileges, but if it fails, please run with sudo manually.

sudo hostswitch switch development

For Windows Users​

We recommend using WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux), but it can also be used by running Command Prompt or PowerShell as "Administrator".