Accessing Development Servers on All Devices Connected to the Same Network

We, developers, often find ourselves working on projects that require testing and debugging across multiple devices. One common scenario is accessing a development environment on various devices connected to the same WiFi network. In this article I will describe how can we achieve seamless access to our development server from laptops, smartphones, tablets, and other devices within the same local network.

Step 1: Set Up the Development Server.

Before accessing, we have to make sure that we have the development server up and running. Need to have the port of the server which could be 3000, 5000 or so on.

Step 2: Find the Local IP Address.

• For Mac users: Open terminal and enter ipconfig getifaddr en0
• For Windows users: Open Command Prompt and enter ipconfig
• For Linux users: Open terminal and enter ip a

This will display the network interfaces and their respective IP addresses.

Step 3: Configure Firewall and Security Settings.

We have to ensure that the firewall or security settings are appropriately configured. Whitelist the local IP address of the development server to permit incoming connections from other devices on the same network.

Step 4: Access the Development Server on Other Devices.

Now our development server is set up and ready for external connections, we can access it from other devices within the same WiFi network. On each device, open a web browser and type the local IP address of the development server followed by the port number used by the server (e.g., http://192.168.0.100:3000).