Building a Simple HTTP Server

The built-in http.server

Python includes a simple HTTP server in the standard library.

Great for:

local demos
serving static files

Not ideal for production.

Serve a folder

If you run:

python -m http.server 8000

python -m http.server 8000

Then open:

http://localhost:8000http://localhost:8000

Custom handler

custom_http_server.py

from http.server import BaseHTTPRequestHandler, HTTPServer
 
 
class Handler(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
    def do_GET(self):
        self.send_response(200)
        self.send_header("Content-Type", "text/plain")
        self.end_headers()
        self.wfile.write(b"Hello from Python HTTP server")
 
 
if __name__ == "__main__":
    server = HTTPServer(("127.0.0.1", 8000), Handler)
    print("Serving on http://127.0.0.1:8000")
    server.serve_forever()

custom_http_server.py

from http.server import BaseHTTPRequestHandler, HTTPServer
 
 
class Handler(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
    def do_GET(self):
        self.send_response(200)
        self.send_header("Content-Type", "text/plain")
        self.end_headers()
        self.wfile.write(b"Hello from Python HTTP server")
 
 
if __name__ == "__main__":
    server = HTTPServer(("127.0.0.1", 8000), Handler)
    print("Serving on http://127.0.0.1:8000")
    server.serve_forever()

What’s happening?

do_GETdo_GET handles HTTP GET requests
send_responsesend_response sets status code
headers must be sent before the body

🧪 Try It Yourself

Exercise 1 – HTTP GET with urllib

Exercise 2 – Socket Connection

Exercise 3 – Resolve a Hostname

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