Don't use localhost:3000, use your own custom domain

17 hours ago

The author ran a demo that appeared to use a custom domain (www.internaltool.com) instead of localhost, leading colleagues to mistakenly think they purchased a domain.
Setting up custom domains locally is an old-school practice that has declined with the rise of bundled servers (like in Node.js), but it remains useful for managing multiple long-term projects that need to communicate.
The method involves editing the system's hosts file (/etc/hosts) to map domain names (e.g., myproject.com) to 127.0.0.1, directing them to the local machine instead of the internet.
Nginx is used as a reverse proxy to forward traffic from port 80 to the specific ports where applications are running (e.g., port 3000 or 3001), enabling clean, professional URLs like dev.myproject.com.
For WSL2 users, networking differs; the IP address from the Linux instance (obtained via 'wsl hostname -I') must be used in the Windows hosts file instead of 127.0.0.1.
The approach offers practical benefits for separating development environments, enhances professionalism in demos, and avoids the mental fatigue of managing port numbers.

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