Static files

An app can serve files as they are: pages, scripts, styles, images. Put them in a static/ folder next to combd.toml and modules/. There is no manifest setting for it. If static/ is there, combd serves it.

site/
├── combd.toml
├── modules/
│   └── site.wasm        # optional: a static-only app has no modules
└── static/
    ├── index.html
    ├── 404.html
    ├── app.js
    ├── app.js.br        # optional: a precompressed copy
    ├── app.js.gz
    └── guide/
        └── index.html

What gets served

Routes in the manifest come first. A GET or HEAD that no route matches is looked up in static/:

The 404 page is the one at the top of static/. Other methods, like POST and PUT, never reach the static files. With no route, they get the plain 404.

Static files follow the app’s domains like its routes do. A request reaches an app’s files only on its domains, or on any host for an app alone on a node with no domains.

Headers

Every file gets:

• content-type, by its extension, such as .html, .css, .js, .json, .svg, .png, .woff2, .wasm, .pdf, and more. Anything unknown is application/octet-stream.
• An etag. A browser that sends a matching if-none-match gets a 304 with no body.
• cache-control: no-cache. Browsers keep the file but ask again each time, and the answer is usually that cheap 304.
• x-content-type-options: nosniff.

Compressed copies

combd doesn’t compress files. To send a compressed copy, put it beside the file: app.js.br, app.js.gz, or both. A browser whose accept-encoding takes br gets the .br copy. Otherwise, one that takes gzip gets the .gz. Either way, combd sets content-encoding and vary: accept-encoding. Each copy has its own ETag. Anyone else gets the plain file. The .br and .gz files aren’t served under their own names.

brotli -k static/app.js     # static/app.js.br
gzip -k static/app.js       # static/app.js.gz

In memory

A version’s files are read once, when it loads, and held in memory. A request never waits on a disk read. A new deploy brings its own files.

Names and limits

The files go up with the app in its deploy bundle. Their paths must be plain names:

• letters, digits, ., - and _
• at most 16 folders deep, and 255 characters in all

A deploy refuses any file that breaks these rules, and names it. Hidden files, whose names start with . (.DS_Store, .env), are left out. A bundle holds at most 4096 files and 64 MB in all, modules and manifest included.

A site with no code

An app can be only static files: a manifest with no processes, and a static/ folder. This site is one.

[app]
name = "docs"
domains = ["docs.example.com"]

combd deploy ./docs acme https://node.example.com:9443

combd dev builds the app’s Rust crate first, so it needs one. To try a static-only app on your machine, serve its folder’s parent with serve-apps, laid out as <org>/<app>/:

mkdir -p apps/local && cp -r docs apps/local/docs
combd serve-apps interp apps 8080
curl -H 'host: docs.example.com' http://127.0.0.1:8080/

A page and an API

Files and routes mix. The routes take what they match, and the files the rest.

[app]
name = "shop"
domains = ["shop.example.com"]

[http.api]
module = "shop"
routes = ["/api/*"]

Here /api/cart goes to the api process, and /, /app.js, and /about/ come from static/.