astrolock write

Starts a development server with live reload for rapid iteration while building your site.

Usage

astrolock write

What It Does

The development server:

1. Starts local server on http://localhost:4321
2. Watches for changes to content and configuration
3. Live reloads browser when files change
4. Shows detailed errors to help debug issues
5. Fast rebuilds only changed files

$ astrolock write

Starting Astrolock development server...

✓ Configuration loaded
✓ Processing content...
✓ Server started

  🚀 Server running at http://localhost:4321

  Press Ctrl+C to stop

[11:23:15] Content updated: blog/my-post.md
[11:23:15] Page regenerated in 234ms
[11:23:15] Browser reloaded

Live Reload

When you change files, the browser automatically reloads:

What Triggers Reload

• ✅ Content files (.md, .mdx)
• ✅ Configuration files (config/*.json)
• ✅ Style files (CSS)
• ✅ JavaScript files

What Doesn’t Trigger Reload

• ❌ Media files in public/ (requires manual refresh)
• ❌ .env files (requires server restart)

Development Workflow

# 1. Start dev server
astrolock write

# 2. Open browser
# Visit http://localhost:4321

# 3. Edit content
# Open content/blog/my-post.md in your editor

# 4. Save file
# Browser automatically reloads with changes

# 5. Check changes
# No need to refresh - it's automatic!

# 6. Stop server when done
# Press Ctrl+C

Development vs Production

Port Configuration

The server uses port 4321 by default. If busy, it tries 4322, 4323, etc.

$ astrolock write

Port 4321 is in use, trying 4322...

  🚀 Server running at http://localhost:4322

Troubleshooting

Error: Cannot find module 'astro'

cd /path/to/astrolock
yarn install

Error: Port 4321 is already in use

lsof -ti:4321 | xargs kill -9

# Press Ctrl+C, then
astrolock write

Error: JavaScript heap out of memory

NODE_OPTIONS="--max-old-space-size=4096" astrolock write

# With Docker
docker run -p 4321:4321 -v $(pwd):/site astrolock write

Stopping the Server

Press Ctrl+C in the terminal:

Stopping development server...
✓ Server stopped gracefully

Best Practices

1. Keep server running while editing - don’t restart for each change
2. Use multiple terminals - one for server, one for editing
3. Hard refresh for media - Ctrl+Shift+R after adding images
4. Monitor terminal - watch for errors and warnings

See Also

• astrolock build - Production build
• astrolock preview - Preview production build
• astrolock content - Create content