Caddy(8) Caddy(8)

# [NAME](#NAME)

caddy-respond - Simple, hard-coded HTTP responses for development and testing

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

**caddy respond \[--status ] \[--body ] \[--listen ] \[--access-log] \[--debug] \[--header "Field: value"] \[flags]**

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

Spins up a quick-and-clean HTTP server for development and testing purposes.

With no options specified, this command listens on a random available port and answers HTTP requests with an empty 200 response. The listen address can be customized with the --listen flag and will always be printed to stdout. If the listen address includes a port range, multiple servers will be started.

If a final, unnamed argument is given, it will be treated as a status code (same as the --status flag) if it is a 3-digit number. Otherwise, it is used as the response body (same as the --body flag). The --status and --body flags will always override this argument (for example, to write a body that literally says "404" but with a status code of 200, do '--status 200 404').

A body may be given in 3 ways: a flag, a final (and unnamed) argument to the command, or piped to stdin (if flag and argument are unset). Limited template evaluation is supported on the body, with the following variables:

```
{{.N}}        The server number (useful if using a port range)
{{.Port}}     The listener port
{{.Address}}  The listener address
```

(See the docs for the text/template package in the Go standard library for information about using templates: https://pkg.go.dev/text/template)

Access/request logging and more verbose debug logging can also be enabled.

Response headers may be added using the --header flag for each header field.

# [OPTIONS](#OPTIONS)

**--access-log**\[=false] Enable the access log

**-b**, **--body**="" The body of the HTTP response

**-v**, **--debug**\[=false] Enable more verbose debug-level logging

**-H**, **--header**=\[] Set a header on the response (format: "Field: value")

**-h**, **--help**\[=false] help for respond

**-l**, **--listen**=":0" The address to which to bind the listener

**-s**, **--status**=200 The response status code

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

[**caddy(8)**](/man/enterprise-packages/caddy/caddy.8)

# [HISTORY](#HISTORY)

1-Nov-2026 Auto generated by spf13/cobra

Nov 2026 Auto generated by spf13/cobra

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Document: caddy-respond(8) from caddy 2.11.7-r8 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://github.com/caddyserver/caddy