NAME

kiwix-serve - Kiwix HTTP Server

SYNOPSIS

kiwix-serve --library [OPTIONS] LIBRARY_FILE_PATH
kiwix-serve [OPTIONS] ZIM_FILE_PATH ...

DESCRIPTION

The kiwix-serve command is used to run a stand-alone HTTP server for serving ZIM contents over the network.

ARGUMENTS

LIBRARY_FILE_PATH

Path of an XML library file listing ZIM files to serve. To be used only with the --library option. Multiple library files can be provided as a semicolon (;) separated list.

ZIM_FILE_PATH ...

ZIM file path(s). Multiple arguments are allowed.

OPTIONS

--library

By default, kiwix-serve expects a list of ZIM files as command line arguments. Providing the --library option tells kiwix-serve that the command line argument is rather a library XML file.

-i ADDR, --address=ADDR

Listen only on this IP address. By default, the server listens on all available IP addresses.

-p PORT, --port=PORT

TCP port on which to listen for HTTP requests (default: 80).

-r ROOT, --urlRootLocation=ROOT

URL prefix on which the content should be made available (default: empty).

-d, --daemon

Detach the HTTP server daemon from the main process.

-a PID, --attachToProcess=PID

Exit when the process with id PID stops running.

-M, --monitorLibrary

Monitor the XML library file and reload it automatically when it changes.

Library reloading can be forced anytime by sending a SIGHUP signal to the “kiwix-serve” process (this works regardless of the presence of the “--monitorLibrary”/“-M” option).

-m, --nolibrarybutton

Disable the library home button in the ZIM viewer toolbar.

-n, --nosearchbar

Disable the search box in the ZIM viewer toolbar.

-b, --blockexternal

Prevent users from directly navigating to external resources via links in ZIM content.

-t N, --threads=N

Number of threads to run in parallel (default: 4).

-s N, --searchLimit=N

Maximum number of ZIM files in a fulltext multizim search (default: No limit).

-z, --nodatealiases

Create URL aliases for each content by removing the date embedded in the file name.

The expected format of the date in the filename is “_YYYY-MM”. For example, a ZIM file named “wikipedia_en_all_2020-08.zim” will be accessible both as “wikipedia_en_all_2020-08” and “wikipedia_en_all”.

-c PATH, --customIndex=PATH

Override the welcome page with a custom HTML file.

-L N, --ipConnectionLimit=N

Max number of (concurrent) connections per IP (default: infinite, recommended: >= 6).

-k, --skipInvalid

Startup even when ZIM files are invalid (those will be skipped)

-v, --verbose

Print debug log to STDOUT.

-V, --version

Print the software version.

-h, --help

Print a help message.

EXAMPLES

Serve a single ZIM file:

kiwix-serve myzim.zim

Serve multiple ZIM files:

kiwix-serve zim1.zim zim2.zim zim3.zim

Serve ZIM files from a library:

kiwix-serve --library library.xml

DOCUMENTATION

Online documentation: https://kiwix-tools.readthedocs.io/en/latest/kiwix-serve.html
Source code: https://github.com/kiwix/kiwix-tools
More info: https://wiki.kiwix.org/wiki/Kiwix-serve

AUTHORS

Emmanuel Engelhart <kelson@kiwix.org>
Vasudev Kamath <kamathvasudev@gmail.com>