Why you should use HTTPS Locally?

Here are some common situations where using HTTPS in your local development environment is beneficial:

• Security Concerns: If your application deals with sensitive data or requires user authentication, it’s a good practice to use HTTPS even locally.
• Testing Secure Features: If your application includes features that rely on HTTPS, such as geolocation, accessing the camera or microphone, or any other browser APIs that require a secure context, it’s essential to use HTTPS locally for accurate testing.
• Enhancing Cookie Security: Utilizing cookies with the Secure attribute ensures they’re transmitted only over HTTPS, enhancing data security. Setting the SameSite attribute to None allows cross-origin requests, improving compatibility while maintaining security.
• API Requirements: If your application communicates with external APIs that require HTTPS, you should use HTTPS locally to replicate the production environment accurately. Some APIs like Google Maps API, Stripe API etc. only accept requests over HTTPS for security reasons.
• Browser Policies: Modern web browsers are increasingly enforcing stricter security policies, which may affect your application’s functionality when served over HTTP. For example, certain features like geolocation or access to device APIs may be restricted or disabled when served over non-secure connections.

Enabling HTTPS on your localhost is important for building and testing secure web applications. HTTPS which stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure adds a layer of security to communication over the Internet. By running a HTTPS server on your local computer, you can replicate the protected environment. This means you can test how your application handles sensitive information and ensure it’s resilient against potential security threats before it goes live.

Secure Socket Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS) provides a way for secure communication over the internet.

In this article, I’ll show you how to configure HTTPS for local development using React for the frontend. This method also applies to Node.js and Express.