Caddy Caddyfile Generator

Caddy is a modern, open-source web server written in Go. Its killer feature is automatic HTTPS — it automatically obtains and renews TLS certificates from Let's Encrypt with zero configuration. It's simpler than nginx for most use cases, with a human-readable Caddyfile config format, HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 support, and a powerful plugin ecosystem.

When you specify a real domain in the Caddyfile (e.g., 'example.com {}'), Caddy automatically requests a TLS certificate from Let's Encrypt via ACME. It handles domain validation, certificate renewal (60 days before expiry), and reloads automatically. No certbot, no cron jobs. Works for any publicly reachable domain pointing to your server.

Caddy's strengths: automatic HTTPS (zero config), simpler config syntax, built-in HTTP/3 (QUIC), auto-reload on config change, and a JSON API for dynamic config. nginx's strengths: lower memory use, more fine-grained tuning, decades of production battle-testing, wider hosting panel support. For new projects, Caddy is often faster to set up. For high-performance tuning, nginx gives more knobs.

Minimal Caddyfile: 'example.com { reverse_proxy localhost:3000 }'. That's it — Caddy handles HTTPS automatically. For health checks: 'reverse_proxy localhost:3000 { health_uri /health; health_interval 10s }'. For load balancing multiple backends: 'reverse_proxy localhost:3000 localhost:3001 localhost:3002'. Default balancing is round-robin.

Install: on Ubuntu, 'sudo apt install caddy'. Place your Caddyfile in /etc/caddy/Caddyfile. Start: 'sudo systemctl start caddy'. Test config: 'caddy validate --config /etc/caddy/Caddyfile'. Apply without restart: 'caddy reload --config /etc/caddy/Caddyfile'. For Docker: 'docker run -p 80:80 -p 443:443 -v $PWD/Caddyfile:/etc/caddy/Caddyfile caddy'.

Caddy plugins are compiled in. Use the official builder: xcaddy (go install github.com/caddyserver/xcaddy/cmd/xcaddy@latest). Build with plugins: 'xcaddy build --with github.com/mholt/caddy-ratelimit'. Or use the web builder at caddyserver.com/download to download a custom binary. Common plugins: caddy-ratelimit, caddy-crowdsec-bouncer, caddy-dns/* for DNS challenges.