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what is switchhosts fr?

oldj/switchhosts — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-06-21

26,580TypeScriptAudience · developerComplexity · 1/5LicenseSetup · easy

tl;dr

A free desktop app for Windows, macOS, and Linux that lets you visually manage and instantly switch between multiple hosts file configurations, so developers can flip between local, staging, and production environments with one click.

vibe map

mindmap
  root((switchhosts))
    What it does
      Visual hosts editor
      One-click switching
      Remote hosts loading
    Key Features
      Multiple profiles
      System tray icon
      Team URL sharing
    Platforms
      Windows
      macOS
      Linux
    Audience
      Developers
      Dev teams
    Tech
      Electron
      TypeScript

Code map

Detail Auto

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filefunction / class

what do people make with this?

VIBE 1

Create separate hosts profiles for local, staging, and production environments and flip between them with one click.

VIBE 2

Share a team-wide hosts configuration via URL so every developer automatically uses the same local domain mappings.

VIBE 3

Toggle your local development server domains without opening a terminal or editing system files manually.

what's the stack?

TypeScriptElectronReactNode.js

how it stacks up fr

oldj/switchhostsinfisical/infisicallangfuse/langfuse
Stars26,58026,65726,674
LanguageTypeScriptTypeScriptTypeScript
Setup difficultyeasymoderatemoderate
Complexity1/53/53/5
Audiencedeveloperdeveloperdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

how do i run it?

Difficulty · easy time til it works · 5min

Download the installer for your platform and run it, no command-line setup needed.

MIT license, free to use for any purpose, including in commercial development workflows.

in plain english

SwitchHosts is a free desktop app that makes managing your computer's hosts file easy and visual. The hosts file is a system-level text file on every computer that maps domain names to IP addresses, developers use it to redirect web addresses to different servers, like pointing a domain to their local development machine instead of the live production server. Normally editing the hosts file requires opening a terminal, navigating to a system folder, and manually editing a plain text file with admin permissions, tedious and error-prone. SwitchHosts gives you a friendly interface to create, organize, and instantly switch between multiple sets of host configurations. You can flip between environments (development, staging, production) with a single click instead of manually editing text files. It supports remote hosts files, meaning you can load a shared hosts configuration from a URL, useful for teams where everyone needs the same development environment setup. There's also a system tray icon so you can switch configurations without opening the main app window. For vibe coders and developers who regularly work across multiple environments, building locally, testing on staging, deploying to production, this removes a constant small friction point. Available for Windows, macOS, and Linux, and installable on Windows via Chocolatey (a package manager). It's a free, open-source app with no data collection.

prompts (copy fr)

prompt 1
Create a SwitchHosts setup with three profiles, local (myapp.com → 127.0.0.1), staging, and production, and show me the correct hosts file format for each.
prompt 2
How do I set up a remote hosts file in SwitchHosts that my whole dev team can pull from a shared internal URL?
prompt 3
Write a hosts file block that redirects five local microservices (api, auth, payments, frontend, admin) to localhost ports 3001 through 3005.
prompt 4
How do I install SwitchHosts on macOS via Homebrew and configure it so switching profiles does not ask for an admin password every time?

Frequently asked questions

what is switchhosts fr?

A free desktop app for Windows, macOS, and Linux that lets you visually manage and instantly switch between multiple hosts file configurations, so developers can flip between local, staging, and production environments with one click.

What language is switchhosts written in?

Mainly TypeScript. The stack also includes TypeScript, Electron, React.

What license does switchhosts use?

MIT license, free to use for any purpose, including in commercial development workflows.

How hard is switchhosts to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is switchhosts for?

Mainly developer.

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