Installing and Configuring Nginx on Mac OS for Web Development

How to Install Nginx on macOS

Hello dear,

In this section, we’ll walk through the steps to install Nginx on macOS using Homebrew, a popular package manager that simplifies software installation and management.

Step 1: Install Homebrew (If Not Already Installed)

If you don’t have Homebrew installed yet, follow the Homebrew installation instructions before proceeding with this guide.

Step 2: Update Homebrew

Before installing Nginx, it's a good idea to update Homebrew to ensure you're working with the latest package information.

Open a terminal window and run:

brew update

This command updates Homebrew and the package data to the latest versions.

Step 3: Install Nginx

To install Nginx with Homebrew, use the following command:

brew install nginx

Homebrew will download and install the latest stable version of Nginx and all necessary dependencies.

Step 4: Start Nginx

Once the installation is complete, you can start the Nginx server by running:

brew services start nginx

This command will start Nginx and set it up to run as a background service, meaning it will automatically start each time your system boots.

Step 5: Verify Nginx Installation

To check that Nginx is working correctly, open your web browser and navigate to:

http://localhost:8080

If everything is set up correctly, you should see the Nginx welcome page, confirming that Nginx is running.

Step 6: Configure Nginx (Optional)

The default document root (Docroot) for Nginx on macOS is located at:

/opt/homebrew/var/www

If you'd like to change the Nginx configuration (e.g., to listen on port 8080), you can edit the Nginx configuration file by modifying the nginx.conf file located at:

/opt/homebrew/etc/nginx/nginx.conf

Update the server block to listen on port 8080:

server {
    listen       8080;
    server_name  localhost;

    location / {
        root   /opt/homebrew/var/www;
        index  index.html index.htm;
    }
}

Step 7: Restart Nginx

After updating the configuration file, restart Nginx for the changes to take effect:

brew services restart nginx

Now, Nginx will be configured to run on port 8080, and you can test it by visiting http://localhost:8080 again.

Souy Soeng