Plexus - Localhost Search

Discover and manage all running localhost web servers (Node, PHP, Python, and more) with smart project detection, framework identification, WSL support, and quick access.

Rens Hoogendam

244 Installs

Install Extension

Overview

Plexus

A powerful Raycast extension that helps you discover and manage all running web servers on your localhost (Node, PHP, Python, and more).

✨ Features

🔍 Smart Discovery: Automatically finds all running localhost web servers (any process answering HTTP), including those inside WSL
🏷️ Intelligent Naming: Detects project names from website titles or package.json files
🛠️ Framework Detection: Identifies popular frameworks (Next.js, Vite, Express, React, etc.)
🎨 Favicon Support: Shows website favicons for easy visual identification
⚡ Quick Actions: Open in browser, copy URL, or copy process ID
🔄 Real-time Updates: Always shows current running servers

🚀 Usage

Open Raycast (⌘ + Space)
Type "Plexus" or "Localhost search"
Browse through your running development servers
Select a server to:
- Open it in your default browser
- Copy the URL to clipboard
- Copy the process ID

🛠️ How It Works

Plexus uses advanced process detection to:

Scan for Node.js processes listening on TCP ports (via lsof/ps on macOS, PowerShell on Windows)
Extract project information from the file system
Fetch website titles and favicons from running servers
Intelligently combine this data for the best user experience

🔧 Requirements

macOS or Windows
- macOS uses system commands like lsof and ps
- Windows uses PowerShell (Get-NetTCPConnection, Win32_Process)
Running Node.js development servers
Raycast app

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

👨‍💻 Author

Created by Rens Hoogendam

Tip: Keep your development servers running and let Plexus help you navigate between them effortlessly! 🚀

Versions6

Choose which browser opens localhost links - August 4, 2026

Added

Browser preference to open localhost links in a browser of your choice, independent of your system's default browser. Leave it empty to keep using the system default.

Detect slow dev servers, instant loading, and a richer list - July 1, 2026

Added

Toggleable detail panel (⌘Y) showing each server's framework, URL, port, PID, source (including WSL distro), project path, and page title.
Color-coded framework tags, with the fallback icon tinted to match, so each server is identifiable at a glance.
Refresh action (⌘R) and a clearer empty state.

Fixed

Slow dev servers (Next.js, Nuxt, Angular, …) that take about a second to render their first response are now detected instead of being missed.

Changed

Servers stream into the list as each is confirmed rather than waiting for the slowest, and the last results are cached so reopening is instant.
A single unresponsive port can no longer fail the whole scan.

Fix favicon and title caching - June 23, 2026

Fixed

Each service now shows its own favicon and page title instead of briefly displaying the icon/title of a previously viewed service (disabled keepPreviousData in the favicon and page-title fetch hooks)

1.2.0 - June 1, 2026

Added

Windows support: server discovery, process info, and kill-process now work on Windows (netstat for the port list, a lazy Win32_Process query for command lines, taskkill for killing).
Detects servers running inside WSL (enumerated via wsl.exe + /proc), shown with a WSL: <distro> tag and reachable on localhost; project names are read over \\wsl.localhost, and kill routes through wsl kill.
Detection is no longer limited to Node.js: Plexus lists any localhost server that answers an HTTP request with an HTML page (Node, PHP/Laravel, Python, etc.) and hides non-web services such as databases.

Changed

Faster discovery and instant reopen: per-process lookups are deferred to the few ports that pass the HTTP probe, and results are cached.
Cross-platform path handling so project names resolve correctly on Windows and WSL.

Note

HTTPS-only dev servers are not detected yet.

1.1.0 - October 1, 2025

Added

Kill Process: Added an action to terminate running processes directly from the Raycast interface with a confirmation dialog.

1.0.0 - September 4, 2025

Added

Initial release of Plexus - Localhost Search extension
Smart discovery of running Node.js development servers on localhost
Project detection with automatic framework identification
Quick access to development servers through Raycast interface
Process management with detailed process information
Working directory detection for better project context
Clean, modern TypeScript codebase with async/await patterns
Comprehensive utility functions for process and project detection

Contributors1

diego_reis

Compatibility

macOS
Windows

Source code

View source

Report Bug Request Feature

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Pick and organize colors, everywhere on your Mac

GitHub

Work with issues, pull requests, manage workflows, search repositories and stay on top of notifications

Visual Studio Code

Control VS Code and compatible editors directly from Raycast

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Plexus - Localhost Search

Discover and manage all running localhost web servers (Node, PHP, Python, and more) with smart project detection, framework identification, WSL support, and quick access.

Rens Hoogendam

244 Installs

Install Extension

Overview

Plexus

A powerful Raycast extension that helps you discover and manage all running web servers on your localhost (Node, PHP, Python, and more).

✨ Features

🔍 Smart Discovery: Automatically finds all running localhost web servers (any process answering HTTP), including those inside WSL
🏷️ Intelligent Naming: Detects project names from website titles or package.json files
🛠️ Framework Detection: Identifies popular frameworks (Next.js, Vite, Express, React, etc.)
🎨 Favicon Support: Shows website favicons for easy visual identification
⚡ Quick Actions: Open in browser, copy URL, or copy process ID
🔄 Real-time Updates: Always shows current running servers

🚀 Usage

Open Raycast (⌘ + Space)
Type "Plexus" or "Localhost search"
Browse through your running development servers
Select a server to:
- Open it in your default browser
- Copy the URL to clipboard
- Copy the process ID

🛠️ How It Works

Plexus uses advanced process detection to:

Scan for Node.js processes listening on TCP ports (via lsof/ps on macOS, PowerShell on Windows)
Extract project information from the file system
Fetch website titles and favicons from running servers
Intelligently combine this data for the best user experience

🔧 Requirements

macOS or Windows
- macOS uses system commands like lsof and ps
- Windows uses PowerShell (Get-NetTCPConnection, Win32_Process)
Running Node.js development servers
Raycast app

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

👨‍💻 Author

Created by Rens Hoogendam

Tip: Keep your development servers running and let Plexus help you navigate between them effortlessly! 🚀

Versions6

Choose which browser opens localhost links - August 4, 2026

Added

Browser preference to open localhost links in a browser of your choice, independent of your system's default browser. Leave it empty to keep using the system default.

Detect slow dev servers, instant loading, and a richer list - July 1, 2026

Added

Toggleable detail panel (⌘Y) showing each server's framework, URL, port, PID, source (including WSL distro), project path, and page title.
Color-coded framework tags, with the fallback icon tinted to match, so each server is identifiable at a glance.
Refresh action (⌘R) and a clearer empty state.

Fixed

Slow dev servers (Next.js, Nuxt, Angular, …) that take about a second to render their first response are now detected instead of being missed.

Changed

Servers stream into the list as each is confirmed rather than waiting for the slowest, and the last results are cached so reopening is instant.
A single unresponsive port can no longer fail the whole scan.

Fix favicon and title caching - June 23, 2026

Fixed

Each service now shows its own favicon and page title instead of briefly displaying the icon/title of a previously viewed service (disabled keepPreviousData in the favicon and page-title fetch hooks)

1.2.0 - June 1, 2026

Added

Windows support: server discovery, process info, and kill-process now work on Windows (netstat for the port list, a lazy Win32_Process query for command lines, taskkill for killing).
Detects servers running inside WSL (enumerated via wsl.exe + /proc), shown with a WSL: <distro> tag and reachable on localhost; project names are read over \\wsl.localhost, and kill routes through wsl kill.
Detection is no longer limited to Node.js: Plexus lists any localhost server that answers an HTTP request with an HTML page (Node, PHP/Laravel, Python, etc.) and hides non-web services such as databases.

Changed

Faster discovery and instant reopen: per-process lookups are deferred to the few ports that pass the HTTP probe, and results are cached.
Cross-platform path handling so project names resolve correctly on Windows and WSL.

Note

HTTPS-only dev servers are not detected yet.

1.1.0 - October 1, 2025

Added

Kill Process: Added an action to terminate running processes directly from the Raycast interface with a confirmation dialog.

1.0.0 - September 4, 2025

Added

Initial release of Plexus - Localhost Search extension
Smart discovery of running Node.js development servers on localhost
Project detection with automatic framework identification
Quick access to development servers through Raycast interface
Process management with detailed process information
Working directory detection for better project context
Clean, modern TypeScript codebase with async/await patterns
Comprehensive utility functions for process and project detection

Contributors1

diego_reis

Compatibility

macOS
Windows

Source code

View source

Report Bug Request Feature

People also like

Color Picker

Pick and organize colors, everywhere on your Mac

GitHub

Work with issues, pull requests, manage workflows, search repositories and stay on top of notifications

Visual Studio Code

Control VS Code and compatible editors directly from Raycast

Plexus - Localhost Search

Plexus

✨ Features

🚀 Usage

🛠️ How It Works

🔧 Requirements

📄 License

👨‍💻 Author

Commands1

Versions6

Choose which browser opens localhost links - August 4, 2026

Added

Detect slow dev servers, instant loading, and a richer list - July 1, 2026

Added

Fixed

Changed

Fix favicon and title caching - June 23, 2026

Fixed

1.2.0 - June 1, 2026

Added

Changed

Note

1.1.0 - October 1, 2025

Added

1.0.0 - September 4, 2025

Added

Subscribe to our newsletter.

Plexus - Localhost Search

Plexus

✨ Features

🚀 Usage

🛠️ How It Works

🔧 Requirements

📄 License

👨‍💻 Author

Commands1

Versions6

Choose which browser opens localhost links - August 4, 2026

Added

Detect slow dev servers, instant loading, and a richer list - July 1, 2026

Added

Fixed

Changed

Fix favicon and title caching - June 23, 2026

Fixed

1.2.0 - June 1, 2026

Added

Changed

Note

1.1.0 - October 1, 2025

Added

1.0.0 - September 4, 2025

Added