Show HN: Local-HTML – A Revolutionary Hack to Share .html as GUI's with R/w Permissions

On a lazy Sunday evening, our team stumbled upon an ingenious hack that has left us impressed. Introducing local-html, a game-changing tool that enables you to build custom GUIs for your local files using HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. This innovative approach allows you to securely read and write data in the folder containing the .html file, making it an attractive solution for those seeking a hassle-free experience.

local-html is a single-file executable that requires no dependencies (except Node.js), ensuring seamless integration into your workflow. Its most impressive feature? Security against data exfiltration, making it an ideal choice for sensitive projects. The tool's creators have taken great care to ensure its stability, allowing users to create custom GUIs in mere minutes without requiring any servers or frameworks.

The story of local-html began with a simple experiment. A configuration file (.ini) was provided as an example, and the developers used a Large Language Model (LLM) to generate an accompanying .html file. The resulting script, ./example-editor.html, not only showcased the tool's capabilities but also served as a proof-of-concept for its potential.

local-html's benefits are twofold: firstly, it empowers users to create custom GUIs with ease, eliminating the need for tedious coding or server-side configuration. Secondly, it provides a secure environment for managing local files, shielding them from data exfiltration threats.

The tool is open-sourced under the MIT license and can be freely used and distributed. With its CC0 license for 2025, developers can rest assured that their creations are free to use, modify, or share as they see fit.

As an aside, it's worth noting that local-html has only been tested on Linux and Firefox, although the authors believe it should work on other operating systems with Chrome. As always, it's essential to exercise caution when introducing new tools into your workflow, so be sure to investigate thoroughly before adopting local-html for your projects.

For those eager to dive in and explore local-html's capabilities, we recommend checking out the example configuration file (.ini) and generating a GUI using ./example-editor.html. You might just find yourself falling in love with this innovative hack!