Static file serving

Canonical guidance

• serve static assets from a narrow, explicit path
• choose between disk and embedded assets deliberately
• treat asset exposure as part of the public surface

Use when

• CSS, JS, images, and fonts
• embedded front-end assets
• admin or documentation servers

Avoid

• serving broad directory trees accidentally
• mixing mutable runtime data with published assets
• ad hoc file serving inside many unrelated handlers

Preferred pattern

• mount one file server under a known prefix and keep asset lookup centralized

Anti-pattern

• pointing a file server at a project root because the needed directory is somewhere under it

Explanation: This is tempting during development, but it widens the public surface and risks leaking unintended files.

Why

• static serving is simple only when the asset boundary is simple