Run & Stop the Dev Server

Use the ui5 serve command to start a local dev server with live reload, understand the URLs it exposes, and learn how to stop it cleanly.

Run & Stop the SAPUI5 Dev Server

The @ui5/cli ships a local development server with live reload.

Start the server

cd my-first-app
npm start
# or directly:
ui5 serve --open

The --open flag opens your default browser automatically.

Default URLs

Live reload

Any time you save a .js, .xml, or .json file inside webapp/, the browser refreshes automatically — no manual reload needed.

Stop the server

Press Ctrl+C in the terminal where ui5 serve is running.

Common issues

Port already in use

ui5 serve --port 8081

Or kill what's using 8080:

# macOS / Linux
lsof -ti:8080 | xargs kill

# Windows PowerShell
netstat -ano | findstr :8080
# find the PID, then:
taskkill /PID <pid> /F

App shows blank page

1. Open Chrome DevTools (F12) → Console tab
2. Look for red errors — usually a missing file path or a mis-spelled view name
3. Check manifest.json routing section matches your view file names exactly

package.json scripts (what npm start actually runs)

{
  "scripts": {
    "start": "ui5 serve --open",
    "build": "ui5 build --all --dest dist",
    "lint": "eslint webapp"
  }
}

You can add --config ui5.yaml if you have multiple config files.