How to change PCF local port number(8181)

You might have noticed that when you tested your PCF component locally, npm always used port number:8181 as default.

Is that possible to change a different one ? and How?

[start] Initializing...
[start] Validating manifest...
[start] Validating control...
[start] Generating manifest types...
...
Starting control harness...
[Browsersync] Access URLs:
 ----------------------------
 Local: http://localhost:8181
 ----------------------------
[Browsersync] Serving files from: C:\projects\LinearInput\out\controls\LinearInputControl
[Browsersync] Watching files...

The short answer is Yes if that really bothers you.

In your PCF control project folder, we can check package.json file. And it tells two important js in the file:

pcf-scripts. Located ‘\node_modules\pcf-scripts\bin\pcf-scripts.js’
pcf-start. Located ‘\node_modules\pcf-start\bin\pcf-start.js’

When you open pcf-start.js, you will find port:8181 is defined there.

Just change the port number with a different one, for example 8080

function RunTask() {
    ...
    // Start server
    bs.init({
        online: false,
        port: 8181, //Change the port number here,8080 for example.
        reloadDelay: 1000,
        server: {
            baseDir: ...
            routes: {
                ...
            },
        },
        ui: false,
        watch: true, // node_modules ignored automatically
    });
    return 200;
}

After change, save the file and try:

Enjoy.