Port 8000: HTTP alternate / dev servers

What is port 8000 used for?

Common for Django’s runserver, Python’s http.server and other development servers.

Should port 8000 be open?

Local or internal use. It’s meant for development machines or local networks, not the public internet. Use it for local development; in production, serve through a reverse proxy on 80/443.

See what is listening on port 8000

# Linux
sudo ss -tlnp | grep ':8000 '

# macOS
sudo lsof -nP -i TCP:8000 -sTCP:LISTEN

# Windows (PowerShell)
Get-NetTCPConnection -LocalPort 8000 -State Listen

Open or block port 8000 in a firewall

# Ubuntu / Debian (ufw)
sudo ufw allow 8000/tcp
sudo ufw deny 8000/tcp

# Windows (PowerShell, as administrator)
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "Port 8000" -Direction Inbound -Protocol TCP -LocalPort 8000 -Action Allow

On cloud servers, also open the port in the provider’s security group or network firewall. At home, a service behind a router needs a port-forwarding rule to the device’s local IP.

Test it from outside

A port can be open on the server but blocked upstream. The Port Checker connects from the internet, so it shows what the world sees. From your own machine, use nc -vz example.com 8000 (macOS/Linux) or Test-NetConnection example.com -Port 8000 (Windows).