How to make locally-trusted development certificates

I’ve known about using self-signed security certificates for a long time, however the other day I discovered a tool, which was new to me, for creating certificates (and for installing a certifiying authority cert locally).

The tool is called mkcert and, from its README it’s “a simple tool for making locally-trusted development certificates. It requires no configuration.” It is multi-platform and can be installed using various package managers, or built from source.

The tool can create and install a local certifiying authority, then create certs for various domain names (or IP addresses) that you wish. The certs can be installed on your remote test servers and the local machine will accept them. It’s also possible to install the CA cert on others machines also.

As with all tools of this nature, you should read the security warnings, and keep your security keys protected.

I agree with their README, mkcert is a simple tool for making locally-trusted development certificates.