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Question

I am developing an Excel JS TypeScript React addin with VS code. I deployed my add-in to Azure and it worked fine. Now I wanted to start a localhost for development purposes but all of a sudden I got this message:

I am posting this question, so clearly there is no issue with my internet connection. Furthermore I tried to surf to the https://localhost:3000 URL and it gave me a blank page with this text:

Cannot GET /

I tried to use the Yeoman Generator to create an empty project because I thought I maybe messed up the webpack.config.js file or the manifest but installing the boilerplate React TypeScript Excel add-in did not get me anywhere neither because even the npm install command did not succeed. I have no idea how to tackle this. many thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Most likely something is preventing access to the URL. It can be local firewall software, VPN software, proxy configuration or Metered Connection setting.

Be aware, to run web add-ins you need to generate and install a valid certificate to use https. Office Add-ins should use HTTPS (not HTTP) even when you are developing, because Office clients require add-ins and webpages to come from a trusted and secure location. If your add-in fails to load within an Office client, it may be because you haven't installed (trusted) the certificate that the Yeoman generator for Office Add-ins provides. To make sure a valid certificate is used, try to navigate to the html file in any web browser.

Also you may try to switch to another network connection and try again.