oldj/switchhosts

SwitchHosts is a free desktop app that makes managing your computer's hosts file easy and visual. The hosts file is a system-level text file on every computer that maps domain names to IP addresses, developers use it to redirect web addresses to different servers, like pointing a domain to their local development machine instead of the live production server. Normally editing the hosts file requires opening a terminal, navigating to a system folder, and manually editing a plain text file with admin permissions, tedious and error-prone. SwitchHosts gives you a friendly interface to create, organize, and instantly switch between multiple sets of host configurations. You can flip between environments (development, staging, production) with a single click instead of manually editing text files. It supports remote hosts files, meaning you can load a shared hosts configuration from a URL, useful for teams where everyone needs the same development environment setup. There's also a system tray icon so you can switch configurations without opening the main app window. For vibe coders and developers who regularly work across multiple environments, building locally, testing on staging, deploying to production, this removes a constant small friction point. Available for Windows, macOS, and Linux, and installable on Windows via Chocolatey (a package manager). It's a free, open-source app with no data collection.