create a trusted self-signed SSL cert for localhost (for use with Express/Node)

Question

Trying to follow various instructions on creating a self-signed cert for use with localhost, Most of the instructions seem to be for IIS, but I'm trying to use Nodejs/Express. None of them work properly because while the cert gets installed, it is not trusted. here's what I've tried that fails:

• How can I create a self-signed cert for localhost?
• https://www.digitalocean.com/community/articles/how-to-create-a-ssl-certificate-on-nginx-for-ubuntu-12-04/
• http://blogs.developerforce.com/developer-relations/2011/05/generating-valid-self-signed-certificates.html
• http://www.robbagby.com/iis/self-signed-certificates-on-iis-7-the-easy-way-and-the-most-effective-way/

Can someone offer a workflow that can do this? I can get a cert installed, but I can't get the cert to be trusted in either chrome (v32) or IE (v10).

EDIT: it was suggested in comments that the problem is no trusted cert-root. I installed the cert via IE but it's still not being trusted.

Answer 1

Shortest way. Tested on MacOS, but may work similarly on other OS.

Generate pem

> openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout keytmp.pem -out cert.pem -days 365

> openssl rsa -in keytmp.pem -out key.pem

Your express server

const express = require('express')
const app = express()
const https = require('https')
const fs = require('fs')
const port = 3000

app.get('/', (req, res) => {
  res.send('WORKING!')
})

const httpsOptions = {
  key: fs.readFileSync('./key.pem'),
  cert: fs.readFileSync('./cert.pem')
}
const server = https.createServer(httpsOptions, app).listen(port, () => {
  console.log('server running at ' + port)
})

• Open https://localhost:3000 in Google Chrome and you'll see that it's not secure. Yet!
• In Developer Tools > Security > View Certificate: Drag image to your desktop and double click it.
• Click 'Add'
• Find it in Keychain Access and double click it
• Expand 'Trust' and change 'When using this certificate' to 'Always trust'.
• You may be prompted to authenticate.
• Restart your server.
• Refresh your browser.
• Enjoy! :)