diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0ffbbc1f..7da2faca 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ Using `npx` you can run the script without installing it first:
 
     npx http-server [path] [options]
 
+Optionally you can create a JavaScript module file 'http-server-config.js' that exports any of the configuration options you want to include.  This can be used to create redirects, apply custom content types etc.
+
 #### Globally via `npm`
 
     npm install --global http-server
@@ -44,6 +46,7 @@ This will install `http-server` globally so that it may be run from the command
 
 | Command         | 	Description         | Defaults  |
 | -------------  |-------------|-------------|
+| --config | Configuration file to read.  Defaults to http-server-config.js |
 |`-p` or `--port` |Port to use. Use `-p 0` to look for an open port, starting at 8080. It will also read from `process.env.PORT`. |8080 |
 |`-a`   |Address to use |0.0.0.0|
 |`-d`     |Show directory listings |`true` |
@@ -134,6 +137,24 @@ Available on:
 Hit CTRL-C to stop the server
 ```
 
+# configuration file
+You can configure http-server automatically with a file named http-server-config.js, located in the directory
+you run the command from, or as specified by the --config option.
+
+An example configuration:
+```js
+module.exports = {
+  gzip: true,
+  before: [
+	  (req,res) => {
+		  console.log('Hello req', req);
+		  console.log('Hello res', res);
+		  res.emit('next');
+	  },
+  ],
+};
+```
+
 # Development
 
 Checkout this repository locally, then:
diff --git a/bin/http-server b/bin/http-server
index 3b9e59d2..3acc8ae1 100755
--- a/bin/http-server
+++ b/bin/http-server
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ var colors     = require('colors/safe'),
 
     fs         = require('fs'),
     url        = require('url');
+const path = require('path');
 var argv = require('minimist')(process.argv.slice(2), {
   alias: {
     tls: 'ssl'
@@ -56,6 +57,7 @@ if (argv.h || argv.help) {
     '  -C --cert    Path to TLS cert file (default: cert.pem)',
     '  -K --key     Path to TLS key file (default: key.pem)',
     '',
+    '  --config     Read the JavaScript file for initial options (http-server-config.js if it exists)',
     '  -r --robots        Respond to /robots.txt [User-agent: *\\nDisallow: /]',
     '  --no-dotfiles      Do not show dotfiles',
     '  --mimetypes        Path to a .types file for custom mimetype definition',
@@ -65,7 +67,23 @@ if (argv.h || argv.help) {
   process.exit();
 }
 
-var port = argv.p || argv.port || parseInt(process.env.PORT, 10),
+const configFile = (typeof argv.config) == 'string' && argv.config || 'http-server-config.js';
+const isRootConfig = configFile.length && (configFile[0] == '/' || configFile[0] == '\\') ||
+  configFile.length > 1 && configFile[1] == ':';
+const configPath = isRootConfig && configFile || path.join(process.cwd(), configFile);
+let defaultOptions = {};
+try {
+  defaultOptions = require(configPath);
+  console.log('Read config', configPath);
+} catch(e) {
+  if( argv.config ) {
+    console.log(e);
+    throw new Error(`Couldn't load ${configPath}`);
+  }
+}
+
+
+var port = argv.p || argv.port || parseInt(process.env.PORT, 10) || defaultOptions.port,
     host = argv.a || '0.0.0.0',
     tls = argv.S || argv.tls,
     sslPassphrase = process.env.NODE_HTTP_SERVER_SSL_PASSPHRASE,
@@ -88,6 +106,7 @@ if (proxyOptions) {
   });
 }
 
+
 if (!argv.s && !argv.silent) {
   logger = {
     info: console.log,
@@ -153,7 +172,8 @@ function listen(port) {
     showDotfiles: argv.dotfiles,
     mimetypes: argv.mimetypes,
     username: argv.username || process.env.NODE_HTTP_SERVER_USERNAME,
-    password: argv.password || process.env.NODE_HTTP_SERVER_PASSWORD
+    password: argv.password || process.env.NODE_HTTP_SERVER_PASSWORD,
+    ...defaultOptions,
   };
 
   if (argv.cors) {
@@ -209,14 +229,14 @@ function listen(port) {
 
     logger.info([
       colors.yellow('\nhttp-server settings: '),
-      ([colors.yellow('CORS: '), argv.cors ? colors.cyan(argv.cors) : colors.red('disabled')].join('')),
-      ([colors.yellow('Cache: '), argv.c ? (argv.c === '-1' ? colors.red('disabled') : colors.cyan(argv.c + ' seconds')) : colors.cyan('3600 seconds')].join('')),
+      ([colors.yellow('CORS: '), options.cors ? colors.cyan(options.cors) : colors.red('disabled')].join('')),
+      ([colors.yellow('Cache: '), options.cache ? (options.cache === '-1' ? colors.red('disabled') : colors.cyan(options.cache + ' seconds')) : colors.cyan('3600 seconds')].join('')),
       ([colors.yellow('Connection Timeout: '), argv.t === '0' ? colors.red('disabled') : (argv.t ? colors.cyan(argv.t + ' seconds') : colors.cyan('120 seconds'))].join('')),
-      ([colors.yellow('Directory Listings: '), argv.d ? colors.red('not visible') : colors.cyan('visible')].join('')),
+      ([colors.yellow('Directory Listings: '), options.showDir ? colors.red('not visible') : colors.cyan('visible')].join('')),
       ([colors.yellow('AutoIndex: '), argv.i ? colors.red('not visible') : colors.cyan('visible')].join('')),
-      ([colors.yellow('Serve GZIP Files: '), argv.g || argv.gzip ? colors.cyan('true') : colors.red('false')].join('')),
-      ([colors.yellow('Serve Brotli Files: '), argv.b || argv.brotli ? colors.cyan('true') : colors.red('false')].join('')),
-      ([colors.yellow('Default File Extension: '), argv.e ? colors.cyan(argv.e) : (argv.ext ? colors.cyan(argv.ext) : colors.red('none'))].join(''))
+      ([colors.yellow('Serve GZIP Files: '), options.gzip ? colors.cyan('true') : colors.red('false')].join('')),
+      ([colors.yellow('Serve Brotli Files: '), options.brotli ? colors.cyan('true') : colors.red('false')].join('')),
+      ([colors.yellow('Default File Extension: '), options.ext ? colors.cyan(options.ext) : colors.red('none')].join(''))
     ].join('\n'));
 
     logger.info(colors.yellow('\nAvailable on:'));
diff --git a/lib/core/index.js b/lib/core/index.js
index 920e55b9..68593198 100644
--- a/lib/core/index.js
+++ b/lib/core/index.js
@@ -320,7 +320,7 @@ module.exports = function createMiddleware(_dir, _options) {
       res.setHeader('content-type', contentType);
 
       // set the response statusCode if we have a request statusCode.
-      // This only can happen if we have a 404 with some kind of 404.html
+    // This only can happen if we have a 404 with some kind of 404.html
       // In all other cases where we have a file we serve the 200
       res.statusCode = req.statusCode || 200;
 
diff --git a/lib/http-server.js b/lib/http-server.js
index dfe4c474..aa3aa407 100644
--- a/lib/http-server.js
+++ b/lib/http-server.js
@@ -46,11 +46,10 @@ function HttpServer(options) {
   this.headers['Accept-Ranges'] = 'bytes';
 
   this.cache = (
-    // eslint-disable-next-line no-nested-ternary
-    options.cache === undefined ? 3600 :
+    options.cache === undefined && 3600 ||
     // -1 is a special case to turn off caching.
     // https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Headers/Cache-Control#Preventing_caching
-      options.cache === -1 ? 'no-cache, no-store, must-revalidate' :
+      options.cache === -1 && 'no-cache, no-store, must-revalidate' ||
         options.cache // in seconds.
   );
   this.showDir = options.showDir !== 'false';