http [WIP]

http is a lightweight, multi-threaded HTTP library written in C++, designed for simplicity and ease of integration. It facilitates handling HTTP requests and responses with no dependencies, making it ideal for applications requiring a straightforward HTTP interface.

Warning

THIS LIBRARY IS A WORK IN PROGRESS AND IS CURRENTLY IN THE EARLY STAGES.

Features

• Routing System: Define routes with specific HTTP methods and handlers.
• Request & Response Handling: Abstractions for incoming requests and structured responses.
• Status Codes: Complete enumeration of HTTP status codes with utilities.
• Logging: Customizable logging with support for debug, info, warning, and error levels.
• Server Control: Easily start and configure an HTTP server with port and address bindings.
• Json: Builtin json moudle allows easy encoding and decoding.

Routing

http::Router allows http::Server to handle multiple routes and also supports regex pattern matching to resolve them.

Example

http::Router router;
router.add(
  "/",
  http::Method::Get,
  [](const http::Request& req) {
    return http::Response("Hello, World!");
  }
);

// with regex
router.add_regex(
  "/user/.+$",
  http::Method::Get,
  [](const http::Request& req) {
    // get the last token in url path /user/.../<name>
    const auto username = req.segments().back();
    return http::Response(std::format("Hi {}", username));
  }
);

// with parameters
// uname=xunicatt
router.add(
  "/user",
  http::Method::Get,
  [](const http::Request& req) {
    if(!req.params.contains("uname")) {
      return http::Response(http::HttpStatusCode::BadRequest);
    }

    const auto& uname = req.param.at("uname");
    return http::Response(std::format("Hi {}", uname));
  }
);

Server

http::Server accepts an http::Router to handle various routes and manages clients using multiple threads. It is responsible for setting up the socket and binding the address and port.

Example

http::Server server(router);
if(server.port(8080).run() < 0) {
  // error
  // errno is set
}

Build & Install

Requirements:

• C++23
• meson
• linux/macos

System Wide:

meson setup build
meson compile -C build
meson install -C build

As a Meson Project:

To use http as a meson subproject we have to make a project structure like this:

• meson.build
• main.cc
• subprojects/
  • http/

mkdir <project-name>
cd $_
touch main.cc meson.build
mkdir subprojects
git clone https://github.com/xunicatt/http.git ./subprojects/http

meson.build:

project(
  'example',
  'cpp',
  default_options: [
    'cpp_std=c++23',
    'cpp_flags=-Wall -Wextra -Werror',
  ],
)

http = subproject('http')

executable(
  meson.project_name(),
  'main.cc',
  dependencies: [
    http.get_variable('http_dep'),
  ],
)

main.cc:

#include <http.h>
#include <cstring>

int main() {
  http::Router router;
  router.add("/", http::Method::Get, [](const http::Request& req){
    return http::Response("Hello, World!");
  });

  http::Server server(router);
  if(server.port(8080).run() < 0) {
    perror(strerror(errno));
    return 1;
  }

  return 0;
}

Now to build and run it:

meson setup build
cd build
ninja
./example

Modules:

• json (stable): available directly by using "http::json" namespace

Experimental Modules

Warning

EXPERIMENTAL MODULES ARE NOT READY FOR GENERAL USE. THESE MODULES MAY HAVE INCOMPLETE FEATURES AND ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR BREAK AT ANY TIME.

To use experimental modules from 'http' in a meson subproject, we have to enable HTTP_EXPERIMENTAL_MODULES flag by using:

meson setup build -Dhttp:cpp_args="-DHTTP_EXPERIMENTAL_MODULES" -Dcpp_args="-DHTTP_EXPERIMENTAL_MODULES"

Docs

Checkout example/ directory for project integration and example.