A C++11 single-file header-only cross platform HTTP/HTTPS library.
It's extremely easy to setup. Just include the httplib.h file in your code!
Important
This library uses 'blocking' socket I/O. If you are looking for a library with 'non-blocking' socket I/O, this is not the one that you want.
#defineCPPHTTPLIB_OPENSSL_SUPPORT #include"path/to/httplib.h"// HTTP httplib::Server svr; // HTTPS httplib::SSLServer svr; svr.Get("/hi", [](const httplib::Request &, httplib::Response &res){res.set_content("Hello World!", "text/plain")}); svr.listen("0.0.0.0", 8080);#defineCPPHTTPLIB_OPENSSL_SUPPORT #include"path/to/httplib.h"// HTTP httplib::Client cli("http://cpp-httplib-server.yhirose.repl.co"); // HTTPS httplib::Client cli("https://cpp-httplib-server.yhirose.repl.co"); auto res = cli.Get("/hi"); res->status; res->body;SSL support is available with CPPHTTPLIB_OPENSSL_SUPPORT. libssl and libcrypto should be linked.
Note
cpp-httplib currently supports only version 3.0 or later. Please see this page to get more information.
Tip
For macOS: cpp-httplib now can use system certs with CPPHTTPLIB_USE_CERTS_FROM_MACOSX_KEYCHAIN. CoreFoundation and Security should be linked with -framework.
#defineCPPHTTPLIB_OPENSSL_SUPPORT #include"path/to/httplib.h"// Server httplib::SSLServer svr("./cert.pem", "./key.pem"); // Client httplib::Client cli("https://localhost:1234"); // scheme + host httplib::SSLClient cli("localhost:1234"); // host httplib::SSLClient cli("localhost", 1234); // host, port// Use your CA bundle cli.set_ca_cert_path("./ca-bundle.crt"); // Disable cert verification cli.enable_server_certificate_verification(false);Note
When using SSL, it seems impossible to avoid SIGPIPE in all cases, since on some operating systems, SIGPIPE can only be suppressed on a per-message basis, but there is no way to make the OpenSSL library do so for its internal communications. If your program needs to avoid being terminated on SIGPIPE, the only fully general way might be to set up a signal handler for SIGPIPE to handle or ignore it yourself.
#include<httplib.h>intmain(void){usingnamespacehttplib; Server svr; svr.Get("/hi", [](const Request& req, Response& res){res.set_content("Hello World!", "text/plain")}); // Match the request path against a regular expression// and extract its captures svr.Get(R"(/numbers/(\d+))", [&](const Request& req, Response& res){auto numbers = req.matches[1]; res.set_content(numbers, "text/plain")}); // Capture the second segment of the request path as "id" path param svr.Get("/users/:id", [&](const Request& req, Response& res){auto user_id = req.path_params.at("id"); res.set_content(user_id, "text/plain")}); // Extract values from HTTP headers and URL query params svr.Get("/body-header-param", [](const Request& req, Response& res){if (req.has_header("Content-Length")){auto val = req.get_header_value("Content-Length")} if (req.has_param("key")){auto val = req.get_param_value("key")} res.set_content(req.body, "text/plain")}); svr.Get("/stop", [&](const Request& req, Response& res){svr.stop()}); svr.listen("localhost", 1234)}Post, Put, Delete and Options methods are also supported.
int port = svr.bind_to_any_port("0.0.0.0"); svr.listen_after_bind();// Mount / to ./www directoryauto ret = svr.set_mount_point("/", "./www"); if (!ret){// The specified base directory doesn't exist... } // Mount /public to ./www directory ret = svr.set_mount_point("/public", "./www"); // Mount /public to ./www1 and ./www2 directories ret = svr.set_mount_point("/public", "./www1"); // 1st order to search ret = svr.set_mount_point("/public", "./www2"); // 2nd order to search// Remove mount / ret = svr.remove_mount_point("/"); // Remove mount /public ret = svr.remove_mount_point("/public");// User defined file extension and MIME type mappings svr.set_file_extension_and_mimetype_mapping("cc", "text/x-c"); svr.set_file_extension_and_mimetype_mapping("cpp", "text/x-c"); svr.set_file_extension_and_mimetype_mapping("hh", "text/x-h");The followings are built-in mappings:
| Extension | MIME Type | Extension | MIME Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| css | text/css | mpga | audio/mpeg |
| csv | text/csv | weba | audio/webm |
| txt | text/plain | wav | audio/wave |
| vtt | text/vtt | otf | font/otf |
| html, htm | text/html | ttf | font/ttf |
| apng | image/apng | woff | font/woff |
| avif | image/avif | woff2 | font/woff2 |
| bmp | image/bmp | 7z | application/x-7z-compressed |
| gif | image/gif | atom | application/atom+xml |
| png | image/png | application/pdf | |
| svg | image/svg+xml | mjs, js | application/javascript |
| webp | image/webp | json | application/json |
| ico | image/x-icon | rss | application/rss+xml |
| tif | image/tiff | tar | application/x-tar |
| tiff | image/tiff | xhtml, xht | application/xhtml+xml |
| jpeg, jpg | image/jpeg | xslt | application/xslt+xml |
| mp4 | video/mp4 | xml | application/xml |
| mpeg | video/mpeg | gz | application/gzip |
| webm | video/webm | zip | application/zip |
| mp3 | audio/mp3 | wasm | application/wasm |
Warning
These static file server methods are not thread-safe.
// The handler is called right before the response is sent to a client svr.set_file_request_handler([](const Request &req, Response &res){... });svr.set_logger([](constauto& req, constauto& res){your_logger(req, res)});svr.set_error_handler([](constauto& req, auto& res){auto fmt = "<p>Error Status: <span style='color:red;'>%d</span></p>"; char buf[BUFSIZ]; snprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), fmt, res.status); res.set_content(buf, "text/html")});The exception handler gets called if a user routing handler throws an error.
svr.set_exception_handler([](constauto& req, auto& res, std::exception_ptr ep){auto fmt = "<h1>Error 500</h1><p>%s</p>"; char buf[BUFSIZ]; try{std::rethrow_exception(ep)} catch (std::exception &e){snprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), fmt, e.what())} catch (...){// See the following NOTEsnprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), fmt, "Unknown Exception")} res.set_content(buf, "text/html"); res.status = StatusCode::InternalServerError_500});Caution
if you don't provide the catch (...) block for a rethrown exception pointer, an uncaught exception will end up causing the server crash. Be careful!
svr.set_pre_routing_handler([](constauto& req, auto& res){if (req.path == "/hello"){res.set_content("world", "text/html"); return Server::HandlerResponse::Handled} return Server::HandlerResponse::Unhandled});svr.set_post_routing_handler([](constauto& req, auto& res){res.set_header("ADDITIONAL_HEADER", "value")});svr.Post("/multipart", [&](constauto& req, auto& res){auto size = req.files.size(); auto ret = req.has_file("name1"); constauto& file = req.get_file_value("name1"); // file.filename;// file.content_type;// file.content; });svr.Post("/content_receiver", [&](const Request &req, Response &res, const ContentReader &content_reader){if (req.is_multipart_form_data()){// NOTE: `content_reader` is blocking until every form data field is read MultipartFormDataItems files; content_reader( [&](const MultipartFormData &file){files.push_back(file); returntrue}, [&](constchar *data, size_t data_length){files.back().content.append(data, data_length); returntrue})} else{std::string body; content_reader([&](constchar *data, size_t data_length){body.append(data, data_length); returntrue})} });constsize_t DATA_CHUNK_SIZE = 4; svr.Get("/stream", [&](const Request &req, Response &res){auto data = newstd::string("abcdefg"); res.set_content_provider( data->size(), // Content length"text/plain", // Content type [&, data](size_t offset, size_t length, DataSink &sink){constauto &d = *data; sink.write(&d[offset], std::min(length, DATA_CHUNK_SIZE)); returntrue; // return 'false' if you want to cancel the process. }, [data](bool success){delete data})});Without content length:
svr.Get("/stream", [&](const Request &req, Response &res){res.set_content_provider( "text/plain", // Content type [&](size_t offset, DataSink &sink){if (/* there is still data */){std::vector<char> data; // prepare data... sink.write(data.data(), data.size())} else{sink.done(); // No more data } returntrue; // return 'false' if you want to cancel the process. })});svr.Get("/chunked", [&](const Request& req, Response& res){res.set_chunked_content_provider( "text/plain", [](size_t offset, DataSink &sink){sink.write("123", 3); sink.write("345", 3); sink.write("789", 3); sink.done(); // No more datareturntrue; // return 'false' if you want to cancel the process. } )});With trailer:
svr.Get("/chunked", [&](const Request& req, Response& res){res.set_header("Trailer", "Dummy1, Dummy2"); res.set_chunked_content_provider( "text/plain", [](size_t offset, DataSink &sink){sink.write("123", 3); sink.write("345", 3); sink.write("789", 3); sink.done_with_trailer({{"Dummy1", "DummyVal1"},{"Dummy2", "DummyVal2"} }); returntrue} )});By default, the server sends a 100 Continue response for an Expect: 100-continue header.
// Send a '417 Expectation Failed' response. svr.set_expect_100_continue_handler([](const Request &req, Response &res){return StatusCode::ExpectationFailed_417});// Send a final status without reading the message body. svr.set_expect_100_continue_handler([](const Request &req, Response &res){return res.status = StatusCode::Unauthorized_401});svr.set_keep_alive_max_count(2); // Default is 5 svr.set_keep_alive_timeout(10); // Default is 5svr.set_read_timeout(5, 0); // 5 seconds svr.set_write_timeout(5, 0); // 5 seconds svr.set_idle_interval(0, 100000); // 100 millisecondssvr.set_payload_max_length(1024 * 1024 * 512); // 512MBNote
When the request body content type is 'www-form-urlencoded', the actual payload length shouldn't exceed CPPHTTPLIB_FORM_URL_ENCODED_PAYLOAD_MAX_LENGTH.
Please see Server example and Client example.
ThreadPool is used as a default task queue, and the default thread count is 8, or std::thread::hardware_concurrency(). You can change it with CPPHTTPLIB_THREAD_POOL_COUNT.
If you want to set the thread count at runtime, there is no convenient way... But here is how.
svr.new_task_queue = []{returnnewThreadPool(12)};You can also provide an optional parameter to limit the maximum number of pending requests, i.e. requests accept()ed by the listener but still waiting to be serviced by worker threads.
svr.new_task_queue = []{returnnewThreadPool(/*num_threads=*/12, /*max_queued_requests=*/18)};Default limit is 0 (unlimited). Once the limit is reached, the listener will shutdown the client connection.
You can supply your own thread pool implementation according to your need.
classYourThreadPoolTaskQueue : publicTaskQueue{public:YourThreadPoolTaskQueue(size_t n){pool_.start_with_thread_count(n)} virtualboolenqueue(std::function<void()> fn) override{/* Return true if the task was actually enqueued, or false * if the caller must drop the corresponding connection. */return pool_.enqueue(fn)} virtualvoidshutdown() override{pool_.shutdown_gracefully()} private: YourThreadPool pool_}; svr.new_task_queue = []{returnnewYourThreadPoolTaskQueue(12)};#include<httplib.h> #include<iostream>intmain(void){httplib::Client cli("localhost", 1234); if (auto res = cli.Get("/hi")){if (res->status == StatusCode::OK_200){std::cout << res->body << std::endl} } else{auto err = res.error(); std::cout << "HTTP error: " << httplib::to_string(err) << std::endl} }Tip
Constructor with scheme-host-port string is now supported!
httplib::Client cli("localhost"); httplib::Client cli("localhost:8080"); httplib::Client cli("http://localhost"); httplib::Client cli("http://localhost:8080"); httplib::Client cli("https://localhost"); httplib::SSLClient cli("localhost");Here is the list of errors from Result::error().
enum Error{Success = 0, Unknown, Connection, BindIPAddress, Read, Write, ExceedRedirectCount, Canceled, SSLConnection, SSLLoadingCerts, SSLServerVerification, UnsupportedMultipartBoundaryChars, Compression, ConnectionTimeout, };httplib::Headers headers ={{"Accept-Encoding", "gzip, deflate" } }; auto res = cli.Get("/hi", headers);or
auto res = cli.Get("/hi",{{"Accept-Encoding", "gzip, deflate"}});or
cli.set_default_headers({{"Accept-Encoding", "gzip, deflate" } }); auto res = cli.Get("/hi");res = cli.Post("/post", "text", "text/plain"); res = cli.Post("/person", "name=john1¬e=coder", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");httplib::Params params; params.emplace("name", "john"); params.emplace("note", "coder"); auto res = cli.Post("/post", params);or
httplib::Params params{{"name", "john" },{"note", "coder" } }; auto res = cli.Post("/post", params);httplib::MultipartFormDataItems items ={{"text1", "text default", "", "" },{"text2", "aωb", "", "" },{"file1", "h\ne\n\nl\nl\no\n", "hello.txt", "text/plain" },{"file2", "{\n\"world\", true\n}\n", "world.json", "application/json" },{"file3", "", "", "application/octet-stream" }, }; auto res = cli.Post("/multipart", items);res = cli.Put("/resource/foo", "text", "text/plain");res = cli.Delete("/resource/foo");res = cli.Options("*"); res = cli.Options("/resource/foo");cli.set_connection_timeout(0, 300000); // 300 milliseconds cli.set_read_timeout(5, 0); // 5 seconds cli.set_write_timeout(5, 0); // 5 secondsstd::string body; auto res = cli.Get("/large-data", [&](constchar *data, size_t data_length){body.append(data, data_length); returntrue});std::string body; auto res = cli.Get( "/stream", Headers(), [&](const Response &response){EXPECT_EQ(StatusCode::OK_200, response.status); returntrue; // return 'false' if you want to cancel the request. }, [&](constchar *data, size_t data_length){body.append(data, data_length); returntrue; // return 'false' if you want to cancel the request. });std::string body = ...; auto res = cli.Post( "/stream", body.size(), [](size_t offset, size_t length, DataSink &sink){sink.write(body.data() + offset, length); returntrue; // return 'false' if you want to cancel the request. }, "text/plain");auto res = cli.Post( "/stream", [](size_t offset, DataSink &sink){sink.os << "chunked data 1"; sink.os << "chunked data 2"; sink.os << "chunked data 3"; sink.done(); returntrue; // return 'false' if you want to cancel the request. }, "text/plain");httplib::Client cli(url, port); // prints: 0 / 000 bytes => 50% completeauto res = cli.Get("/", [](uint64_t len, uint64_t total){printf("%lld / %lld bytes => %d%% complete\n", len, total, (int)(len*100/total)); returntrue; // return 'false' if you want to cancel the request. } );// Basic Authentication cli.set_basic_auth("user", "pass"); // Digest Authentication cli.set_digest_auth("user", "pass"); // Bearer Token Authentication cli.set_bearer_token_auth("token");Note
OpenSSL is required for Digest Authentication.
cli.set_proxy("host", port); // Basic Authentication cli.set_proxy_basic_auth("user", "pass"); // Digest Authentication cli.set_proxy_digest_auth("user", "pass"); // Bearer Token Authentication cli.set_proxy_bearer_token_auth("pass");Note
OpenSSL is required for Digest Authentication.
httplib::Client cli("httpbin.org"); auto res = cli.Get("/range/32",{httplib::make_range_header({{1, 10}}) // 'Range: bytes=1-10' }); // res->status should be 206.// res->body should be "bcdefghijk".httplib::make_range_header({{1, 10},{20, -1}}) // 'Range: bytes=1-10, 20-' httplib::make_range_header({{100, 199},{500, 599}}) // 'Range: bytes=100-199, 500-599' httplib::make_range_header({{0, 0},{-1, 1}}) // 'Range: bytes=0-0, -1'httplib::Client cli("localhost", 1234); cli.Get("/hello"); // with "Connection: close" cli.set_keep_alive(true); cli.Get("/world"); cli.set_keep_alive(false); cli.Get("/last-request"); // with "Connection: close"httplib::Client cli("yahoo.com"); auto res = cli.Get("/"); res->status; // 301 cli.set_follow_location(true); res = cli.Get("/"); res->status; // 200Note
This feature is not available on Windows, yet.
cli.set_interface("eth0"); // Interface name, IP address or host nameThe server can apply compression to the following MIME type contents:
- all text types except text/event-stream
- image/svg+xml
- application/javascript
- application/json
- application/xml
- application/xhtml+xml
'gzip' compression is available with CPPHTTPLIB_ZLIB_SUPPORT. libz should be linked.
Brotli compression is available with CPPHTTPLIB_BROTLI_SUPPORT. Necessary libraries should be linked. Please see https://github.com/google/brotli for more detail.
cli.set_compress(true); res = cli.Post("/resource/foo", "...", "text/plain");cli.set_decompress(false); res = cli.Get("/resource/foo",{{"Accept-Encoding", "gzip, deflate, br"}}); res->body; // Compressed dataselect system call is used as default since it's more widely supported. If you want to let cpp-httplib use poll instead, you can do so with CPPHTTPLIB_USE_POLL.
$ ./split.py -husage: split.py [-h] [-e EXTENSION] [-o OUT]This script splits httplib.h into .h and .cc parts.optional arguments: -h, --help show this help message and exit -e EXTENSION, --extension EXTENSION extension of the implementation file (default: cc) -o OUT, --out OUT where to write the files (default: out) $ ./split.pyWrote out/httplib.h and out/httplib.ccg++ 4.8 and below cannot build this library since <regex> in the versions are broken.
Include httplib.h before Windows.h or include Windows.h by defining WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN beforehand.
#include<httplib.h> #include<Windows.h>#defineWIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN #include<Windows.h> #include<httplib.h>Note
cpp-httplib officially supports only the latest Visual Studio. It might work with former versions of Visual Studio, but I can no longer verify it. Pull requests are always welcome for the older versions of Visual Studio unless they break the C++11 conformance.
Note
Windows 8 or lower, Visual Studio 2013 or lower, and Cygwin and MSYS2 including MinGW are neither supported nor tested.
MIT license (© 2024 Yuji Hirose)
These folks made great contributions to polish this library to totally another level from a simple toy!
