httpz.zig

http-client http-server

httpz

An HTTP/1.1 and HTTP/2 library for Zig 0.16, built on the std.Io async model.

Features

HTTP Server — HTTP/1.1 and HTTP/2, keep-alive, chunked transfer encoding, connection limits, slowloris protection
HTTP Client — HTTP/1.1 and HTTP/2, configurable timeouts, response size limits
HTTP/2 — ALPN negotiation, h2c (cleartext), HPACK compression, stream multiplexing, flow control, server push, trailers
Router — path parameters (:id), comptime dispatch, custom 404 handlers
WebSocket — RFC 6455 upgrade, text/binary frames, fragmentation reassembly, per-route handlers
Streaming Responses — chunked encoding, Server-Sent Events, zero-copy file serving
Middleware — CORS and gzip compression via composable wrap functions
HTTPS / TLS — server and client TLS via OpenSSL
CONNECT Proxy — SSRF protection with private IP blocking and host/port allowlists
Cookies — RFC 6265 cookie parsing and Set-Cookie generation with Secure, HttpOnly, SameSite, Max-Age, Domain, Path
RFC 2616 / RFC 9113 Compliant — HTTP date parsing, path traversal protection, TRACE support (off by default)

Quick Start

const std = @import("std");
const httpz = @import("httpz");

pub fn main(init: std.process.Init) !void {
    var server = httpz.Server.init(.{
        .port = 8080,
        .address = "127.0.0.1",
    }, handler);

    server.run(init.io) catch |err| switch (err) {
        error.AddressInUse => {
            std.debug.print("Error: port 8080 is already in use\n", .{});
            std.process.exit(1);
        },
    };
}

fn handler(_: std.mem.Allocator, _: std.Io, request: *const httpz.Request) httpz.Response {
    if (std.mem.eql(u8, request.uri, "/")) {
        return httpz.Response.init(.ok, "text/plain", "Hello from httpz!");
    }
    return httpz.Response.init(.not_found, "text/plain", "Not Found");
}

Handlers receive a per-request arena allocator, an std.Io instance, and the parsed request. Return a Response value — the server handles serialization and cleanup.

Using as a Dependency

zig fetch --save git+https://github.com/allain/httpz.zig

Then in your build.zig:

const httpz_mod = b.dependency("httpz", .{ .target = target }).module("httpz");
exe.root_module.addImport("httpz", httpz_mod);

Routing

The Router dispatches requests by method and path at comptime. Path parameters are stored on the request and accessed via request.params.

const std = @import("std");
const httpz = @import("httpz");

pub fn main(init: std.process.Init) !void {
    var server = httpz.Server.init(.{
        .port = 8080,
        .address = "127.0.0.1",
    }, comptime httpz.Router.handler(&.{
        .{ .method = .GET, .path = "/", .handler = handleHome },
        .{ .method = .GET, .path = "/hello/:name", .handler = handleHello },
    }));

    server.run(init.io) catch |err| switch (err) {
        error.AddressInUse => std.process.exit(1),
    };
}

fn handleHome(_: std.mem.Allocator, _: std.Io, _: *const httpz.Request) httpz.Response {
    return httpz.Response.init(.ok, "text/plain", "Welcome!");
}

fn handleHello(_: std.mem.Allocator, _: std.Io, request: *const httpz.Request) httpz.Response {
    const name = request.params.get("name") orelse "world";
    _ = name; // use name to build a response
    return httpz.Response.init(.ok, "text/plain", "Hello!");
}

GET /hello/alice matches the :name parameter — retrieve it with request.params.get("name").

Use Router.handlerWithFallback to provide a custom 404 handler instead of the default.

Middleware

wrap works on both route handlers and plain handlers — use it per-route or globally:

const std = @import("std");
const httpz = @import("httpz");

const cors = httpz.middleware.cors.init(.{ .origin = "https://myapp.com" });
const compress = httpz.middleware.compression;

pub fn main(init: std.process.Init) !void {
    var server = httpz.Server.init(.{
        .port = 8080,
        .address = "127.0.0.1",
    }, comptime httpz.Router.handler(&.{
        // Compression on a single route
        .{ .method = .GET, .path = "/data", .handler = compress.wrap(handleData) },
        // CORS + compression composed together
        .{ .method = .GET, .path = "/api", .handler = cors.wrap(compress.wrap(handleData)) },
    }));

    server.run(init.io) catch |err| switch (err) {
        error.AddressInUse => std.process.exit(1),
    };
}

fn handleData(_: std.mem.Allocator, _: std.Io, _: *const httpz.Request) httpz.Response {
    return httpz.Response.init(.ok, "application/json", "{\"ok\":true}");
}

To apply middleware globally without the Router:

var server = httpz.Server.init(config, compress.wrap(handler));

Passing State to Handlers

Middleware can attach typed state to request.context for downstream handlers. The context is keyed by type, so multiple middleware can each store their own state without clobbering each other.

const GeoInfo = struct { lat: f64, lon: f64 };
const AuthInfo = struct { user_id: []const u8 };

fn geoMiddleware(comptime inner: httpz.Handler) httpz.Handler {
    return struct {
        fn handle(allocator: std.mem.Allocator, io: std.Io, req: *const httpz.Request) httpz.Response {
            var geo = GeoInfo{ .lat = 45.0, .lon = -73.0 }; // looked up from req IP
            var ctx_req = req.*;
            ctx_req.context.put(GeoInfo, &geo);
            return inner(allocator, io, &ctx_req);
        }
    }.handle;
}

fn authMiddleware(comptime inner: httpz.Handler) httpz.Handler {
    return struct {
        fn handle(allocator: std.mem.Allocator, io: std.Io, req: *const httpz.Request) httpz.Response {
            var auth = AuthInfo{ .user_id = "alice" }; // parsed from header
            var ctx_req = req.*;
            ctx_req.context.put(AuthInfo, &auth);
            return inner(allocator, io, &ctx_req);
        }
    }.handle;
}

fn handleDashboard(_: std.mem.Allocator, _: std.Io, request: *const httpz.Request) httpz.Response {
    // Both are available — middleware don't clobber each other
    const geo = request.context.get(GeoInfo) orelse return httpz.Response.init(.internal_server_error, "text/plain", "No geo");
    const auth = request.context.get(AuthInfo) orelse return httpz.Response.init(.unauthorized, "text/plain", "No auth");
    _ = geo;
    _ = auth;
    return httpz.Response.init(.ok, "text/plain", "OK");
}

Context values live on each middleware’s stack frame and are valid for the handler’s lifetime. Up to 8 entries are supported (matching the Params limit).

CORS Options

httpz.middleware.cors.init(.{
    .origin = "*",                                            // Access-Control-Allow-Origin
    .methods = "GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, OPTIONS, PATCH",      // Access-Control-Allow-Methods
    .headers = "Content-Type, Authorization",                 // Access-Control-Allow-Headers
    .max_age = "86400",                                       // Access-Control-Max-Age (seconds)
});

Cookies

httpz.Cookie provides RFC 6265 cookie parsing from requests and Set-Cookie header generation for responses.

Reading Cookies

fn handler(allocator: std.mem.Allocator, _: std.Io, request: *const httpz.Request) httpz.Response {
    // Look up a single cookie by name
    const session = httpz.Cookie.get(request, "session_id") orelse
        return httpz.Response.init(.unauthorized, "text/plain", "No session");

    // Iterate all cookies
    var iter = httpz.Cookie.iterator(request);
    while (iter.next()) |cookie| {
        std.debug.print("{s} = {s}\n", .{ cookie.name, cookie.value });
    }

    _ = session;
    _ = allocator;
    return httpz.Response.init(.ok, "text/plain", "OK");
}

Setting Cookies

fn login(allocator: std.mem.Allocator, _: std.Io, _: *const httpz.Request) httpz.Response {
    var resp = httpz.Response.init(.ok, "text/plain", "Logged in");

    // Session cookie — expires when browser closes
    httpz.Cookie.set(&resp, allocator, .{
        .name = "session_id",
        .value = "abc123",
        .path = "/",
        .http_only = true,
        .secure = true,
        .same_site = .lax,
    }) catch {};

    // Persistent cookie — 30 day expiry
    httpz.Cookie.set(&resp, allocator, .{
        .name = "preferences",
        .value = "dark_mode",
        .path = "/",
        .max_age = 86400 * 30,
    }) catch {};

    return resp;
}

Deleting Cookies

fn logout(allocator: std.mem.Allocator, _: std.Io, _: *const httpz.Request) httpz.Response {
    var resp = httpz.Response.init(.ok, "text/plain", "Logged out");

    // Domain and Path must match the original cookie
    httpz.Cookie.remove(&resp, allocator, .{
        .name = "session_id",
        .path = "/",
    }) catch {};

    return resp;
}

The allocator is used to format Set-Cookie header values. Use a per-request arena so the memory lives until the response is serialized.

Streaming Responses

Set stream_fn on a response to stream the body directly to the network writer. The server serializes headers first, then calls your function.

Chunked Encoding

fn handleStream(_: std.mem.Allocator, _: std.Io, _: *const httpz.Request) httpz.Response {
    var resp: httpz.Response = .{ .status = .ok, .chunked = true };
    resp.headers.append("Content-Type", "text/plain") catch {};
    resp.stream_fn = streamFn;
    return resp;
}

fn streamFn(_: ?*anyopaque, writer: *std.Io.Writer) void {
    var i: usize = 0;
    while (i < 100) : (i += 1) {
        var buf: [32]u8 = undefined;
        const line = std.fmt.bufPrint(&buf, "line {d}\n", .{i}) catch return;
        writer.writeAll(line) catch return;
    }
}

Server-Sent Events

fn handleEvents(_: std.mem.Allocator, _: std.Io, _: *const httpz.Request) httpz.Response {
    var resp: httpz.Response = .{ .status = .ok };
    resp.headers.append("Content-Type", "text/event-stream") catch {};
    resp.headers.append("Cache-Control", "no-cache") catch {};
    resp.auto_content_length = false;
    resp.stream_fn = sseStreamFn;
    return resp;
}

fn sseStreamFn(_: ?*anyopaque, writer: *std.Io.Writer) void {
    var i: usize = 0;
    while (i < 10) : (i += 1) {
        var buf: [64]u8 = undefined;
        const msg = std.fmt.bufPrint(&buf, "data: event {d}\n\n", .{i}) catch return;
        writer.writeAll(msg) catch return;
        writer.flush() catch return;
    }
}

Use stream_context to pass state to the stream function (Zig has no closures).

WebSocket

Return a 101 upgrade response and provide a WebSocket handler. The handler owns the connection loop.

Per-route (with Router)

.{ .method = .GET, .path = "/ws", .handler = handleWsUpgrade, .ws = .{ .handler = wsHandler } },

fn handleWsUpgrade(_: std.mem.Allocator, _: std.Io, request: *const httpz.Request) httpz.Response {
    return httpz.WebSocket.upgradeResponse(request) orelse
        httpz.Response.init(.bad_request, "text/plain", "WebSocket upgrade required");
}

fn wsHandler(conn: *httpz.WebSocket.Conn, _: *const httpz.Request) void {
    while (true) {
        const msg = conn.recv() catch break orelse break;
        switch (msg.opcode) {
            .text => conn.send(msg.payload) catch break,
            .binary => conn.sendBinary(msg.payload) catch break,
            else => {},
        }
    }
}

Global (without Router)

Set websocket_handler in the server config:

var server = httpz.Server.init(.{
    .port = 8080,
    .address = "127.0.0.1",
    .websocket_handler = wsHandler,
}, handler);

Then return WebSocket.upgradeResponse(request) from your handler to trigger the upgrade.

The Conn API: recv() !?Message, send([]const u8) !void, sendBinary([]const u8) !void, close(u16, []const u8) !void.

File Serving

Response.sendFile streams a file from disk using zero-copy I/O when available:

fn handleFile(_: std.mem.Allocator, _: std.Io, _: *const httpz.Request) httpz.Response {
    return httpz.Response.sendFile("/var/www/index.html", "text/html", 10 * 1024 * 1024);
}

The third argument is the maximum allowed file size in bytes (0 for unlimited). Returns 404 if the file doesn’t exist, 413 if it exceeds the limit.

HTTPS / TLS

Server

const tls = httpz.tls;

var auth = tls.config.CertKeyPair.fromFilePath(allocator, io, cert_dir, "cert.pem", "key.pem") catch return error.InvalidCertificate;
defer auth.deinit(allocator);

var server = httpz.Server.init(.{
    .port = 4433,
    .address = "127.0.0.1",
    .tls_config = .{
        .auth = &auth,
    },
}, handler);

Client

var client = httpz.Client.init(allocator, .{
    .host = "example.com",
    .port = 443,
    .tls_config = .{
        .host = "example.com",
        .root_ca = .system,
    },
});

HTTP/2

HTTP/2 is supported transparently — handlers use the same Request and Response API regardless of protocol version.

Automatic Negotiation

Over TLS, the server and client negotiate HTTP/2 via ALPN. No configuration is needed — if the peer supports h2, it is used automatically.

h2c (Cleartext HTTP/2)

On the server side, h2c is detected automatically via the HTTP/2 connection preface.

On the client side, enable h2c with h2_prior_knowledge:

var client = httpz.Client.init(allocator, .{
    .host = "localhost",
    .port = 8080,
    .h2_prior_knowledge = true,
});

Server Push

Handlers can push up to 4 additional resources per response. The server sends a PUSH_PROMISE and then serves the pushed resource on a reserved stream.

fn handler(_: std.mem.Allocator, _: std.Io, _: *const httpz.Request) httpz.Response {
    var resp = httpz.Response.init(.ok, "text/html", "<html>...</html>");
    resp.addPush("/style.css");
    resp.addPush("/app.js");
    return resp;
}

Push is only sent when the client has not disabled it via SETTINGS_ENABLE_PUSH=0.

Trailers

Responses can include trailing headers, sent after the body as a final HEADERS frame:

fn handler(allocator: std.mem.Allocator, _: std.Io, _: *const httpz.Request) httpz.Response {
    var resp = httpz.Response.init(.ok, "application/octet-stream", body);
    var trailers = httpz.Headers.init(allocator);
    trailers.append("checksum", "sha256=abc123") catch {};
    resp.trailers = trailers;
    return resp;
}

Protocol Details

Full RFC 9113 binary framing (all 10 frame types)
HPACK header compression with static/dynamic tables and Huffman coding
Per-stream and connection-level flow control
Concurrent stream limits (default 100)
DoS protection: rapid reset detection, settings timeout, header size limits

HTTP Client

const httpz = @import("httpz");
const Client = httpz.Client;

const url = Client.Url.parse("http://example.com/path").?;

var client = Client.init(allocator, .{
    .host = url.host,
    .port = url.port,
    .connection_timeout_s = 10,
    .read_timeout_s = 10,
});
defer client.deinit();

try client.connect(io);

var resp = try client.request(io, .GET, url.path, null, null);
defer resp.deinit(allocator);

request takes method, URI path, optional Headers, and optional body ([]const u8).

Server Configuration

All fields with their defaults:

httpz.Server.init(.{
    .port = 8080,
    .address = "127.0.0.1",
    .read_buffer_size = 8192,
    .write_buffer_size = 8192,
    .max_request_size = 1_048_576,       // 1 MiB max total request
    .max_header_size = 65536,            // 64 KiB max headers
    .keep_alive_timeout_s = 60,          // idle connection timeout
    .initial_read_timeout_s = 30,        // slowloris protection
    .max_connections = 512,              // 0 = unlimited
    .enable_trace = false,               // TRACE method (security risk)
    .enable_proxy = false,               // CONNECT proxy support
    .proxy = .{
        .allowed_ports = &.{443},
        .block_private_ips = true,
        .allowed_hosts = &.{},
    },
    .websocket_handler = null,           // global WebSocket handler
    .tls_config = null,                  // TLS for HTTPS
}, handler);

Building & Testing

Requires Zig 0.16+.

# Run all tests (unit + integration)
zig build test

# Run integration tests only
zig build test-integration

# Run tests with kcov coverage
zig build coverage

Examples:

zig build example_server_http
zig build example_server_https
zig build example_server_router
zig build example_server_streaming
zig build example_server_websocket
zig build example_client_http
zig build example_client_https

License

See LICENSE for details.

Install

install httpz.zig

Repository

License

Category

Networking

Author

allain

Dependencies

No explicit dependencies.

On this page

Features
Quick Start
Using as a Dependency
Routing
Middleware
Cookies
Streaming Responses
WebSocket
File Serving
HTTPS / TLS
HTTP/2
HTTP Client
Server Configuration
Building & Testing
License