chunky.hpp is a C++ header that provides wrappers for Boost Asio streams for creating embedded HTTP(S) servers.

chunky was created primarily to provide an HTML5 interface to a C++ application (e.g. a control panel); its features for this purpose include chunked transfer and WebSocket hand-off. It is not recommended for handling public internet traffic because it is not hardened against denial of service attacks.

chunky is developed by Shoestring Research, LLC and is available under the Apache License Version 2.0.

chunky requires a C++11 compiler and standard library. It relies heavily on Boost headers, and linking with the Boost System library is always required for applications using chunky.

In addition, the chunky unit tests require linking with Boost Log, Boost Test, and libcurl. All samples require linking with Boost Date/Time and Boost Log, and the TLS and WebSocket samples additionally require OpenSSL.

Here is a minimal program that creates an HTTP server on port 8800:

#include "chunky.hpp"

int main() {
   boost::asio::io_service io;
   auto server = chunky::SimpleHTTPServer::create(io);

   server->set_handler("/", [](const std::shared_ptr<chunky::HTTP>& http) {
         http->response_status() = 200;
         http->response_header("Content-Type") = "text/html";
         boost::asio::write(*http, boost::asio::buffer(std::string("Hello, World!")));
         http->finish();
      });

   using boost::asio::ip::tcp;
   server->listen(tcp::endpoint(tcp::v4(), 8800));

   io.run();
   return 0;
}

All the example programs serve requests for 1 minute, then exit when all open connections are closed. Note that specific web browsers may keep idle connections open for several minutes.

This example program demonstrates:

• Adding multiple handlers to an embedded server.
• Adding a logging callback.
• Listening on IPv4 and IPv6 interfaces.
• Using boost::asio synchronous and asynchronous I/O for HTTP bodies.
• Provisional 100 Continue response.
• 404 Not Found response.

This example program demonstrates HTTP over TLS. It requires a certificate and private key in a file named server.pem. For testing convenience, a self-signed server.pem is provided in this distribution but please note that connecting clients will likely complain about an untrusted certificate that does not provide any real security.

This example program includes an implementation of the WebSocket data transfer protocol and demonstrates how to use chunky to handle the WebSocket handshake before handing off the stream for data transfer.