A lightweight, educational HTTP server implementation written in Rust. This project serves as a learning playground for understanding HTTP protocol implementation, Rust systems programming, and concurrent server architecture.
rust-simple-httpd is a from-scratch HTTP/1.1 server implementation that demonstrates core concepts of web server development in Rust. It features a multi-threaded architecture with worker pools, configurable logging, signal handling, and performance profiling capabilities.
- HTTP/1.1 Protocol Support: Basic HTTP request/response handling
- Multi-threaded Architecture: Worker pool for handling concurrent connections
- Configurable Logging: Multiple log levels with optional colored output
- Signal Handling: Graceful shutdown on SIGINT/SIGQUIT
- Performance Profiling: Built-in flamegraph generation using
pprof - Environment Configuration: Configuration via environment variables
- Static File Serving: Basic static file serving capabilities
- Connection Management: TCP connection handling with timeouts
- Comprehensive Testing: Unit and integration tests included
The server is built with a modular architecture:
- Main Thread: Handles initialization, configuration, and signal processing
- TCP Listener Thread: Accepts incoming connections
- Worker Pool: Processes HTTP requests concurrently
- Connection Handler: Manages connection lifecycle and message passing
- Rust 2024 edition (latest stable recommended)
- Cargo package manager
git clone https://git.compilenix.org/CompileNix/rust-simple-httpd
cd rust-simple-httpd
cargo build
# Build with optimizations
cargo build --release# Run with default configuration
cargo run
# Run with custom bind address
BIND_ADDR=0.0.0.0:3000 cargo run
# Run with debug logging
RUST_LOG=debug cargo runThe server will start on 127.0.0.1:8000 by default and serve a simple "Hello from Rust" HTML page.
The server can be configured using environment variables:
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
BIND_ADDR |
127.0.0.1:8000 |
Server bind address and port |
RUST_LOG |
trace |
Log level (trace, debug, info, warn, error) |
WORKERS |
0 |
Number of worker threads (0 = auto-detect) |
BUFFER_CLIENT_RECEIVE_SIZE |
32 |
Client receive buffer size |
BUFFER_READ_CLIENT_TIMEOUT |
3600s |
Client read timeout |
BUFFER_WRITE_CLIENT_TIMEOUT |
3600s |
Client write timeout |
REQUEST_HEADER_LIMIT_BYTES |
4096 |
Maximum request header size |
COLORED_OUTPUT |
true |
Enable colored log output |
COLORED_OUTPUT_FORCED |
false |
Force colored output even in non-TTY |
# Start server on all interfaces with info logging
BIND_ADDR=0.0.0.0:8080 RUST_LOG=info WORKERS=4 cargo runThe project includes comprehensive tests for various components:
# Run all tests
cargo test
# Run tests with output
cargo test -- --nocapture
# Run specific test
cargo test http_server_simple_valid_request
# Run tests with nextest (if installed)
cargo nextest run- Unit Tests: Individual component testing
- Integration Tests: End-to-end HTTP request/response testing
- Configuration Tests: Environment variable parsing and validation
The project uses Cargo features for optional functionality:
color- Terminal color output supporthumantime- Human-readable time formattinglog-*- Various logging levels (error, warn, info, verb, debug, trace)profiling- Performance profiling with flamegraph generation
# Build without color support
cargo build --no-default-features
# Build with only error logging
cargo build --no-default-features --features log-error
# Build with profiling enabled
cargo build --features profiling
# Build with all features
cargo build --all-features# Simple GET request
curl http://127.0.0.1:8000/
# Request with custom headers
curl -H "User-Agent: MyClient/1.0" http://127.0.0.1:8000/
# POST request with data
curl -X POST -d "Hello, Server!" http://127.0.0.1:8000/The project includes Bruno API collection files in the rust-simple-httpd/ directory for testing:
# Install Bruno (if not already installed)
npm install -g @usebruno/cli
cd bruno
# Run the included API tests
bru run