libwebem

A lightweight, embeddable C++17 HTTP/HTTPS/WebSocket server library built on Boost.Asio.

Features

• HTTP/1.1 server with static file serving from a configurable document root
• HTTPS/TLS support via OpenSSL (optional, enabled at compile time)
• WebSocket support (RFC 6455) with multiple endpoint routing on different URL paths
• Session management with a pluggable session store interface (in-memory by default)
• Authentication — Login-form-based and HTTP Basic/Digest methods
• JWT token generation and validation (via jwt-cpp)
• GZip compression — dynamic, pre-compressed static files, or disabled
• ZIP archive file serving with optional password protection (optional, requires minizip)
• FastCGI support for PHP scripting (optional)
• Trusted networks — bypass authentication for configured IP ranges
• Pluggable logging interface (IWebServerLogger) — zero-overhead when no logger is provided
• Heartbeat callbacks for watchdog/health-monitor integration
• Virtual host support via configurable hostname checking
• Cross-platform — Linux, Windows, macOS, BSD, and embedded devices

Dependencies

Library	Required	Purpose	Resolution
Boost 1.69+	Yes	Async networking, threading	System (find_package)
zlib	Optional	GZip compression (WEBEM_ENABLE_GZIP)	System (find_package)
jsoncpp	Yes	JSON parsing for WebSocket protocol messages	find_package or auto-fetched via FetchContent
jwt-cpp (header-only)	Yes	JWT token authentication	find_package or auto-fetched via FetchContent
OpenSSL	Yes	HTTPS/TLS support (WEBEM_ENABLE_SSL) and JWT signing	System (find_package)
minizip	Optional	ZIP archive file serving (WEBEM_ENABLE_ZIP)	System only; ZIP disabled if not found

Building

CMake (Linux / macOS / Windows)

mkdir build && cd build
cmake ../webserver
make -j$(nproc)

Common CMake options

Option	Default	Description
WEBEM_ENABLE_SSL	ON	Enable HTTPS/TLS support (requires OpenSSL)
WEBEM_ENABLE_ZIP	ON	Enable ZIP archive serving (requires minizip)
WEBEM_ENABLE_FASTCGI	ON	Enable FastCGI/PHP support
WEBEM_ENABLE_GZIP	ON	Enable GZip compression (requires zlib)
WEBEM_BUILD_EXAMPLES	OFF	Build the example applications

Note: jsoncpp and jwt-cpp are resolved automatically — via find_package if available on the system, or fetched and built from source via CMake FetchContent as a fallback. No manual path variables are needed.

Build with examples

cmake ../webserver -DWEBEM_BUILD_EXAMPLES=ON
make -j$(nproc)

Visual Studio (Windows)

For Windows builds, use CMake with vcpkg (recommended) or open webem.vcxproj directly in Visual Studio:

vcpkg install boost jsoncpp jwt-cpp openssl zlib minizip
cmake -S webserver -B build -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=[vcpkg-root]/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake
cmake --build build

Using as a CMake subdirectory (recommended)

add_subdirectory(webserver)
target_link_libraries(myapp PRIVATE webem::webem)

Using as an installed package

find_package(webem REQUIRED)
target_link_libraries(myapp PRIVATE webem::webem)

Quick Start

#include <libwebem/cWebem.h>
#include <iostream>

int main() {
    http::server::server_settings settings;
    settings.listening_address = "::";   // all interfaces, IPv4 + IPv6
    settings.listening_port    = "8080";

    http::server::cWebem server(settings, "./www");

    // Register a JSON API endpoint
    server.RegisterPageCode("/api/hello",
        [](http::server::WebEmSession& session,
           const http::server::request& req,
           http::server::reply& rep) {
            rep.status  = http::server::reply::ok;
            rep.content = R"({"message":"Hello, World!"})";
            http::server::reply::add_header(&rep, "Content-Type", "application/json");
        });

    std::cout << "Listening on http://localhost:8080\n";
    server.Run();  // blocks until Stop() is called
}

See the examples/ directory for complete, buildable applications covering HTTPS, WebSocket endpoints, authentication, and custom logging.

Documentation

• Integration guide — CMake integration, core concepts, and API reference
• examples/ — Five progressive example applications

License

BSD 3-Clause — see LICENSE file.

Portions based on the Boost.Asio HTTP server example by Christopher M. Kohlhoff (Boost Software License 1.0).

Build Status

Status	Operating system
	Linux x86_64