HTTP Servers

HTTP servers

std::net::http::server turns accepted HTTP requests into values. A server owns its listening socket; each Incoming request owns its request/response lifecycle.

Define a handler

Defining this function does not start a service. A caller can invoke it with an explicit port when ready to listen.

import std::net::http::server
fn serve_status($port: Integer): () | ErrorValue
{
    let $server = std::net::http::server::listen "127.0.0.1" $port
    try
    {
        $server.serve fn ($request: std::net::http::server::Incoming): () | ErrorValue
        {
            $request.respond (std::net::http::server::text_response "available")
        } 1
    }
    finally { $server.close }
}

The second argument to serve bounds the number of handled requests here. accept offers manual control instead. address reports the selected endpoint, including an operating-system-assigned port when listening on zero.

Incoming requests expose method, path, and headers. Read a request body once through a byte Reader, an exact document, or read_as Type. Respond with a Response, or helpers such as text_response and json_response.

Close an incoming operation if abandoning it before completion. Keep handler errors explicit: a transport failure and a deliberately chosen HTTP error status are different decisions.

Shelly's server and client share Bytes and I/O ownership rules. For a reusable service, define request limits, error policy, and shutdown behavior alongside the handler rather than hiding those choices in example defaults.

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Related: HTTP clients · Networking · JSON