ExpressCpp

Fast, unopinionated, minimalist web framework for C++ Perfect for building REST APIs

Design goals

ExpressCpp aims to be for C++ the same as express for Node.JS including its ecosystem of middlewares and extensions.

Express and Node.JS:

const express = require('express');
const app = express();
app.get('/', (req, res) => res.send('Hello World!'));
const port = 3000;
app.listen(port, () => console.log(`Listening on port ${port}!`));

ExpressCpp:

#include "expresscpp/expresscpp.hpp"
int main() {
  auto expresscpp = std::make_shared<expresscpp::ExpressCpp>();
  expresscpp->Get("/", [](auto /*req*/, auto res) { res->Send("hello world!"); });
  constexpr uint16_t port = 3000u;
  expresscpp->Listen(port,[=](auto /*ec*/) { std::cout << "Listening on port " << port << std::endl; }).Run();
  return 0;
}

Using me

conan

conan remote add expresscpp https://api.bintray.com/conan/expresscpp/expresscpp/

add this to you conan file:

expresscpp/0.11.0@expresscpp/testing

this to your cmake:

find_package(expresscpp)
# ...
target_link_libraries(my_target PRIVATE expresscpp::expresscpp)

vendoring as subdirectory

add_subdirectory(thirdparty/expresscpp)
# ...
target_link_libraries(my_target PRIVATE expresscpp::expresscpp)

installing and using find_package

git clone https://gitlab.com/expresscpp/expresscpp.git
cd expresscpp
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make -j
sudo make install

find_package(expresscpp)
# ...
target_link_libraries(my_target PRIVATE expresscpp::expresscpp)

Build instructions (e.g. ubuntu)

Dependencies

• boost[asio, beast, uuid]
• nlohmann/json
• libfmt
• gtest (optional)

Conan

sudo apt install -y cmake gcc-9 g++-9 python3-pip

# conan for dependency management
sudo pip3 install conan --upgrade

mkdir -p build
cd build
cmake .. -DEXPRESSCPP_USE_CONAN_DEPENDENCIES=ON
cmake --build . -j

Debian

sudo apt install -y cmake gcc-9 g++-9

# get debian dependencies
sudo apt install -y libboost-all-dev nlohmann-json3-dev libfmt-dev libgtest-dev

mkdir -p build
cd build
cmake ..
cmake --build . -j

Features/Examples

name	file
url query params	./example/query_params.cpp
url params	./example/url_params.cpp
auth-like middleware	./example/middleware_auth_like.cpp
log-like middleware	./example/middleware_logger_like.cpp
error handler	./example/error_handler.cpp
variadic middlewares	./example/multiple_handlers.cpp
subrouting	./example/router.cpp

Official Middlewares

name	file
static file provider	./example/serve_static.cpp
favicon provider(embedded)	./example/favicon.cpp

• expresscpp-logger -> TODO
• expresscpp-grpc-proxy -> TODO
• expresscpp-reverse-proxy -> TODO
• expresscpp-basic-auth -> TODO

Similiar projects

name	repo
BeastHttp	https://github.com/0xdead4ead/BeastHttp/
crow (unmaintained)	https://github.com/ipkn/crow
Simple-Web-Server	https://gitlab.com/eidheim/Simple-Web-Server
restinio	https://github.com/stiffstream/restinio
served	https://github.com/meltwater/served