https://github.com/kaliumhexacyanoferrat/genhttp
Lightweight web server written in pure C# with few dependencies to 3rd-party libraries.
https://github.com/kaliumhexacyanoferrat/genhttp
c-sharp csharp dotnet dotnet8 dotnet9 embedded embedded-server http http-rest-api http-server net8 net9 nuget openapi server web-server webserver webservices websockets
Last synced: 6 months ago
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Lightweight web server written in pure C# with few dependencies to 3rd-party libraries.
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/kaliumhexacyanoferrat/genhttp
- Owner: Kaliumhexacyanoferrat
- License: mit
- Created: 2019-03-15T17:06:18.000Z (almost 7 years ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2025-07-26T16:57:42.000Z (6 months ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-08-01T00:31:21.586Z (6 months ago)
- Topics: c-sharp, csharp, dotnet, dotnet8, dotnet9, embedded, embedded-server, http, http-rest-api, http-server, net8, net9, nuget, openapi, server, web-server, webserver, webservices, websockets
- Language: C#
- Homepage: https://genhttp.org
- Size: 11.7 MB
- Stars: 231
- Watchers: 2
- Forks: 36
- Open Issues: 38
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- Contributing: CONTRIBUTING.md
- Funding: .github/FUNDING.yml
- License: LICENSE
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
# GenHTTP Webserver
GenHTTP is a lightweight web server written in pure C# with a strong focus on developer experience. The main
purpose of this project is to quickly create web services written in .NET 8 / 9, allowing developers to concentrate on
the functionality rather than on messing around with configuration files or complex concepts.
[](https://github.com/Kaliumhexacyanoferrat/GenHTTP/actions/workflows/ci.yml) [](https://sonarcloud.io/dashboard?id=GenHTTP) [](https://www.nuget.org/packages/GenHTTP.Core/) [](https://discord.gg/cW6tPJS7nt) [](https://discord.gg/GwtDyUpkpV)
## 🚀 Features
- Setup new webservices in a couple of minutes using [project templates](https://genhttp.org/documentation/content/templates/)
- Supports [current standards](https://genhttp.org/features/) such as Open API, Websockets, Server Sent Events or JWT authentication
- Embed web services into a new or already existing console, service, WPF, WinForms, WinUI, MAUI, Unity or Uno application
- Projects are fully described in code - no configuration files needed, no magical behavior you need to learn
- Optionally supports [Kestrel](https://genhttp.org/documentation/server/engines/) as an underlying HTTP engine (enables HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 via QUIC)
- [Optimized](https://genhttp.org/features/) out of the box, small memory and storage [footprint](https://genhttp.org/features/#footprint)
- Grade A+ security level according to SSL Labs
## 📖 Getting Started
This section shows how to create a new project from scratch using project templates and how to extend your existing
application by embedding the GenHTTP engine.
> [!NOTE]
> This is a brief overview to get you running. You might want to have a look at
> the [tutorials](https://genhttp.org/documentation/tutorials/) for detailed step-by-step guides.
### New Project
Project templates can be used to create apps for typical use cases with little effort. After installing
the [.NET SDK](https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download) and the templates via `dotnet new -i GenHTTP.Templates` in
the terminal, the templates are available via the console or directly in Visual Studio:
To create a project by using the terminal, create a new folder for your app and use one of the following commands:
| Template | Command | Documentation |
|-------------------------------|---------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| REST Webservice | `dotnet new genhttp-webservice` | [Webservices](https://genhttp.org/documentation/content/frameworks/webservices/) |
| REST Webservice (single file) | `dotnet new genhttp-webservice-minimal` | [Functional Handlers](https://genhttp.org/documentation/content/frameworks/functional/) |
| REST Webservice (controllers) | `dotnet new genhttp-webservice-controllers` | [Controllers](https://genhttp.org/documentation/content/frameworks/controllers/) |
| Websocket | `dotnet new genhttp-websocket` | [Websockets](https://genhttp.org/documentation/content/frameworks/websockets/) |
| Server Sent Events (SSE) | `dotnet new genhttp-sse` | [Server Sent Events](https://genhttp.org/documentation/content/handlers/server-sent-events/) |
| Website (Static HTML) | `dotnet new genhttp-website-static` | [Statics Websites](https://genhttp.org/documentation/content/frameworks/static-websites/) |
| Single Page Application (SPA) | `dotnet new genhttp-spa` | [Single Page Applications (SPA)](https://genhttp.org/documentation/content/frameworks/single-page-applications/) |
After the project has been created, you can run it via `dotnet run` and access the server via http://localhost:8080.
### Extending Existing Apps
If you would like to extend an existing .NET application, just add a nuget reference to the `GenHTTP.Core` nuget package. You can then spawn a new server instance with just a few lines of code:
```csharp
var content = Content.From(Resource.FromString("Hello World!"));
var host = await Host.Create()
.Handler(content)
.Defaults()
.StartAsync(); // or .RunAsync() to block until the application is shut down
```
When you run this sample it can be accessed in the browser via http://localhost:8080.
### Next Steps
The [documentation](https://genhttp.org/documentation/) provides a step-by-step starting guide as well as additional
information on how to
implement [webservices](https://genhttp.org/documentation/content/frameworks/webservices/), [minimal webservices](https://genhttp.org/documentation/content/frameworks/functional/), [controller-based webservices](https://genhttp.org/documentation/content/frameworks/controllers/), [static websites](https://genhttp.org/documentation/content/frameworks/static-websites/),
or [single page applications](https://genhttp.org/documentation/content/frameworks/single-page-applications/) and how
to [host your application](https://genhttp.org/documentation/hosting/) via Docker.
If you encounter issues implementing your application, feel free
to [join our Discord community](https://discord.gg/GwtDyUpkpV) to get help.
## ⚙️ Building the Server
To build the server from source, clone this repository and run the playground project launcher for .NET 9:
```sh
git clone https://github.com/Kaliumhexacyanoferrat/GenHTTP.git
cd ./GenHTTP/Playground
dotnet run
```
This will build the playground project launcher with all the server dependencies and launch the server process on port 8080. You can access the playground in the browser via http://localhost:8080.
## 🙌 Contributing
Writing a general purpose web application server is a tremendous task, so any contribution is very welcome. Besides
extending the server core, you might want to
- Leave a star on GitHub
- Extend the content capabilities of the server (e.g. by adding a new serialization format or rendering engine)
- Refine our [project templates](https://genhttp.org/documentation/content/templates/)
- Perform code reviews
- Analyze the performance or security of the server
- Clarfify and extend our tests
- Improve the documentation on the [website](https://genhttp.org/) or in code
If you would like to contribute, please also have a look at
the [contribution guidelines](https://github.com/Kaliumhexacyanoferrat/GenHTTP/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md) and
the [good first issues](https://github.com/Kaliumhexacyanoferrat/GenHTTP/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3A%22good+first+issue%22).
## 🏺 History
The web server was originally developed in 2008 to run on a netbook with an Intel Atom processor. Both IIS and Apache
failed to render dynamic pages on such a slow CPU back then. The original project description can still be found
on [archive.org](https://web.archive.org/web/20100706192130/http://gene.homeip.net/GenHTTPWebsite/). In 2019, the source
code has been moved to GitHub with the goal to rework the project to be able to run dockerized web applications written
in C#. In 2024 the focus has shifted towards API development, dropping support for generating graphical web applications.
## 📌 Links
- Related to
GenHTTP: [Templates](https://github.com/Kaliumhexacyanoferrat/GenHTTP.Templates) | [Website](https://github.com/Kaliumhexacyanoferrat/GenHTTP.Website)
- Reference
projects: [GenHTTP Gateway](https://github.com/Kaliumhexacyanoferrat/GenHTTP.Gateway) | [MockH](https://github.com/Kaliumhexacyanoferrat/MockH)
- Similar
projects: [Wired.IO](https://github.com/MDA2AV/Wired.IO) | [EmbedIO](https://github.com/unosquare/embedio) | [NetCoreServer](https://github.com/chronoxor/NetCoreServer) | [Watson Webserver](https://github.com/jchristn/WatsonWebserver) | [SimpleW](https://github.com/stratdev3/SimpleW)
## 🙏 Thanks
- Powered by [.NET](https://github.com/dotnet/core)
- Modules implemented with [NSwag](https://github.com/RicoSuter/NSwag) (Open API), [Fleck](https://github.com/statianzo/Fleck) (WebSockets)