Restbed

February 22, 2026 · View on GitHub

Restbed is a robust, enterprise-class framework for building server-side applications that demand secure, reliable, and scalable HTTP communication. It provides a flexible foundation for modeling complex business processes and is engineered to support deployment across mobile, tablet, desktop, and embedded environments.

It's akin to embedding NGINX into your companies own product line. -- Solutions Architect, Bellrock Technology

Features

Feature	Description
WebSockets	Full-duplex communication channels over a single TCP connection.
Server-Sent Events	Server-Sent Events enables efficient server-to-client streaming of text-based event data—e.g., real-time notifications or updates generated on the server.
Comet	Long polling model to allow long-held HTTP requests for pushing data from the server to client.
SSL/TLS	Secure over the wire communication allowing you to transmit private data online.
HTTP Pipelining	A technique allowing multiple HTTP requests to be sent on a single TCP connection without waiting for the corresponding responses.
Path Parameters	Annotate URIs with custom path parameters such as resource keys, revisions, etc...
Query Parameters	Automated query parameter parsing.
Logging	Customise how and where log entries are created.
Multi-Path Resources	Give a resource multiple paths for improved readability.
Customisable Methods	Add your own custom HTTP methods.
Compression	Adaptability to address any form of compression GZip, Deflate, etc...
Encoding	Adaptability to address any form of encoding UTF-32, ASCII, etc...
IPv4/IPv6	Internet Protocol Version 4/6 Network Support.
Architecture	Asynchronous single or multi-threaded architecture, capable of addressing the C10K problem.
Converters	Built-in Path, Query, and Header conversions for primary data-types.
Authentication	Separate Service and/or Resource level authentication.
Error Handling	Separate Service and/or Resource level error handling.
Address Binding	Bind HTTP and/or HTTPS services to separate IP addresses.
Signal Handling	Capture OS generated process signals.
Documentation	High-quality documentation covering the architecture and API.
Compliance	Flexibility to address HTTP 1.0/1.1+ compliance.
Mature	Secure, Stable, and extensively tested since 2013.
Community	Active, vibrant and energetic open source community.
Support	Commercial support is available from Corvusoft.

Example

#include <memory>
#include <cstdlib>
#include <restbed>

using namespace std;
using namespace restbed;

void post_method_handler( const shared_ptr< Session > session )
{
    const auto request = session->get_request( );

    int content_length = request->get_header( "Content-Length", 0 );

    session->fetch( content_length, [ ]( const shared_ptr< Session > session, const Bytes & body )
    {
        fprintf( stdout, "%.*s\n", ( int ) body.size( ), body.data( ) );
        session->close( OK, "Hello, World!", { { "Content-Length", "13" } } );
    } );
}

int main( const int, const char** )
{
    auto resource = make_shared< Resource >( );
    resource->set_path( "/resource" );
    resource->set_method_handler( "POST", post_method_handler );

    auto settings = make_shared< Settings >( );
    settings->set_port( 1984 );
    settings->set_default_header( "Connection", "close" );

    Service service;
    service.publish( resource );
    service.start( settings );

    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

More in-depth examples can be found in the documentation.

License

The Restbed framework is dual licensed; See LICENSE for full details.

Support

Please contact sales@corvusoft.com, for support and licensing options including bespoke software development, testing, design consultation, training, mentoring and code review.

Please submit all enhancements, proposals, and defects via the issue tracker; Alternatively ask a question on StackOverflow tagged #restbed.

Prerequisites

Catch2 is a modern, C++-native, test framework for unit-tests, TDD, BDD, and benchmarks.

git clone https://github.com/catchorg/Catch2.git
cd Catch2
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make install

Asio is a cross-platform C++ library for network and low-level I/O programming that provides developers with a consistent asynchronous model using a modern C++ approach.

git clone https://github.com/chriskohlhoff/asio
cd asio/asio
./autogen.sh
./configure
make install

OpenSSL is a robust, commercial-grade, full-featured Open Source Toolkit for the TLS (formerly SSL), DTLS and QUIC protocols.

git clone https://github.com/openssl/openssl.git
cd openssl
./config
make install

Build

git clone https://github.com/corvusoft/restbed.git
cd restbed
mkdir restbed/build
cd restbed/build
cmake [-DBUILD_SSL=NO] [-DBUILD_TESTS=NO] ..
make install
make test

You will now find all required components installed in the distribution sub-folder.

Build Options

Option	Description	Default
BUILD_SSL	Enable SSL/TLS support.	Enabled
BUILD_IPC	Enable Unix domain sockets.	Disabled
BUILD_TESTS	Build project test suites.	Enabled
BUILD_DEVEL_PACKAGE	Install headers into CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX.	Enabled
BUILD_SHARED_LIBRARY	Produce a shared build of restbed.	Enabled
BUILD_STATIC_LIBRARY	Produce a static build of restbed.	Enabled

Windows Build Instructions

Prerequisites: Visual Studio >= 2022, CMake, GIT.

Using the x64 Native Tools Command Prompt proceed with the following build instructions.

git clone --recursive https://github.com/corvusoft/restbed.git

cd restbed
vcpkg install

mkdir build
cd build

cmake -G "Visual Studio 18 2026" [-DBUILD_SSL=NO] [-DBUILD_TESTS=NO] ..
cmake --build . --target ALL_BUILD --config Release
ctest

If you selected to use the static OpenSSL build (no-shared), you'll need to include additional dependencies when linking your application code; See OpenSSL project for futher details.

target_link_libraries( my_microservice restbed-static.lib ws2_32.lib advapi32.lib crypt32.lib gdi32.lib user32.lib )

For Microsoft Visual Studio 14 2015 instructions, and further details, please see feature #17.

Documentation

This codebase is intended to be as self documenting as possible. We have supplied many examples and test suites to help aid developers.

You can locate the latest design and API documentation here.

Minimum Requirements

Resource	Requirement
Compiler	C++23 compliant or above
OS	BSD, Linux, Mac OSX, Windows

Contact

Method	Description
support@corvusoft.com	Support related queries.
sales@corvusoft.com	Sale related queries.