Getting Started ​
httpx.zig is a modern, feature-rich HTTP library for the Zig programming language. It is designed to be production-ready, supporting robust client and server implementations with focus on performance and developer experience.
Features ​
- Protocol Support: Full HTTP/1.1 client/server, HTTP/2 (HPACK compression, stream multiplexing, flow control), and HTTP/3 (QPACK compression, QUIC transport framing).
- Cross-Platform: Works on Linux, Windows, macOS, and FreeBSD with x86_64, aarch64, and i386 architectures.
- Client:
- Connection pooling and keep-alive.
- Automatic retries with exponential backoff.
- Request/Response interceptors.
- Cookie management.
- Server:
- Express.js inspired routing.
- Middleware architecture.
- Static file serving.
- JSON helpers.
- Concurrency: Built-in thread pool and async primitives (
all,any,race). - Security: TLS/SSL support (via
std.cryptoor system libraries) with custom CA handling.
Custom HTTP/2 & HTTP/3 Implementation
Zig's standard library does not provide HTTP/2, HTTP/3, or QUIC support. httpx.zig implements these protocols entirely from scratch, including HPACK (RFC 7541), QPACK (RFC 9204), HTTP/2 framing (RFC 7540), and QUIC transport (RFC 9000).
Requirements ​
- Zig Version: 0.15.0 or later (tested on 0.15.2)
- Operating System: Windows, Linux, macOS, or FreeBSD
Platform Support ​
Operating Systems ​
| Platform | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Linux | ✅ Full | All major distributions (Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Arch, etc.) |
| Windows | ✅ Full | Windows 10/11, Server 2019+ |
| macOS | ✅ Full | macOS 11+ (Big Sur and later) |
| FreeBSD | ✅ Full | FreeBSD 13+ |
Architectures ​
| Architecture | Linux | Windows | macOS | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x86_64 (64-bit) | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | Primary development target |
| aarch64 (ARM64) | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | Apple Silicon, AWS Graviton, Raspberry Pi 4+ |
| i386 (32-bit) | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | Legacy x86 support |
| arm (32-bit) | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | Raspberry Pi 3 and earlier, ARM Cortex |
Cross-Compilation ​
Zig's built-in cross-compilation makes it easy to build for any target:
bash
# Build for Linux x86_64
zig build -Dtarget=x86_64-linux
# Build for Linux ARM64
zig build -Dtarget=aarch64-linux
# Build for Windows x86_64
zig build -Dtarget=x86_64-windows
# Build for Windows i386 (32-bit)
zig build -Dtarget=i386-windows
# Build for macOS ARM64 (Apple Silicon)
zig build -Dtarget=aarch64-macos
# Build for macOS x86_64 (Intel)
zig build -Dtarget=x86_64-macosNext Steps ​
- Check out the Installation guide to add
httpx.zigto your project. - Learn how to make Basic Requests with the client.
- Set up a simple Server.
- Explore HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 protocol support.