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* Add Server::CustomRoute() for HTTP methods outside the built-in set parse_request_line validates the request method against a fixed whitelist and rejects anything else with 400 before routing runs. That blocks WebDAV, where PROPFIND, PROPPATCH, MKCOL, COPY, MOVE, LOCK and UNLOCK are ordinary methods defined by RFC 4918, and it blocks extension methods such as UPnP's SUBSCRIBE. The need has been open since #847. Registering a handler is now what makes the server accept a method: svr.CustomRoute("PROPFIND", "/dav/:id", handler); Because custom methods go through the normal dispatch path, patterns work the way they do for Get() and friends, and the request body is available in req.body. Serving these methods through set_pre_routing_handler was never enough: the body has not been read at that point, so PROPPATCH and LOCK, which require one, could not be implemented at all. A HandlerWithContentReader overload is available too. The content reader gate in routing() also fires when a custom method carries no body, matching what expect_content() does unconditionally for POST/PUT/PATCH/DELETE, so a body-less PROPFIND (RFC 4918 treats one as allprop) reaches its handler instead of falling through to 404. Method names are validated as RFC 9110 tokens, and the ten built-in methods are refused. Seven of them are dispatched by the if/else chain in routing() before the custom tables are consulted, so a route registered for one could never fire; CONNECT, TRACE and PRI carry protocol-level meaning this library does not route. A refused registration makes is_valid() return false, so listen() fails rather than starting a server holding a handler that would never run. This is also why SSLServer::is_valid() now chains to Server::is_valid() instead of only checking ctx_. Servers that never call CustomRoute() keep the previous per-request cost: the built-in method set is checked first and short-circuits, and the custom lookup returns early on an empty map. * Add cookbook recipe for custom HTTP methods The CustomRoute() docs were a section inside S01, which pushed that page to 90 lines, the longest in the cookbook, and mixed a separate feature into a page about registering GET/POST/PUT/DELETE handlers. Move the section into its own recipe and give it room for the part that was missing: the OPTIONS handler returning DAV: and Allow, which WebDAV clients probe for before anything else. S01 goes back to 68 lines and keeps a pointer to the new page. The recipe is titled after the API rather than after WebDAV, and says outright that generating the 207 Multi-Status XML, interpreting Depth and managing locks are the reader's job. Routing the method is all the library does. S23 takes order 42, so the TLS, SSE and WebSocket recipes shift to 43-57. That only moves the sort key. Filenames, the T01/E01/W01 labels, the published URLs and every cross-reference are untouched.
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title, order, status
| title | order | status |
|---|---|---|
| T03. Start an SSL/TLS Server | 45 | draft |
To stand up an HTTPS server, use httplib::SSLServer instead of httplib::Server. Pass a certificate and private key to the constructor, and you get back something that works exactly like Server.
Basic usage
#define CPPHTTPLIB_OPENSSL_SUPPORT
#include <httplib.h>
int main() {
httplib::SSLServer svr("cert.pem", "key.pem");
svr.Get("/", [](const auto &req, auto &res) {
res.set_content("hello over TLS", "text/plain");
});
svr.listen("0.0.0.0", 443);
}
Pass the server certificate (PEM format) and private key file paths to the constructor. That's all you need for a TLS-enabled server. Registering handlers and calling listen() work the same as with Server.
Password-protected private keys
The fifth argument is the private key password.
httplib::SSLServer svr("cert.pem", "key.pem",
nullptr, nullptr, "password");
The third and fourth arguments are for client certificate verification (mTLS, see T04. Configure mTLS). For now, pass nullptr.
Load PEM data from memory
When you want to load certs from memory instead of files, use the PemMemory struct.
httplib::SSLServer::PemMemory pem{};
pem.cert_pem = cert_data.data();
pem.cert_pem_len = cert_data.size();
pem.key_pem = key_data.data();
pem.key_pem_len = key_data.size();
httplib::SSLServer svr(pem);
Handy when you pull certificates from environment variables or a secrets manager.
Rotate certificates
Before a certificate expires, you may want to swap it out without restarting the server. That's what update_certs_pem() is for.
svr.update_certs_pem(new_cert_pem, new_key_pem);
Existing connections keep using the old cert; new connections use the new one.
Generating a test certificate
For a throwaway self-signed cert, use the openssl CLI.
openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:2048 -days 365 -nodes \
-keyout key.pem -out cert.pem -subj "/CN=localhost"
In production, use certificates from Let's Encrypt or your internal CA.
Warning: Binding an HTTPS server to port 443 requires root. For a safe way to do that, see the privilege-drop pattern in S18. Control startup order with
listen_after_bind.
For mutual TLS (client certificates), see T04. Configure mTLS.