Monkey HTTP Server

Monkey is a lightweight HTTP server for Linux written in C. It keeps the core small, favors predictable resource usage, and exposes a plugin-oriented architecture that works both as a standalone web server and as a reusable runtime foundation for HTTP-facing components.

The repository ships the monkey executable, the shared runtime in mk_core/, the HTTP server implementation in mk_server/, optional plugins, test targets, fuzzing entrypoints, and the default configuration and site assets used by local builds.

Why Monkey

• Small C codebase with a focused HTTP/1.1 server implementation
• Event-driven scheduler with worker threads
• Virtual hosts, keepalive, range requests, and static file serving
• Optional plugins for TLS, CGI, FastCGI, logging, auth, shell access, and directory listing
• Build-time feature switches through CMake instead of a large external stack
• Suitable for direct server use or embedding-oriented integration work

Quick Start

Requirements:

• Linux
• CMake 3.20 or newer
• A C compiler with GNU99 support
• POSIX threads

Build:

cmake -S . -B build
cmake --build build

Run from the source tree with the bundled configuration:

./build/bin/monkey -c conf

Serve a directory without editing config files:

./build/bin/monkey -o htdocs

The generated binary is:

build/bin/monkey

Build Options

Useful CMake toggles from the current build system:

• MK_TLS=On|Off enable or disable TLS support
• MK_TLS_BACKEND=auto|openssl|mbedtls choose the TLS backend
• MK_PLUGIN_CGI=On
• MK_PLUGIN_FASTCGI=On
• MK_PLUGIN_LOGGER=On
• MK_PLUGIN_CHEETAH=On
• MK_TESTS=On build native test targets
• MK_HTTP2=On enable in-development HTTP/2 code paths
• MK_DEBUG=On build with debug symbols

Example:

cmake -S . -B build \
  -DMK_TESTS=On \
  -DMK_PLUGIN_LOGGER=On \
  -DMK_TLS=On
cmake --build build

Runtime Notes

Common command-line options:

• -c, --configdir set the configuration directory
• -s, --serverconf choose the main server config file
• -p, --port override the listen port
• -w, --workers override the worker count
• -D, --daemon run in the background
• --https enable HTTPS on configured listeners
• -b, --build print build information
• -h, --help show the full command reference

Configuration templates live under conf/. The default static site content for local runs lives under htdocs/.

Repository Layout

• mk_core/ core utilities, memory, events, files, strings, and threading
• mk_server/ HTTP server, scheduler, request lifecycle, headers, streams, virtual hosts, and plugin integration
• mk_bin/ executable entrypoints and signal handling
• include/monkey/ public and internal headers
• plugins/ optional runtime features
• test/ native tests used by CMake
• fuzz/ fuzzing entrypoints and helpers
• qa/ request fixtures and QA material
• conf/ configuration templates
• htdocs/ default site assets

Development

Build test targets:

cmake -S . -B build -DMK_TESTS=On
cmake --build build

Additional notes:

• Fuzzing notes live in FUZZ.md
• Arduino YUN cross-build notes live in ARDUINO_YUN.md
• Contribution rules live in CONTRIBUTING.md
• Local repository conventions for agents live in AGENTS.md

Project Links

• Repository: https://github.com/monkey/monkey
• Issues: https://github.com/monkey/monkey/issues
• Project site: https://monkeywebserver.com
• Documentation: https://monkeywebserver.com/documentation/

Contributing

Send changes through GitHub pull requests. Before opening one, read CONTRIBUTING.md and follow the commit style already used in the repository history: narrow scope prefixes, short lowercase subjects, and a proper body for non-trivial changes.

License

Monkey source files are licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.