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yedf2/handy

★ 4,659C++Audience · developerComplexity · 3/5LicenseSetup · moderate

TLDR

A concise C++11 networking library for writing server software that handles tens of thousands of simultaneous connections, with examples showing a complete echo server in about ten lines of code.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((handy))
    What it does
      High-concurrency servers
      Async networking
    How it works
      epoll on Linux
      kqueue on macOS
    Optional integrations
      SSL encryption
      Protobuf messages
    Example servers
      Echo server
      Chat server
      HTTP server
      UDP client-server
    Requirements
      C++11 compiler
      Linux or macOS
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Code map

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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Write a TCP server in C++ that handles thousands of simultaneous client connections using minimal boilerplate code.

USE CASE 2

Build a chat server or HTTP server in C++ using one of handy's included examples as a starting point.

USE CASE 3

Add SSL encryption to a C++ server using handy's optional SSL integration without changing the core server logic.

Tech stack

C++C++11epollkqueueSSLProtobuf

Getting it running

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

The README and most documentation are in Chinese, requires a C++11-compatible compiler and make.

Use, modify, and distribute freely, including in commercial products, as long as you include the original copyright and license notice.

In plain English

Handy is a C++ networking library designed to make it straightforward to write server software that handles many simultaneous connections. The library is described as able to support tens of thousands of concurrent connections on a single machine. It is written in C++11, which is a version of C++ from 2011 that added several modern programming conveniences. The main appeal of the library is conciseness. The README shows an example of a complete echo server, a server that simply sends back whatever data it receives, written in about ten lines of code. Under the hood, the library uses epoll on Linux and kqueue on macOS, which are operating-system mechanisms that allow a program to efficiently monitor thousands of network connections without dedicating a thread to each one. The library supports a hybrid model where network input and output is handled asynchronously by the framework, while the actual processing of each request can be done synchronously in regular sequential code. This can simplify writing the logic of a server. There are also optional integrations for SSL encrypted connections and for protobuf, a system for defining and encoding structured messages. The repository includes a collection of example programs covering common server patterns: an echo server, a simple chat server, a basic HTTP server, a timer-based server, automatic reconnection on disconnect, UDP clients and servers, and a daemon mode that runs the server as a background process. Separate lower-level examples show how to use epoll and kqueue directly without the library, for reference. The README is primarily written in Chinese. It is licensed under a BSD-style license. Installation is done by running make and make install.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
How do I install and build the handy C++ networking library and run the echo server example?
Prompt 2
Show me how to write a simple TCP chat server in C++ using the handy library that handles multiple clients.
Prompt 3
How do I add SSL support to a handy C++ server using the library's SSL integration?
Prompt 4
How do I use handy's protobuf integration to send and receive structured messages between a C++ server and client?
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