WEBrick
WEBrick is a lightweight HTTP server library that is bundled with Ruby. It enables developers to easily create HTTP servers in Ruby for testing, prototyping, and development.
ruby
http-server
lightweight
WEBrick: Lightweight HTTP Server Library
A lightweight HTTP server library bundled with Ruby, ideal for testing, prototyping, and development of Ruby applications.
What is WEBrick?
WEBrick is a lightweight HTTP and HTTPS server library that comes bundled with Ruby. It provides a simple, modular, and extensible web server framework for developing HTTP-based network servers in Ruby.
Some key features of WEBrick include:
- Support for HTTP and HTTPS protocols
- Multi-threaded - handles multiple requests concurrently
- Plugin architecture to add custom functionality
- Configurable - options for port, bind address, logging etc.
- Rack middleware support for integrating with Ruby web frameworks
- SSL/TLS support for encrypted connections
WEBrick is often used for testing Ruby web apps locally during development, creating small web services to share over an internal network, and prototyping ideas quickly before writing a production-level server. Since it is lightweight and included in the standard library, WEBrick provides an easy way to create embedded HTTP servers in Ruby.
While useful for development and testing, WEBrick is generally not recommended for production deployments under heavy load due to performance limitations. More robust servers like Puma, Unicorn or Passenger are recommended for production Ruby web apps.
WEBrick Features
Features
- Lightweight HTTP server library
- Bundled with Ruby standard library
- Built-in support for HTTP/1.1 and HTTP/1.0
- Multi-threaded
- SSL/TLS support
- Virtual hosts support
- Basic and digest authentication
- Logging
- CGI support
Pricing
- Open Source
Pros
Easy to set up and use
Good for prototyping and testing
Lightweight with low resource usage
Part of Ruby standard library - no extra dependencies needed
Multi-threaded for better concurrency
Support for SSL/TLS for secure connections
Virtual hosts allow hosting multiple sites
Authentication support
Logging for debugging and monitoring
Cons
Not suitable for production use
Limited performance and scalability
Basic feature set compared to full-featured servers
Limited configuration options
No built-in clustering or load balancing features
Limited documentation and community support
The Best WEBrick Alternatives
Top Development and Web Servers and other similar apps like WEBrick
Here are some alternatives to WEBrick:
Suggest an alternative ❐
Nginx
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