Mini reverse proxy server written in rust

• very fast single standalone binary
• static file server
• reverse proxy router
• HTTPS
• CORS
• consume any API data and create custom responses with minijinja templates
• extensively tested with hurl

This project is an attempt to adopt the Linux philosophy in building servers.

The combination of small servers focused on one task scales better and is easier to maintain.

In the case of Linux, it was necessary to create the shell language and the pipe operator to give full power to this philosophy.

minirps tries to fill this void by being a server focused on solving the specific problem of combining servers.

cargo install minirps

Alternatively you can use one of the precompiled binaries available with each release (currently generic Linux only).

minirps -h

minirps path/to/static/folder

minirps -a path/to/static/folder

minirps -i "/*.md" path/to/static/folder

minirps -i "/**/*.md" path/to/static/folder

minirps -p 4000 path/to/static/folder

minirps -p 4000 path/to/static/folder -c path/to/cert.pem -k path/to/key.pem

minirps -o -p 4000 path/to/static/folder -c path/to/cert.pem -k path/to/key.pem

Here the limit of possible configurations passed by command line has been reached.

To create more complex and interesting examples we need a config.toml file

minirps -f path/to/config.toml

config.toml

assets = "path/to/static/folder"
port = 4000
cert = "path/to/cert.pem"
key = "path/to/key.pem"
ignore = [
  "/**/*.md",
  "/secret_*"
]

config.toml

assets = "path/to/static/folder"
port = 4000
cert = "path/to/cert.pem"
key = "path/to/key.pem"
cors = [
  "https://www.my-website.com"
]

config.toml

assets = "path/to/static/folder"
port = 4000
cert = "path/to/cert.pem"
key = "path/to/key.pem"
cors = [
  "http://www.my-website.com",
  "https://www.my-website.com",
  "http://www.my-other-website.com",
  "https://www.my-other-website.com"
]

config.toml

assets = "path/to/static/folder"
port = 4000
cert = "path/to/cert.pem"
key = "path/to/key.pem"
cors = []

config.toml

assets = "path/to/static/folder"
port = 4000
cert = "path/to/cert.pem"
key = "path/to/key.pem"
cors = []

# GET https://localhost:4000/api/users => GET http://localhost:8000/users
[[routes]]
method = "GET"
path = "/api/users"

[[routes.requests]]
method = "GET"
url = "http://localhost:8000/users"

# PUT https://localhost:4000/api/users/21 => PUT http://localhost:8000/users/21
[[routes]]
method = "PUT"
path = "/api/users/:id"

[[routes.requests]]
method = "PUT"
url = "http://localhost:8000/users/{{params.id}}"
body = "{{body}}"

config.toml

assets = "path/to/static/folder"
port = 4000
cert = "path/to/cert.pem"
key = "path/to/key.pem"
cors = []

# GET https://localhost:4000/api/users => GET http://localhost:8000/users
[[routes]]
method = "GET"
path = "/api/users"

[[routes.requests]]
name = "users"
method = "GET"
url = "http://localhost:8000/users"

[routes.response]
body = """
{% for user in data.users.json %}
  {{user.name}}
{% endfor %}"""
headers = { Content-Type = "text/plain" }

# PUT https://localhost:4000/api/users/21 => PUT http://localhost:8000/users/21
[[routes]]
method = "PUT"
path = "/api/users/:id"

[[routes.requests]]
name = "result"
method = "PUT"
url = "http://localhost:8000/users/{{params.id}}"
body = "{{body}}"

[routes.response]
body = "{% if data.result.status == 200 %}SUCCESS!{% else %}ERROR!{% endif %}"
headers = { Content-Type = "text/plain" }

config.toml

templates = "path/to/templates/folder"
assets = "path/to/static/folder"
port = 4000
cert = "path/to/cert.pem"
key = "path/to/key.pem"
cors = []

# GET https://localhost:4000/api/users => GET http://localhost:8000/users
[[routes]]
method = "GET"
path = "/api/users"

[[routes.requests]]
name = "users"
method = "GET"
url = "http://localhost:8000/users"

[routes.response]
body = "{% include 'users.html' %}"
headers = { Content-Type = "text/html" }

# PUT https://localhost:4000/api/users/21 => PUT http://localhost:8000/users/21
[[routes]]
method = "PUT"
path = "/api/users/:id"

[[routes.requests]]
name = "result"
method = "PUT"
url = "http://localhost:8000/users/{{params.id}}"
body = "{{body}}"

[routes.response]
body = "{% include 'edit.html' %}"
headers = { Content-Type = "text/html" }

In this example, a static server was created and also a CORS request as a showcase.

Static server

minirps assets

CORS server

minirps assets/tests -o -p 4000 -c assets/certs/cert.txt -k assets/certs/key.txt

In this example minijinja templates were used to consume data from swapi's Star Wars API.

minirps -f examples/starwars.toml

In this example, a static server and some routes are built to test the use of reverse proxy and templates automatically using hurl.

minirps -f examples/test.toml

hurl --test examples/test.hurl

Command line arguments take priority over config file if both are present.

Command line argument paths are relative to the current working directory.

config.toml paths are relative to your own directory.

Currently, any changes to config.toml, the server must be restarted for them to be applied.

Optional integer port number to run the server on, default: 3000

Whether to display hidden files.

In case of confirmation via the command line or config.toml they will be displayed.

List of files to ignore using glob expressions.

If the -i option is passed on the command line it will be appended to the list.

The routes must be considered in relation to the assets folder and not the working directory.

For a complete reference of glob expressions and possible bugs check this library.

Optional array of strings representing allowed origins for CORS requests.

An empty array allows all origins.

If this variable is not defined,CORS will be disabled.

Optional string with the public key file path for the https server.

Only if the cert and key are available will the server run over https.

Optional string with the private key file path for the https server.

Only if the cert and key are available will the server run over https.

Optional string with the static files folder path.

Optional string with the path to the minijinja templates folder.

Optional array of objects that define reverse proxy routes:

• method is a string with one of the http methods:
  • GET
  • POST
  • DELETE
  • PUT
  • PATCH
  • HEAD
  • OPTIONS
  • TRACE
  • CONNECT
• path is a string with the path associated with the route, :var is acceptable for setting path variables (ex: /api/user/:id).

Requests is an optional array of objects that represent requests that need to be made to generate the response.

• name is an optional string that will be used (if present) to store the response data associated with the request to be made available in minijinja templates.
• method is a required string containing the http method (or a minijinja template) as described in the routes definition.
• headers is an object with the keys been the header to be setted in the request and the values a string containing the value of the header or a minijinja template to generate it.
• headers is an object with the keys being the header to be configured in the request and the values being a string containing the header value or a minijinja template to generate it.
• url is a required minijinja template or a raw string associated with the request.
• body is an optional minijinja template or a raw string associated with the request.

The response starts with the status, headers, and response body of the last request in the requests array, or if not present an empty 200 response, and the properties here are modifiers of the response sent by the reverse proxy to the client.

• status is an optional string or minijinja template that represents an integer to modify the status code of the response.
• headers is an optional object where the keys are the headers to be modified in the response and the values are a string or a minijinja template representing the value associated with the header.
• body is an optional string or minijinja template with the body to be replaced with the original response body.

The associated path passed by the client in the request.

Ex.: /api/user/:id => /api/user/25.

The associated query string or none passed by the client in the request.

Ex.: http://localhost:3000/api/users?name=john => name=john

The associated object of the headers passed by the client in the request.

Note that all header keys are in lowercase.

Ex: Content-Type: text/plain => {"content-type": "text/plain"}

The associated object of the path params associated with the client request on a given route.

Ex: /api/user/:id => http://localhost:3000/api/user/25 => {"id": "25"}

The associated object of the query params associated with the client request.

Ex.: http://localhost:3000/api/users?name=john => {"name": "john"}

The body passed by the client in the request.

The body passed by the client in the request converted to json.

If it fails contains the body as a json string.

The data object is where all the results of the reverse proxy request array are stored. A result is stored only if there is a name associated with it and will be available for the next request or response templates.

• name: Object keys are the name passed in the requests array.
• status: The response status associated with the request.
• headers: The response headers associated with the request (the header name is always lowercase in this object)
• body: The response body as a string associated with the request.
• json: The response body converted to json (or if it fails as json string) associated with the request.

Currently, only binaries for generic versions of Linux are distributed across releases.

sudo apt install pkg-config libssl-dev musl-tools
rustup update
rustup target add x86_64-unknown-linux-musl
cargo update
cargo build --release --target x86_64-unknown-linux-musl

A list of microservices I use combined with minirps sharing yours philosophy.

• serialscale: An IOT server written in rust for reading weighing data on scales via serial port.
• rawprinter: An IOT server written in rust for connecting via USB to raw printers.

It's a very simple project. Any contribution, any feedback is greatly appreciated.

If this project was useful to you, consider giving it a star on github, it's a way to increase evidence and attract more contributors.

This work would not be possible if it were not for these related projects:

• minijinja
• axum
• reqwest
• hurl
• serde
• clap
• glob-match

A huge thank you to all the people who contributed to these projects.