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Beast uses more than Boost.Asio, it depends on various other parts of Boost. The standalone Asio is currently farther ahead than the Boost version. Keeping Beast maintained against both versions of Asio is beyond the resources of the author at the present time. Compatibility with non-Boost libraries should not be an acceptance criteria. Beast is currently designed to be a part of Boost: nothing more, nothing less. Looking at the bigger picture, it is the author's goal to propose this library for standardization. A logical track for achieving this is as follows:

[ordered_list [ Boost library acceptance. ][ Port to the Boost.Asio version of Networking-TS (This has to wait until Boost's version of Asio is updated). ][ Wait for Networking-TS to become an official part of C++. ][ Port to the standard library versions of networking (gcc, clang, msvc). ][ Develop proposed language (This can happen concurrently with steps 3 and 4) ]]
Beast uses more than Boost.Asio, it depends on various other parts of Boost. The standalone Asio is currently farther ahead than the Boost version. Keeping Beast maintained against both versions of Asio is beyond the resources of the author at the present time. Compatibility with non-Boost libraries should not be an acceptance criteria. Beast is currently designed to be a part of Boost: nothing more, nothing less. Looking at the bigger picture, it is the author's goal to propose this library for standardization. A logical track for achieving this is as follows:

[ordered_list [ Boost library acceptance. ][ Port to the Boost.Asio version of Networking-TS (This has to wait until Boost's version of Asio is updated). ][ Wait for Networking-TS to become an official part of C++. ][ Port to the standard library versions of networking (gcc, clang, msvc). ][ Develop proposed language (This can happen concurrently with steps 3 and 4) ]]
06/05/2026
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"This should work with standalone-Asio!"
"This should work with standalone-Asio!"
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Many reviewers feel that HTTP/2 support is an essential feature of a HTTP library. The authors agree that HTTP/2 is important but also feel that the most sensible implementation is one that does not re-use the same network reading and writing interface for 2 as that for 1.0 and 1.1.

The Beast HTTP message model was designed with the new protocol in mind and should be evaluated in that context. There are plans to add HTTP/2 in the future, but there is no rush to do so. Users can work with HTTP/1 now; we should not deny them that functionality today to wait for a newer protocol tomorrow. It is the author's position that there is sufficient value in Beast's HTTP/1-only implementation that the lack of HTTP/2 should not be a barrier to acceptance.

The Beast HTTP message model is suitable for HTTP/2 and can be re-used. The IETF HTTP Working Group adopted message compatibility with HTTP/1.x as an explicit goal. A parser can simply emit full headers after decoding the compressed HTTP/2 headers. The stream ID is not logically part of the message but rather message metadata and should be communicated out-of-band (see below). HTTP/2 sessions begin with a traditional HTTP/1.1 Upgrade similar in fashion to the WebSocket upgrade. An HTTP/2 implementation can use existing Beast.HTTP primitives to perform this handshake.
Many reviewers feel that HTTP/2 support is an essential feature of a HTTP library. The authors agree that HTTP/2 is important but also feel that the most sensible implementation is one that does not re-use the same network reading and writing interface for 2 as that for 1.0 and 1.1.

The Beast HTTP message model was designed with the new protocol in mind and should be evaluated in that context. There are plans to add HTTP/2 in the future, but there is no rush to do so. Users can work with HTTP/1 now; we should not deny them that functionality today to wait for a newer protocol tomorrow. It is the author's position that there is sufficient value in Beast's HTTP/1-only implementation that the lack of HTTP/2 should not be a barrier to acceptance.

The Beast HTTP message model is suitable for HTTP/2 and can be re-used. The IETF HTTP Working Group adopted message compatibility with HTTP/1.x as an explicit goal. A parser can simply emit full headers after decoding the compressed HTTP/2 headers. The stream ID is not logically part of the message but rather message metadata and should be communicated out-of-band (see below). HTTP/2 sessions begin with a traditional HTTP/1.1 Upgrade similar in fashion to the WebSocket upgrade. An HTTP/2 implementation can use existing Beast.HTTP primitives to perform this handshake.
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"There's no HTTP/2 support yet!"
"There's no HTTP/2 support yet!"
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"I just want to download a resource using HTTP" is a common cry from users and reviewers. Such functionality is beyond the scope of Beast. Building a full featured HTTP client is a difficult task and large enough to deserve its own library. There are many things to deal with such as the various message body encodings, complex parsing of headers, difficult header semantics such as Range and Cache-Control, redirection, Expect:100-continue, connection retrying, domain name resolution, TLS, and much, much more. It is the author's position that Boost first needs a common set of nouns and verbs for manipulating HTTP at the protocol level; Beast provides that language.
"I just want to download a resource using HTTP" is a common cry from users and reviewers. Such functionality is beyond the scope of Beast. Building a full featured HTTP client is a difficult task and large enough to deserve its own library. There are many things to deal with such as the various message body encodings, complex parsing of headers, difficult header semantics such as Range and Cache-Control, redirection, Expect:100-continue, connection retrying, domain name resolution, TLS, and much, much more. It is the author's position that Boost first needs a common set of nouns and verbs for manipulating HTTP at the protocol level; Beast provides that language.
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"Beast does not offer an HTTP client?"
"Beast does not offer an HTTP client?"
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Beast has a functional HTTP server in the example directory. The server supports both HTTP and WebSocket using synchronous and asynchronous shared or dedicated ports. In addition, the server supports encrypted TLS connections if OpenSSL is available, on dedicated ports. And the server comes with a "multi-port", a flexible single port which supports both encrypted and unencrypted connections, both HTTP and WebSocket, all on the same port. The server is not part of Beast's public interfaces, as that functionality is outside the scope of the library. The author feels that attempting to broaden the scope of the library will reduce its appeal for standardization.
Beast has a functional HTTP server in the example directory. The server supports both HTTP and WebSocket using synchronous and asynchronous shared or dedicated ports. In addition, the server supports encrypted TLS connections if OpenSSL is available, on dedicated ports. And the server comes with a "multi-port", a flexible single port which supports both encrypted and unencrypted connections, both HTTP and WebSocket, all on the same port. The server is not part of Beast's public interfaces, as that functionality is outside the scope of the library. The author feels that attempting to broaden the scope of the library will reduce its appeal for standardization.
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"Beast does not offer an HTTP server?"
"Beast does not offer an HTTP server?"
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To set realistic expectations and prevent a litany of duplicate review statements, these notes address the most common questions and comments about Beast and other HTTP libraries that have gone through formal review.
To set realistic expectations and prevent a litany of duplicate review statements, these notes address the most common questions and comments about Beast and other HTTP libraries that have gone through formal review.
06/05/2026
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FAQ
FAQ
06/05/2026
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Component created (boost_endpoint) 06/05/2026
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Tasks in the Concurrency Runtime operate in a fashion similar to `std::future`, but with some improvements such as continuations which are not yet in the C++ standard. The costs of using a task based asynchronous interface instead of completion handlers is well documented: synchronization points along the call chain of composed task operations which cannot be optimized away. See: [@http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2013/n3747.pdf [*A Universal Model for Asynchronous Operations]] (Kohlhoff).
Tasks in the Concurrency Runtime operate in a fashion similar to `std::future`, but with some improvements such as continuations which are not yet in the C++ standard. The costs of using a task based asynchronous interface instead of completion handlers is well documented: synchronization points along the call chain of composed task operations which cannot be optimized away. See: [@http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2013/n3747.pdf [*A Universal Model for Asynchronous Operations]] (Kohlhoff).
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The general theme of the HTTP message model in cpprestsdk is "no user definable customizations". There is no allocator support, and no separation of concerns. It is designed to perform a specific set of behaviors. In other words, it does not follow the open/closed principle.
The general theme of the HTTP message model in cpprestsdk is "no user definable customizations". There is no allocator support, and no separation of concerns. It is designed to perform a specific set of behaviors. In other words, it does not follow the open/closed principle.
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* The HTTP request container conflates HTTP response behavior (see the
* The HTTP request container conflates HTTP response behavior (see the
06/05/2026

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