This is a c++ library originally written for accessing GitHub REST API v3. Currently reorganized to be easily used with any Rest API available.
It supports three backends for establishing connections with remote API servers: Qt6/5, Curl and cpp-httplib.
Submodules: This repository comes with submodules which are not necessary to build and use this project.
As of now the only submodule is vcpkg which can simplify build by providing required dependencies.
Please mind that vcpkg uses telemetry.
Visit https://learn.microsoft.com/vcpkg/about/privacy for more details.
How to use it
This is a CMake based project and is meant to be included as a subproject.
Simply embed cpp_restapi's sources in your project, choose which http backend you prefer (all can be used simoultanously) and include cpp_restapi project in your CMakeLists.txt like this:
set(CppRestAPI_QtBackend ON) # use this line if you prefer Qt backend
set(CppRestAPI_CurlBackend ON) # use this line if you prefer Curl backend
set(CppRestAPI_CppHttplibBackend ON) # use this line if you prefer cpp-httplib backend
add_subdirectory(cpp_restapi)
Then you can link your application against cpp_restapi:
target_link_libraries(app
PRIVATE
cpp_restapi
)
and that's all.
Note:
Depending on your choice of backend you may need to install libcurl, Qt and/or cpp-httplib libraries.
Qt backend can be compiled with Qt6 (default) or Qt5. If no Qt6 is found, an automatic fallback to Qt5 will happen.
Set CppRestAPI_UseQt5 CMake variable to TRUE to force Qt5 usage (in case both versions are available).
Standalone build:
It is possible to build this project as any other regular CMake project by invoking:
cmake -B build
cmake --build build
It can be usefull if you want to play with examples from examples dir or to run unit tests.
Examples
Simplest usage
++
#include <iostream>
int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
for (const auto& endpoint: {"people/1", "starships/12/"})
{
const auto result = connection->fetch(endpoint);
if (result)
std::cout << result.value() << '\n';
else
std::cerr << "Error " << result.error().statusCode << ": " << result.error().message << '\n';
}
return 0;
}
CPP_RESTAPI_EXPORT std::unique_ptr< IConnection > createCurlConnection(const std::string &address, const std::map< std::string, std::string > &headerEntries)
Create a connection using the libcurl backend.
This example accesses The Star Wars API using curl backend.
fetch() returns std::expected<std::string, HttpError> — on success the response body is available via value(), on failure the HttpError carries the HTTP status code, response body and a human-readable message.
Qt version:
++
#include <iostream>
#include <QCoreApplication>
#include <QNetworkAccessManager>
int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
QCoreApplication qapp(argc, argv);
QNetworkAccessManager manager;
for (const auto& endpoint: {"people/1", "starships/12/"})
{
const auto result = connection->fetch(endpoint);
if (result)
std::cout << result.value() << '\n';
else
std::cerr << "Error " << result.error().statusCode << ": " << result.error().message << '\n';
}
return 0;
}
CPP_RESTAPI_EXPORT std::unique_ptr< IConnection > createQtConnection(QNetworkAccessManager &manager, const std::string &address, const std::map< std::string, std::string > &headerEntries)
Create a connection using the Qt backend.
cpp-httplib version:
++
#include <iostream>
int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
for (const auto& endpoint: {"people/1", "starships/12/"})
{
const auto result = connection->fetch(endpoint);
if (result)
std::cout << result.value() << '\n';
else
std::cerr << "Error " << result.error().statusCode << ": " << result.error().message << '\n';
}
return 0;
}
CPP_RESTAPI_EXPORT std::unique_ptr< IConnection > createCppHttplibConnection(const std::string &address, const std::map< std::string, std::string > &headerEntries)
Create a connection using the cpp-httplib backend.
Dedicated GitHub helpers
For accessing GitHub API it is possible to use exactly the same apporach as presented above.
However, for conveniance, there are also additional helpers available:
Qt example
++
#include <QCoreApplication>
#include <QDebug>
#include <QNetworkAccessManager>
int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
QCoreApplication qapp(argc, argv);
QNetworkAccessManager manager;
qInfo() << request.getRateLimit().c_str();
qInfo() << request.getUserInfo("Kicer86").c_str();
return 0;
}
Connection build for GitHub api.
Definition connection_builder.hpp:19
std::unique_ptr< IConnection > build(Factory &&factory, Args &&... args)
build cpp_restapi::IConnection object using a factory function
Definition connection_builder.hpp:65
GitHub api actions.
Definition request.hpp:27
Here connection is being build with ConnectionBuilder.
Builder provides methods for setting additional connection parameters (passed as a second argument to Connection after API url).
It also sets the API url automatically.
Refer documentation of ConnectionBuilder for more details.
Additionaly there is also cpp_restapi::GitHub::Request class available which comes with accessors to most common API requests.
libcurl example
++
#include <iostream>
int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
std::cout << request.getRateLimit() << '\n';
std::cout << request.getUserInfo("Kicer86") << '\n';
return 0;
}
cpp-httplib example:
++
#include <iostream>
int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
std::cout << request.getRateLimit() << '\n';
std::cout << request.getUserInfo("Kicer86") << '\n';
return 0;
}
Also please look into 'examples' directory for details.
Server-Sent Events (SSE)
In addition to regular REST requests, the library supports Server-Sent Events — a standard mechanism for receiving a stream of events from a server over HTTP.
SSE support is available for all three backends via Connection::subscribe(). The method connects to an SSE endpoint, delivers parsed events through a callback and returns an ISseConnection handle. The call is non-blocking — events are received on an internal thread (or via the Qt event loop for the Qt backend). Use close() to stop.
SSE with curl
++
#include <iostream>
#include <thread>
#include <chrono>
int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
{
std::cout << "Event: " << event.event << '\n';
std::cout << "Data: " << event.data << '\n';
});
std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::seconds(30));
sse->close();
return 0;
}
Represents a single Server-Sent Event.
Definition sse_event.hpp:15
SSE with Qt
++
#include <iostream>
#include <QCoreApplication>
#include <QNetworkAccessManager>
int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
QCoreApplication qapp(argc, argv);
QNetworkAccessManager manager;
{
std::cout << "Event: " << event.event << '\n';
std::cout << "Data: " << event.data << '\n';
});
return qapp.exec();
}
SSE with cpp-httplib
++
#include <iostream>
#include <thread>
#include <chrono>
int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
{
std::cout << "Event: " << event.event << '\n';
std::cout << "Data: " << event.data << '\n';
});
std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::seconds(30));
sse->close();
return 0;
}
SseEvent fields
The SseEvent struct exposes all standard SSE fields:
| Field | Type | Description |
event | std::string | Event type (from event: field, empty if not specified) |
data | std::string | Event payload (from data: field(s), joined with \n) |
id | std::string | Last event ID (from id: field) |
retry | int | Reconnection time in ms (from retry: field, -1 if N/A) |
Asynchronous Requests
All three backends support non-blocking HTTP requests via a callback-based API. fetch() returns immediately and delivers the result through onSuccess / onError callbacks. It also returns a CancellationToken that can be used to suppress callbacks before they fire.
For non-Qt backends (curl, cpp-httplib) callbacks run on a background std::thread. For the Qt backend, callbacks are invoked on the Qt event-loop thread.
Async with curl
++
#include <iostream>
#include <future>
int main()
{
std::promise<void> done;
auto future = done.get_future();
auto cancel = connection->fetch("people/1",
{
std::cout <<
"Status: " << resp.
statusCode <<
'\n';
std::cout <<
"Body: " << resp.
body <<
'\n';
done.set_value();
},
{
std::cerr << "Error " << err.statusCode << ": " << err.message << '\n';
done.set_value();
});
std::cout << "Request in flight — doing other work...\n";
future.wait();
return 0;
}
Represents an HTTP or network-level error.
Definition http_error.hpp:28
HTTP response containing body, raw headers and the HTTP status code.
Definition iconnection.hpp:26
std::string body
Definition iconnection.hpp:27
int statusCode
HTTP status code (e.g. 200, 404). 0 means no response was received (network error).
Definition iconnection.hpp:29
Async with Qt
++
#include <iostream>
#include <QCoreApplication>
#include <QNetworkAccessManager>
int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
QCoreApplication qapp(argc, argv);
QNetworkAccessManager manager;
auto cancel = connection->fetch("people/1",
{
std::cout <<
"Status: " << resp.
statusCode <<
'\n';
std::cout <<
"Body: " << resp.
body <<
'\n';
qapp.quit();
},
{
std::cerr << "Error " << err.statusCode << ": " << err.message << '\n';
qapp.quit();
});
return qapp.exec();
}
Cancellation
The CancellationToken returned by async fetch() is a std::shared_ptr<std::atomic<bool>>. Setting it to true suppresses further callbacks:
++
auto cancel = connection->fetch("slow/endpoint",
cancel->store(true);
Async pagination
Paginated requests can also be performed asynchronously. The merged result is delivered through a BodyCallback once all pages have been collected:
++
auto cancel = connection->fetch("repos/owner/repo/issues", strategy,
[](std::string mergedBody)
{
std::cout << "All pages: " << mergedBody << '\n';
},
{
std::cerr << "Error on page: " << err.statusCode << '\n';
});
C++20 Coroutine Helpers
The header-only <cpp_restapi/coroutine.hpp> provides lightweight coroutine wrappers around the callback-based async API. It requires C++20 (or later) and a compiler that supports <coroutine>.
Key types
| Type / Function | Description |
Detached | Fire-and-forget wrapper — starts a coroutine that runs to completion on its own. |
coFetch(conn, request) | Returns an awaitable yielding std::expected<Response, HttpError>. |
coFetch(conn, request, strategy) | Returns an awaitable yielding std::expected<std::string, HttpError> (paginated). |
Example (curl backend)
++
#include <iostream>
#include <future>
int main()
{
std::promise<void> done;
auto future = done.get_future();
{
if (result)
std::cout << "Status: " << result->statusCode << '\n'
<< "Body: " << result->body << '\n';
else
std::cerr << "Error: " << result.error().message << '\n';
done.set_value();
}();
future.wait();
return 0;
}
detail::FetchAwaitable coFetch(IConnection &connection, const std::string &request)
Asynchronously fetch a single resource.
Definition coroutine.hpp:99
Fire-and-forget coroutine wrapper.
Definition coroutine.hpp:126
Building examples
Examples are located in the 'examples' directory of the project. To build them set CppRestAPI_Examples CMake variable to ON. It can be done when invoking cmake command by providing -DCppRestAPI_Examples=ON command line argument (see Standalone build section). Or by modifying entry CppRestAPI_Examples in CMakeCache.txt file located in build directory of an already configured project.
Please mind that setting CppRestAPI_Examples to ON will force all backends to be used.
Building unit tests
Unit tests are located in 'tests' directory of the project. To build them set CppRestAPI_Tests CMake variable to ON.
Please mind that setting CppRestAPI_Tests to ON will force all backends to be used.
Links
Code documentation available at https://kicer86.github.io/cpp_restapi/index.html
1.12.0