---

title: “Getting Started” order: 1

All you need to get started with cpp-httplib is httplib.h and a C++ compiler. Let's download the file and get a Hello World server running.

Getting httplib.h

You can download it directly from GitHub. Always use the latest version.

curl -LO https://github.com/yhirose/cpp-httplib/raw/refs/tags/latest/httplib.h

Place the downloaded httplib.h in your project directory and you're good to go.

Setting Up Your Compiler

OS	Development Environment	Setup
macOS	Apple Clang	Xcode Command Line Tools (xcode-select --install)
Ubuntu	clang++ or g++	apt install clang or apt install g++
Windows	MSVC	Visual Studio 2022 or later (install with C++ components)

Hello World Server

Save the following code as server.cpp.

#include "httplib.h"

int main() {
    httplib::Server svr;

    svr.Get("/", [](const httplib::Request&, httplib::Response& res) {
        res.set_content("Hello, World!", "text/plain");
    });

    svr.listen("0.0.0.0", 8080);
}

In just a few lines, you have a server that responds to HTTP requests.

Compiling and Running

The sample code in this tutorial is written in C++17 for cleaner, more concise code. cpp-httplib itself can compile with C++11 as well.

# macOS
clang++ -std=c++17 -o server server.cpp

# Linux
# `-pthread`: cpp-httplib uses threads internally
clang++ -std=c++17 -pthread -o server server.cpp

# Windows (Developer Command Prompt)
# `/EHsc`: Enable C++ exception handling
cl /EHsc /std:c++17 server.cpp

Once it compiles, run it.

# macOS / Linux
./server

# Windows
server.exe

Open http://localhost:8080 in your browser. If you see “Hello, World!”, you're all set.

You can also verify with curl.

curl http://localhost:8080/
# Hello, World!

To stop the server, press Ctrl+C in your terminal.

Next Steps

Now you know the basics of running a server. Next, let's look at the client side. cpp-httplib also comes with HTTP client functionality.

Next: Basic Client