DHttp

DHttp: The True Internet. Clients are servers, names are identity, and every endpoint should be able to speak HTTP APIs directly.

DHttp is an Apache-2.0 open-source endpoint stack built on QUIC and HTTP/3. It keeps the Web's request/response model, then adds peer-to-peer transport, mutual-TLS identity, endpoint-aware name resolution, and policy-based access control so applications, devices, services, and agents can connect as equals.

What DHttp gives you

• HTTP/3 over QUIC — secure transport, multiplexed streams, and modern congestion control as the default foundation.
• Endpoint equality — an application endpoint can be both a client and a server.
• Name as identity — DHttp names and certificates authenticate peers through mutual TLS instead of treating DNS as only a routing hint.
• Endpoint-aware DNS — DHttp DNS records can describe reachable endpoint addresses, including private or proxied endpoints.
• Local-first networking — LAN-first and peer-to-peer paths are first-class; public infrastructure is used for bootstrap and reachability when needed.
• Fine-grained access control — authorize requests by verified identity and HTTP context.
• Language SDKs — Rust is the source implementation; native Node.js and Python bindings expose the same endpoint model.

Repository layout

This repository is a Cargo workspace for the DHttp SDK crates and native bindings:

Package	Path	Purpose
dhttp	dhttp/	Endpoint facade for client/server HTTP/3, DNS resolver planning, trust defaults, and QUIC network integration.
dhttp-identity	identity/	DHttp name validation, identity certificates, subject-key metadata, and signing/verification helpers.
dhttp-home	home/	Local DHttp home directory, identity profiles, settings, and certificate/key loading.
dhttp-access	access/	Access-control expressions, matchers, HTTP integration, optional SQLite persistence, and CLI helpers.
dhttp-api	api/	Native Node.js (@genmeta/dhttp) and Python (dhttp) bindings for the endpoint facade.

Lower-level crates can be used independently, but application code should normally start with the dhttp endpoint facade.

Quick start

Add the Rust SDK

Add the published crate to your Cargo manifest:

[dependencies]
dhttp = "0.2.0"

Build an endpoint

use dhttp::endpoint::Endpoint;

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    // Loads credentials from the DHttp home directory for this name.
    let endpoint = Endpoint::load("alice.ma.dhttp.net").await?;

    let mut response = endpoint
        .get("https://marisa.mo.dhttp.net/hello")
        .response()
        .await?;

    println!("{}", response.read_to_string().await?);
    Ok(())
}

Serve HTTP APIs from the same endpoint

use dhttp::endpoint::{server::Service, Endpoint};

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    let endpoint = Endpoint::load("alice.ma.dhttp.net").await?;

    let service = Service::new().get("/hello", |_request, response| async move {
        response.set_body("hello from DHttp");
    });

    endpoint.listen(service).await?;
    Ok(())
}

Endpoint::load uses the standard DHttp home profile and enables H3 DNS, mDNS, and system DNS. Use Endpoint::builder() when you need custom identity material, DNS schemes, bind patterns, QUIC configuration, or a shared network.

Node.js and Python bindings

The native bindings mirror the Rust endpoint model while following each ecosystem's conventions.

Node.js:

import { Endpoint } from "@genmeta/dhttp";

const endpoint = await Endpoint.create({ dnsSchemes: ["h3", "mdns", "system"] });
const response = await endpoint.fetch("https://alice.example.dhttp.net/hello");
console.log(await response.text());

Python:

import dhttpy

endpoint = await dhttpy.Endpoint.create(dns_schemes=["h3", "mdns", "system"])

async with endpoint.get("https://alice.example.dhttp.net/hello") as response:
    print(await response.text())

See api/README.md for raw stream primitives, high-level service APIs, and binding-specific notes.

Development

Run commands from this repository root:

cargo fmt
cargo clippy --all-targets --all-features -- -D warnings
cargo test --workspace

Useful package-focused commands:

cargo test -p dhttp
cargo test -p dhttp-identity
cargo test -p dhttp-home
cargo test -p dhttp-access --all-features

Binding builds live under api/:

cd api
npm run build
python -m maturin develop

Learn more

• Website: dhttp.net
• Documentation: docs.dhttp.net
• Repository: github.com/genmeta/dhttp
• License: Apache-2.0