Skip to main content
Version: 1.x

Go HTTP Server

This example is a WebAssembly component that implements a simple HTTP server with multiple endpoints for handling various requests.

The application...

📦 Dependencies​

Before starting, ensure that you have the following installed in addition to the Go (1.23+) toolchain:

👟 Run the example​

Clone the wasmCloud/go repository:

shell
git clone https://github.com/wasmCloud/go.git

Change directory to examples/component/http-server:

shell
cd examples/component/http-server

In addition to the standard elements of a Go project, the example directory includes the following files and directories:

  • build/: Target directory for compiled .wasm binaries
  • gen/: Target directory for Go bindings of interfaces
  • wit/: Directory for WebAssembly Interface Type (WIT) packages that define interfaces
  • bindings.wadge_test.go: Automatically generated test bindings
  • wadm.yaml: Declarative application manifest
  • wasmcloud.lock: Automatically generated lockfile for WIT packages
  • wasmcloud.toml: Configuration file for a wasmCloud application

Start a local development loop​

Run wash dev to start a local development loop:

shell
wash dev

The wash dev command will:

  • Start a local wasmCloud environment
  • Build this component
  • Deploy your application and all requirements to run the application locally, including...
    • Your locally built component
    • The HTTP server provider, which will receive requests from the outside world (on port 8000 by default)
    • Necessary links between providers and your component so your component can handle web traffic
  • Watch your code for changes and re-deploy when necessary.

Once the application is deployed, open another terminal tab. To ensure that the application has reached Deployed status, you can use wash app list:

shell
wash app list

Send a request​

You can send a request to the following endpoints:

GET /

Returns a list of available endpoints and their descriptions.

shell
curl http://localhost:8000/
text
  /error - return a 500 error
  /form - echo the fields of a POST request
  /headers - echo your user agent back as a server side header
  /post - echo the body of a POST request

GET /error

Returns a 500 Internal Server Error.

shell
curl -v http://localhost:8000/error
text
* Host localhost:8000 was resolved.
* IPv6: ::1
* IPv4: 127.0.0.1
*   Trying [::1]:8000...
* connect to ::1 port 8000 from ::1 port 51390 failed: Connection refused
*   Trying 127.0.0.1:8000...
* Connected to localhost (127.0.0.1) port 8000
> GET /error HTTP/1.1
> Host: localhost:8000
> User-Agent: curl/8.7.1
> Accept: */*
> 
* Request completely sent off
< HTTP/1.1 500 Internal Server Error
< content-type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
< x-content-type-options: nosniff
< vary: origin, access-control-request-method, access-control-request-headers
< access-control-allow-origin: *
< access-control-expose-headers: *
< connection: close
< transfer-encoding: chunked
< date: Thu, 19 Dec 2024 23:52:34 GMT
< 
Something went wrong
* Closing connection

GET /headers

Returns your User-Agent in the response headers.

shell
curl -v http://localhost:8000/headers
text
* Host localhost:8000 was resolved.
* IPv6: ::1
* IPv4: 127.0.0.1
*   Trying [::1]:8000...
* connect to ::1 port 8000 from ::1 port 51499 failed: Connection refused
*   Trying 127.0.0.1:8000...
* Connected to localhost (127.0.0.1) port 8000
> GET /headers HTTP/1.1
> Host: localhost:8000
> User-Agent: curl/8.7.1
> Accept: */*
> 
* Request completely sent off
< HTTP/1.1 200 OK
< x-your-user-agent: curl/8.7.1
< vary: origin, access-control-request-method, access-control-request-headers
< access-control-allow-origin: *
< access-control-expose-headers: *
< connection: close
< transfer-encoding: chunked
< date: Thu, 19 Dec 2024 23:53:49 GMT
< 
* Closing connection
Check headers!

POST /form

Echoes back form data from a POST request.

shell
curl -X POST -d "field1=value1&field2=value2" http://localhost:8000/form
text
field2: value2
field1: value1

POST /post

Echoes back the entire body of a POST request.

shell
curl -X POST -d "Hello World" http://localhost:8000/post
text
Hello World

Clean up​

You can cancel the wash dev process with Ctrl-C.

⚠️ Issues/FAQ​

curl produces a "failed to invoke" error​

If curling produces...

text
failed to invoke `wrpc:http/incoming-handler.handle`: failed to invoke `wrpc:http/incoming-handler@0.1.0.handle`: failed to shutdown synchronous parameter channel: not connected%

...the HTTP server may not have finished starting up. You can check that the application has reached Deployed status with wash app list.

If the issue persists, you may have a lingering HTTP server provider running on your system. You can use pgrep to check:

shell
pgrep -la ghcr_io
text
4007604 /tmp/wasmcloudcache/NBCBQOZPJXTJEZDV2VNY32KGEMTLFVP2XJRZJ5FWEJJOXESJXXR2RO46/ghcr_io_wasmcloud_http_server_0_23_1

📖 Further reading​

To learn how to extend this example with additional capabilities, see the Adding Capabilities section of the wasmCloud documentation.

For more on building components, see the Component Developer Guide in the wasmCloud documentation.