Node-HTTP3

This project is a simple, modern web server built in Node.js using the h3 framework. The main goal is to demonstrate how to build a lightweight and fast application with this framework.

⚠️ Important Note: Contrary to what its name might suggest, the h3 framework does not natively implement the HTTP/3 protocol. h3 is a modern, high-performance web framework that runs on Node.js's standard HTTP engine (HTTP/1.1 or HTTP/2).

To enable clients to connect to this application using the actual HTTP/3 protocol, it must be deployed behind a Reverse Proxy like Nginx or Caddy. This guide explains how to achieve that.

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⚙️ How This Project Works

The core code creates a simple server with two routes:

1. The / route, which returns "Hello World!".
2. The /hello/:name route, which returns a personalized greeting.

This logic is implemented using the h3 framework, known for its minimalism and high performance.

import { createServer } from 'node:http';
import { createApp, eventHandler, createRouter, toNodeListener } from 'h3';

const app = createApp();

const router = createRouter()
    .get('/', eventHandler(() => 'Hello World!'))
    .get('/hello/:name', eventHandler((event) => `Hello ${event.context.params.name}!`));

app.use(router);

// The server runs on Node's standard HTTP engine
createServer(toNodeListener(app)).listen(process.env.PORT || 3000);
console.log('App is running on port 3000');

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🚀 Enabling HTTP/3 with Nginx

To allow users to connect to your application via HTTP/3, we need to configure Nginx as a reverse proxy.

The final architecture will be:

User <--- (HTTP/3) ---> Nginx <--- (HTTP/1.1) ---> Your Node.js App

Step 1: Prerequisites

1. A server (VPS) running a Linux distribution.
2. A domain name pointed to your server's IP address.
3. Nginx version 1.25.0 or newer, compiled with QUIC support.
4. An SSL/TLS certificate for your domain (you can get one for free from Let's Encrypt).

Step 2: Run the Node.js Application

First, run your application on the server. It's best practice to use a process manager like pm2 to ensure the app is always running.

# Install pm2 globally
npm install pm2 -g

# Start the application with pm2
pm2 start app.js --name "h3-app"

This command will start your application on port 3000.

Step 3: Configure Nginx

Edit your site's Nginx configuration file (usually located at /etc/nginx/sites-available/yourdomain.com) with the following content:

server {
    # Listen on port 443 for HTTPS, HTTP/2, and HTTP/3 traffic
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    listen [::]:443 ssl http2;
    listen 443 quic reuseport;
    listen [::]:443 quic reuseport;

    # Set your domain name
    server_name yourdomain.com;

    # SSL Certificate paths
    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/[yourdomain.com/fullchain.pem](https://yourdomain.com/fullchain.pem);
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/[yourdomain.com/privkey.pem](https://yourdomain.com/privkey.pem);
    ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;

    # Advertise HTTP/3 support to browsers
    add_header Alt-Svc 'h3=":443"; ma=86400';

    # Forward all requests to the Node.js application
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

# (Optional) Redirect HTTP traffic to HTTPS
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name yourdomain.com;
    return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
}

Step 4: Restart Nginx

After saving the configuration, test it and restart Nginx.

sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl restart nginx

Your application is now accessible via your domain with full HTTP/3 support! You can verify this using online tools like HTTP/3 Check.