cowboy/doc/src/manual/cowboy_http.asciidoc

= cowboy_http(3)

== Name

cowboy_http - HTTP/1.1

== Description

The module `cowboy_http` implements HTTP/1.1 and HTTP/1.0
as a Ranch protocol.

== Options

// @todo Might be worth moving cowboy_clear/tls/stream_h options
// to their respective manual, when they are added.

[source,erlang]
----
opts() :: #{
    connection_type         => worker | supervisor,
    env                     => cowboy_middleware:env(),
    idle_timeout            => timeout(),
    inactivity_timeout      => timeout(),
    linger_timeout          => timeout(),
    max_empty_lines         => non_neg_integer(),
    max_header_name_length  => non_neg_integer(),
    max_header_value_length => non_neg_integer(),
    max_headers             => non_neg_integer(),
    max_keepalive           => non_neg_integer(),
    max_method_length       => non_neg_integer(),
    max_request_line_length => non_neg_integer(),
    max_skip_body_length    => non_neg_integer(),
    middlewares             => [module()],
    request_timeout         => timeout(),
    shutdown_timeout        => timeout(),
    stream_handlers         => [module()]
}
----

Configuration for the HTTP/1.1 protocol.

This configuration is passed to Cowboy when starting listeners
using `cowboy:start_clear/3` or `cowboy:start_tls/3` functions.

It can be updated without restarting listeners using the
Ranch functions `ranch:get_protocol_options/1` and
`ranch:set_protocol_options/2`.

The default value is given next to the option name:

connection_type (supervisor)::
    Whether the connection process also acts as a supervisor.

env (#{})::
    Middleware environment.

idle_timeout (60000)::
    Time in ms with no data received before Cowboy closes the connection.

inactivity_timeout (300000)::
    Time in ms with nothing received at all before Cowboy closes the connection.

linger_timeout (1000)::
    Time in ms that Cowboy will wait when closing the connection. This is
    necessary to avoid the TCP reset problem as described in the
    https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7230#section-6.6[section 6.6 of RFC7230].

max_empty_lines (5)::
    Maximum number of empty lines before a request.

max_header_name_length (64)::
    Maximum length of header names.

max_header_value_length (4096)::
    Maximum length of header values.

max_headers (100)::
    Maximum number of headers allowed per request.

max_keepalive (100)::
    Maximum number of requests allowed per connection.

max_method_length (32)::
    Maximum length of the method.

max_request_line_length (8000)::
    Maximum length of the request line.

max_skip_body_length (1000000)::
    Maximum length Cowboy is willing to skip when the user code did not read the body fully.
    When the remaining length is too large or unknown Cowboy will close the connection.

middlewares ([cowboy_router, cowboy_handler])::
    Middlewares to run for every request.

request_timeout (5000)::
    Time in ms with no requests before Cowboy closes the connection.

shutdown_timeout (5000)::
    Time in ms Cowboy will wait for child processes to shut down before killing them.

stream_handlers ([cowboy_stream_h])::
    Ordered list of stream handlers that will handle all stream events.

== Changelog

* *2.5*: The `linger_timeout` option was added.
* *2.2*: The `max_skip_body_length` option was added.
* *2.0*: The `timeout` option was renamed `request_timeout`.
* *2.0*: The `idle_timeout`, `inactivity_timeout` and `shutdown_timeout` options were added.
* *2.0*: The `max_method_length` option was added.
* *2.0*: The `max_request_line_length` default was increased from 4096 to 8000.
* *2.0*: The `connection_type` option was added.
* *2.0*: The `env` option is now a map instead of a proplist.
* *2.0*: The `stream_handlers` option was added.
* *2.0*: The `compress` option was removed in favor of the `cowboy_compress_h` stream handler.
* *2.0*: Options are now a map instead of a proplist.
* *2.0*: Protocol introduced. Replaces `cowboy_protocol`.

== See also

link:man:cowboy(7)[cowboy(7)],
link:man:cowboy_http2(3)[cowboy_http2(3)],
link:man:cowboy_websocket(3)[cowboy_websocket(3)]