Getting Started

Requirements

A C compiler (GCC, Clang, or MSVC)
CMake version 3.14 or higher

Quick Start

Create a project with Ecewo:

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.14)
project(your_project VERSION 1.0.0 LANGUAGES C)

include(FetchContent)

# Fetch Ecewo from GitHub
FetchContent_Declare(
   ecewo
   GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/savashn/ecewo.git
   GIT_TAG main # alternatively, use a version tag like v1.0.0
)

# Make Ecewo available
FetchContent_MakeAvailable(ecewo)

# Create the executable
add_executable(server
   main.c
)

# Link Ecewo
target_link_libraries(server PRIVATE ecewo)

#include "server.h"  // To start and end the server
#include "ecewo.h"   // To use the main API

// HTTP request handler for root endpoint
void hello_world(Req *req, Res *res) {
   send_text(res, 200, "Hello, World!");  // Send plain text response
}

// Cleanup function called during graceful shutdown
void destroy_app(void) {
   reset_router();  // Free router memory and routes
}

// Server entry point
int main(void) {
   init_router();               // Initialize HTTP router system
   get("/", hello_world);       // Register GET route for root path
   shutdown_hook(destroy_app);  // Register cleanup function for graceful shutdown
   ecewo(3000);                 // Start server on port 3000 (blocking call)
   return 0;                    // Program exits after server shutdown
}

We include two header files: server.h and ecewo.h. Let’s explain this code step by step:

The server.h header provides the ecewo() function that starts the server, and shutdown_hook() function to free the memory of server. So we need server.h in main.c file only.
Theecewo.h header is the main module of our project. It provides many of various HTTP tools used for writing handlers and routers.
The void hello_world() function is a handler. We get the request via Req *req and send a plain text response with Res *res. We’ll see request handling more detailed in the Route Handlers chapter.
The int main(void) function is the entry point of our program. We need to initialize the router first, and then we are able to define our routes, which are explained in Defining Routes chapter more detailed.
The shutdown_hook() is a function pointer that frees the server memory. Before calling ecewo(), shutdown_hook() must always be invoked to clean up server resources such as the router during shutdown.
And ecewo() is the function that runs the server. It waits for a PORT, which is a unsigned short type of parameter.

NOTE:

Just like in the Express.js, we have to define our routes in the entry point, which is main.c. For modularity, we can define them outside and call in the int main(void) function.

Let’s run the following commands in the terminal to build our server:

mkdir build && cd build && cmake .. && cmake --build .

Let’s run it:

// Linux/macOS:
./server

// Windows
./server.exe

When we ran the suitable command; we’ll see following informations if our server is ready:

Server is running at: http://localhost:3000

Now if we go to http://localhost:3000/ we’ll see a basic Hello, World! text message.

Ecewo-CLI (optional)

We can make our project configurations more easily via Ecewo-CLI. It’s using for creating and building projects easily, but more importantly, it makes easier to install some necessary libraries. Refer to its repository for usage.