Pristine

High-Performance Reverse Proxy

C++Boost.AsioSSL/TLSHTTP/2

Project Overview

🏗️ Single Repository Architecture

Pristine is a single C++ repository containing the complete reverse proxy implementation. Installation and setup instructions are available in the repository's README.

Pristine is a high-performance reverse proxy built from scratch in C++ using Boost.Asio, designed for modern web applications requiring SSL/TLS termination, HTTP/2 support, and WebSocket proxying capabilities with minimal latency and maximum throughput.

The proxy features automatic SSL certificate management with Let's Encrypt integration, domain-based routing, load balancing, and a configuration-driven approach that makes it easy to deploy and manage in production environments.

Technology Stack

Core Technologies

  • C++17 with modern features
  • Boost.Asio for async I/O
  • Boost.Beast for HTTP
  • OpenSSL for cryptography

Protocol Support

  • HTTP/1.1 and HTTP/2
  • WebSocket proxying
  • SSL/TLS termination
  • TCP load balancing

Certificate Management

  • Let's Encrypt ACME v2
  • Automatic renewal
  • Self-signed fallback
  • Manual certificate support

Configuration

  • YAML configuration
  • Domain-based routing
  • Load balancing rules
  • Runtime configuration

Core Features

Reverse Proxy

  • • Domain-based request routing
  • • Backend health checking
  • • Connection pooling
  • • Request/response forwarding
  • • Custom header manipulation

SSL/TLS Management

  • • Automatic Let's Encrypt certificates
  • • TLS 1.2+ support
  • • Perfect forward secrecy
  • • OCSP stapling
  • • Certificate auto-renewal

Protocol Support

  • • HTTP/1.1 with keep-alive
  • • HTTP/2 with multiplexing
  • • WebSocket upgrade handling
  • • Chunked transfer encoding
  • • Compression support

High Performance

  • • Asynchronous I/O operations
  • • Zero-copy data forwarding
  • • Memory-efficient design
  • • Low-latency processing
  • • High concurrent connections

Load Balancing

  • • Round-robin algorithm
  • • Least connections
  • • Health-based routing
  • • Weighted distribution
  • • Failover handling

Configuration

  • • YAML-based configuration
  • • Hot configuration reload
  • • Environment variable support
  • • Validation and error checking
  • • Default value handling

Architecture Highlights

Asynchronous I/O Design

Built on Boost.Asio's proactor pattern for maximum scalability, handling thousands of concurrent connections with minimal resource usage and optimal performance.

  • • Event-driven architecture
  • • Non-blocking operations
  • • Efficient memory management
  • • Scalable connection handling

ACME Protocol Implementation

Full ACME v2 protocol implementation for automatic SSL certificate provisioning and renewal, eliminating manual certificate management overhead.

  • • HTTP-01 challenge support
  • • Account key management
  • • Certificate signing requests
  • • Automatic renewal scheduling

Modular Component Design

Clean separation of concerns with modular components for routing, SSL management, load balancing, and configuration, enabling easy maintenance and extensibility.

  • • Pluggable architecture
  • • Interface-based design
  • • Dependency injection
  • • Unit testable components

Error Handling & Resilience

Comprehensive error handling with graceful degradation, automatic recovery, and detailed logging for production reliability and debugging.

  • • Circuit breaker pattern
  • • Retry mechanisms
  • • Health monitoring
  • • Structured logging

Source Code

Demo Video

Reverse Proxy Demo

SSL & Load Balancing

Watch Pristine automatically provision SSL certificates and handle high-throughput traffic with load balancing.

Technical Documentation