r/learnprogramming • u/Grand-Challenge-558 • 1d ago
Building a minimal C++ web framework to learn the internals (Vermell) - picked it back up after 4 years, open to contributors
Hey everyone,
I originally started Vermell about 4 years ago to understand how web frameworks actually work under the hood (sockets, routing, request lifecycles) in modern C++. I ended up pausing it for a while mainly because of security concerns with low-level networking and memory.
Recently, I picked it back up and have been auditing/refactoring the codebase with the help of some friends and AI tools to get it into better shape.
It’s lightweight, simple, and still evolving. If you’re learning C++ or want to see how these internals fit together without getting lost in a massive codebase, feel free to check it out.
Contributions of any kind are super welcome from reviewing security and testing edge cases to fixing docs or adding small features:
GitHub: https://github.com/vermellcc/vermell
Site: https://vermell.cc/
Any honest feedback, tips on the architecture, or security pointers would be awesome. Thanks!
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u/Grumpy_Monk_28 1d ago
Honestly the security-first framing changes how I'd read the code too — most toy frameworks skip that entirely, so seeing someone actually pause a project for years over memory/networking concerns before shipping it says a lot about how seriously they're taking it, not just building something that runs.
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u/Grand-Challenge-558 1d ago
Really appreciate that! Low-level memory and socket security can be a nightmare to get wrong, so I definitely preferred taking a step back until I could properly audit it. Thanks for taking the time to check it out!
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u/PrimaryCloseness 1d ago
poking through a framework someone built specifically to learn from is way better than reading some 200k line monster. the security audit angle is smart too, i always worry about that stuff when i'm messing with sockets