FryProxy

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A library for building RFC-compatible HTTP proxies. In its core is a customizable request processing pipeline, which consists from a chain of request handlers – each receiving a request object and next handler in chain. The final (last in chain) handler sends the request to its destination and returns the response up the chain. The initial set of handlers implement standard proxy behavior. Any number of handlers can be put in between. Each handler has complete control over produced response as well as other observable proxy behaviors (like connection lifetime).

Key facts

• RFC compatible HTTP reverse proxy by default;
  • Only HTTP/1.1 for now;
  • HTTP/2.0 is planned for 2.0.0;
• Composable asynchronous request pipeline;
• Lightweight and simple HTTP abstraction;
• Can decrypt tunneled traffic and pass it though the pipeline;
• Outgoing connection pool (including decrypted tunneled);

Example

using FryProxy;
using FryProxy.Http;
using FryProxy.Pipeline;

using var proxy = new HttpProxy<DefaultContext>(
    LogRequestAndResponse,                  // request handler 
    new Settings(),                         // proxy settings
    OpaqueTunnel.Factory<DefaultContext>()  // creates secured tunnel
);

proxy.Start();                              // ...accept connections
Console.WriteLine($"Started at... {proxy.Endpoint}");
Thread.Sleep(Timeout.Infinite);

return;

async ValueTask<Tuple<Message<StatusLine>, DefaultContext>> LogRequestAndResponse(
    Message<RequestLine> request,           // request message
    RequestHandler<DefaultContext> next     // next handler in chain
)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"->{request}");
    
    var result = await next(request);

    Console.WriteLine($"<-{result.Item1}");

    return result;                          // response and context instance
}

Components

The library APIs are designed to work together, but can also be used individually. Below is an overview ordered by abstraction level from high to low.

FryProxy

FryProxy.HttpProxy is an HTTP proxy server listening for incoming connections and serving HTTP requests. It embeds provided request handler function into the pipeline handling request passing through. It also accepts a tunnel factory function, which is used to establish a secure (TLS) tunnel upon client request. Once established, a tunnel handles all subsequent traffic between client and tunnel destination until either connection times out or closes.

type 'T Tunnel = delegate of handler: 'T RequestHandlerChain * idleTimeout: TimeSpan -> Task
type TunnelConnectionFactory = delegate of (Stream -> Stream ValueTask) * Target -> IConnection ValueTask
type 'T TunnelFactory = delegate of TunnelConnectionFactory * Target * client: ReadBuffer -> 'T Tunnel ValueTask

FryProxy.OpaqueTunnel

Transfers encrypted traffic between client and server blindly (as intended by specification).

FryProxy.TransparentTunnel

Authenticates to both client and server on its own, decrypts the incoming traffic, passes it through the request processing pipeline and encrypts it back when sending to peer. It offers multiple factories:

• Factory accepts standard dotnet client and server authentication options offering maximum flexibility;
• NaiveFactoryWithServerCertificate creates tunnel accepting any server certificate and using the provided certificate for authenticating clients;
• NaiveFactoryWithSelfSignedCertificate creates tunnel accepting any server certificate and using an autogenerated self-signed certificate for authenticating clients;

FryProxy.DefaultContext

Satisfies the content requirements imposed by all built-in request handlers used by the default http proxy.

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FryProxy.Pipeline

HTTP request processing pipeline is composed of individual handlers forming chain of responsibility. Each handler is an asynchronous function from request message to response message and context values, which are propagated up the chain. Context values are used by proxy server (below) to decide the lifetime of incoming and outgoing connections and for establishing a secure tunnel. APIs allow modifying those built-in values to certain extent, as well as adding custom values (for coordinating complex handler chain).

type 'Context ContextualResponse = (ResponseMessage * 'Context) ValueTask
type 'O RequestHandler = delegate of request: RequestMessage -> 'O ContextualResponse
type 'O RequestHandlerChain = delegate of request: RequestMessage * next: 'O RequestHandler -> 'O ContextualResponse

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FryProxy.Http

Set of simple and lightweight HTTP abstractions closely following HTTP semantic as define in specifications:

• request and status lines;
• generic field (headers);
• specific fields models (FryProxy.Http.Fields);
• request and response messages;
• predefined parsers for the above (FryProxy.Http.Parse).

While HTTP header (first line + fields) is read completely when HTTP message is parsed from a stream, message content (unless empty) – is not. It is read only when needed – either when message is written to a different stream or content is copied explicitly.

[<Struct>]
type 'L MessageHeader when 'L :> StartLine = { StartLine: 'L; Fields: Field List }

[<Struct>]
type MessageBody =
    | Empty
    | Sized of Content: IByteBuffer
    | Chunked of Chunks: Chunk IAsyncEnumerable
    
[<Struct>]
type 'L Message when 'L :> StartLine = { Header: 'L MessageHeader; Body: MessageBody }

type RequestMessage = RequestLine Message
type ResponseMessage = StatusLine Message

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FryProxy.IO

Operates on raw sequence or stream of bytes and provides facilities (FryProxy.IO.BufferedParser) for parsing buffered byte stream (FryProxy.IO.ReadBuffer) into something else. Notable types include:

• FryProxy.IO.ReadBuffer – wraps a stream and memory buffer and allows incrementally reading and exploring the stream content through buffer;
• FryProxy.IO.IByteBuffer – lazy loaded (copied) sequence of bytes of a known lenght; useful for representing HTTP message body without eagerly reading it into memory;
• FryProxy.IO.ConnectionPool – pool of outgoing network connections;
• FryProxy.IO.BufferedParser – parser and combinators incrementally consuming bytes from ReadBuffer and transforming them into something else (like HTTP message below);

[<Struct>]
type ActiveState = { Offset: uint16 }

[<Struct>]
type ParseState =
    | Running of Active: ActiveState
    | Yielded of Paused: IConsumable

type 'a ParseResult = (ParseState * 'a) ValueTask
type 'a Parser = ReadBuffer * ParseState -> 'a ParseResult