Ferron - a fast, modern web server built for production debugging.

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Why Ferron?

Built to set up quickly, behave predictably, and hold up reliably in production.

• Readable configuration: set up websites and reverse proxies with a clear, compact config that avoids sprawl and hidden surprises.
• Automatic TLS: certificates are issued and renewed automatically. You get clear signals when it works (or doesn't).
• First-class observability: see exactly what happened with any request, even without having to do much configuration. Traces cover every layer and link directly to the relevant logs. You can even search for trace IDs inside log files to see what happened in each request.
• Predictable performance: fast and consistent under load, right out of the box. No runtime tuning required.
• Memory-safe: entire categories of memory-related security holes simply don't exist in Ferron (it's built with Rust).
• Reliable in production: handles messy real-world traffic, upstream failures, and protocol edge cases predictably.

[!tip] Ferron is designed around two core principles: ease of setup (get a working config in minutes) and ease of debugging (when something goes wrong, find the root cause fast).

Configuration examples

Static file serving

example.com {
    root "/var/www/html"

    # If uncommented, directory listing is enabled.
    #directory_listing
}

Reverse proxy

api.example.com {
    proxy http://localhost:8080
}

More examples are available in the configuration documentation.

Installing Ferron (pre-built)

The most convenient way to get started with Ferron is to use the installer script for Linux:

sudo bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://get.ferron.sh/v3)"

See the full instructions in the Linux installation documentation.

Building from source

git clone https://github.com/ferronweb/ferron -b develop-3.x
cd ferron
git submodule update --init --recursive
cargo build --workspace

Run the server:

cargo run -p ferron -- run -c ferron.conf
cargo run -p ferron -- run -c ferron.conf --verbose  # with debug logging

Other CLI commands:

cargo run -p ferron -- validate -c ferron.conf   # validate without starting
cargo run -p ferron -- adapt -c ferron.conf      # output config as JSON
cargo run -p ferron -- daemon -c ferron.conf --pid-file /var/run/ferron.pid  # Unix daemon

Run tests and checks:

cargo test --workspace
cargo fmt --all --check
cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets -- -D warnings

Package Ferron for distribution (requires just):

just package # Archive (.zip for Windows, .tar.gz for Unix)
just package-deb # Debian package
just package-rpm # RPM package
just package-windows # Windows installer
just installer # Linux installer

Cross-build optimized binaries for Ferron (see README for the build files; available on Linux only):

just cross-build

Configuration

The full directive reference is in docs/configuration/.

Contributing

Feedback, bug reports, and testing are welcome. When reporting issues, include your configuration file, --verbose output, and steps to reproduce. See CONTRIBUTING.md for setup, checks, and guidelines.

License

MIT. See LICENSE for details.