HTTP/2

This boilerplate comes with native, high-performance support for HTTP/2, enabling multiplexing, header compression, and server push capabilities out of the box.

Why?

HTTP/2 is a major revision of the HTTP network protocol. It improves latency and throughput by moving away from the text-based, ordered nature of HTTP/1.1.

Key Benefits

Feature	HTTP/1.1	HTTP/2	Benefit
Multiplexing	Sequential Requests (Head-of-Line Blocking)	Parallel Streams over single TCP connection	Removes the need for domain sharding and multiple connections.
Header Compression	Plain Text (Redundant)	HPACK Compression	Drastically reduces overhead, especially for microservices.
Binary Protocol	Text-based	Binary-based	More efficient to parse and less error-prone.

Visual Comparison

Press enter or space to select a node. You can then use the arrow keys to move the node around. You can then use the arrow keys to move the node around, press delete to remove it and press escape to cancel.

Press enter or space to select an edge. You can then press delete to remove it or press escape to cancel.

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Configuration

HTTP/2 is controlled via environment variables. Since modern browsers enforce HTTPS for HTTP/2, this boilerplate automatically configures TLS/SSL when enabled.

1. Enable in Environment

Set APP_HTTP2 to true in your .env file. You must also point to your SSL certificate and private key.

# .env
APP_HTTP2="true"
APP_KEY="./keys/private.pem"
APP_CERT="./keys/cert.pem"

2. Generate Local Certificates

For local development, we include a utility to generate valid self-signed certificates and RSA keys in one command:

bun gen:keys

This command uses openssl to automatically generate:

• 🔑 private.pem: Your private key.
• 📜 cert.pem: A self-signed SSL certificate valid for 365 days.

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🧪 How to Test

Since we are using self-signed certificates locally, testing requires bypassing standard trust verification.

Option A: Using cURL

Use the -k (insecure) flag to bypass certificate validation and --http2 to verify the protocol negotiation.

curl -I -k --http2 https://localhost:3000

✅ Expected Output:

HTTP/2 200
content-type: application/json
...

Option B: Using Browser

1. 🌐 Open https://localhost:3000.
2. ⚠️ You will see a "Your connection is not private" warning (normal for self-signed certs).
3. Click Advanced -> Proceed to localhost (unsafe).
4. Open Developer Tools (F12) -> Network tab.
5. Right-click the header columns and enable Protocol.
6. Refresh the page. You should see h2 in the Protocol column.

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⚠️ Production Note

In production (e.g., behind Nginx, ALB, or Cloudflare), you typically terminate SSL at the load balancer. However, if you need end-to-end encryption or your load balancer supports HTTP/2 upstream, this configuration allows Node.js/Bun to handle it natively.

TIP

If you are using a reverse proxy like Nginx, you might not need APP_HTTP2="true" in the Node app if Nginx handles the HTTP/2 client connection and proxies via HTTP/1.1 to the backend. Enable this only if you need HTTP/2 capabilities directly in the application server.