Overview

rproxy is an ultra-lightweight, high-performance reverse proxy written in Rust. It’s designed for self-hosted web applications running in Docker or VPS environments.

Why rproxy?

When deploying web applications (Next.js, Express, Django, etc.), you typically need a reverse proxy to:

• Terminate TLS - Handle HTTPS and certificates
• Add security headers - HSTS, X-Frame-Options, etc.
• Rate limit - Protect against abuse
• Filter paths - Block access to sensitive files

Traditional solutions like Nginx or Caddy work well, but they come with overhead:

Features

• Auto TLS - Let’s Encrypt certificates with zero configuration
• HTTP/2 - Automatic protocol detection over TLS
• Rate Limiting - Token bucket per IP address
• Security Headers - HSTS, X-Frame-Options, CSP-ready
• Path Filtering - Block .env, .git, and sensitive files
• WebSocket - Full passthrough for HMR and real-time apps
• Single Binary - No runtime dependencies

Architecture

┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐
│    Internet     │────▶│      rproxy         │────▶│    Your App     │
│   (Clients)     │     │   (Rust/hyper)      │     │  (Next.js, etc) │
└─────────────────┘     └─────────────────────┘     └─────────────────┘
        │                         │
        │                 ┌───────┴───────┐
        │                 │  Middleware   │
        │                 ├───────────────┤
        └────────────────▶│ • TLS (ACME)  │
                          │ • Rate Limit  │
                          │ • Security    │
                          │ • WebSocket   │
                          └───────────────┘

Quick Example

services:
  proxy:
    image: rproxy:latest
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
    environment:
      - RPROXY_UPSTREAM=app:3000
      - RPROXY_TLS_DOMAINS=example.com
      - RPROXY_TLS_EMAIL=admin@example.com
    depends_on:
      - app
 
  app:
    image: your-nextjs-app
    expose:
      - "3000"

Next Steps

• Installation - Get rproxy running
• Configuration - All environment variables
• Reference - Technical deep-dive