NovusNet

Ever manually set up a project that required networking on your own? You know how hard it is, thats why i'm introducing NovusNet. NN gets a server and client talking in less than 10 lines of code. Built for indie devs, beginners, and anyone who's project doesn't need the overkill and complexity that larger libraries like Boost.Asio bring. Fully encrypted communication between server and clients. Now featuring NFTP (Novus File Transfer Protocol); send and receive files of any size with a single function call. Scroll down to updates for more.

WARNING

• As this is an ongoing project, scroll down to "Updates" to keep up to date, syntax may change in a short period.
• This is still in super early development, expect occasional bugs, and make sure to report said bugs to me.
• No Windows support exists yet, this is mainly for Linux systems, I'll add Windows support when the Linux version is truly stable.

Why I made this

Learning sockets as a beginner is rough. The setup is long, the errors are annoying, and even once you get it, you still have to do it all over again every new project. And to truly secure it, encrypting messages is hell.

NovusNet exists so you don't have to do any of that. Whether you're just starting out with networking or you're an experienced dev who doesn't want to write boilerplate over and over, NovusNet handles the setup and the later communication, so you can focus on actually shipping your product.

Usage

Check Documentation.md, it has a detailed explanation of each function, and check out the link below for an example project to further help you understand.

Code examples

• An actual example project can be found at NovusChat. It is a pure NovusNet program.

Server

#include "nn.hpp"
#include <iostream>
#include <chrono>

int main(){
    //runServer takes port number and the password for your server: runServer(int port, string password)
    runServer(9090, "YOUR_PASSWORD");
    //"onMessage" returns clientNumber and msg of any received message from any client.
    onMessage([](int clientN, std::string msg){
        //more detailed logic can go on here depending on what you wanna do.
        std::cout << "Client " << clientN << ": " << msg << "\n";
    });
    //Chrono so it does no tank cpu usage and doesn't let main() return anything
    while(true){
        std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::milliseconds(100));
    }
}

Client

#include "nn.hpp"
#include <iostream>

int main(){
    std::string msg;
    //runClient(ip,port,password) connects to a server
    int client = runClient("127.0.0.1", 9090,"YOUR_PASSWORD");
    //receive client id and assign it for later use (Needed for proper communication)
    msg = recvMsg(client);
    int clientID = std::stoi(msg);
    while(true){
        std::getline(std::cin,msg);
        //sendMsg(string msg) sends data as a string
        sendMsg(msg,clientID);
    }
    return 0;
}

• These same snippets can be found at src/client.cpp and src/server.cpp
• For a clearer example check NovusChat as mentioned earlier, it's a much better way of understanding.

Installation

• Just clone the repo with "git clone ..."
• Copy the "include/nn.hpp" file into your own include file.
• Copy the "src/nn.cpp" file into your own src file.
• Add line #include"nn.hpp" at the top of your main.cpp
• Don't forget to include the new files in your CMakeLists.txt if you have one:

add_executable(PROJECTNAME
    src/main.cpp
    src/nn.cpp
)
target_include_directories(PROJECTNAME PRIVATE include)
find_package(OpenSSL REQUIRED)
target_link_libraries(PROJECTNAME OpenSSL::SSL OpenSSL::Crypto)

• Compile and check if it works, sometimes code editors highight the #include"nn.hpp" in red, so check incase it's a real error instead of the usual false alarm.
• Run command: chmod +x gen.sh (Initialize script)
• Run command: ./gen.sh (Run script to install keys for you)

Updates

• 12/3/26: Added file sending/receiving, no size limit. Called NFTP (Novus File Transfer Protocol). Check Documentation.md for correct usage.
• 10/3/26: Access Control is now added, just assign the password as shown in Documentation.md and no one but you and the password holders can join (Don't share your password on accident!) I'll add encryption for the passwords too because stored in plain text is a bit awkward, but it works for now.
• 9/3/26: Encryption is now fully working as intended. make sure to have the key.pem and cert.pem in your build folder when you run your server.

Made by Mehdi B.R (Nullora @ Novus)