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Eclipse Jetty

Eclipse Jetty is a Java-based Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) server and servlet container (application infrastructure) for hosting web applications and services and embedding web capabilities into other JVM-based software.

  • Lightweight HTTP server and servlet container for Java (application infrastructure)
  • Embeddable server runtime for integration into JVM applications (embedded web server)
  • Support for HTTP and related web protocols for serving dynamic and static content (web serving)
  • Integration with Jakarta Servlet and related specifications for web application deployment (Java web runtime)
  • Tooling and APIs for configuring, securing, and monitoring Jetty-based deployments (operations and management)

More About Eclipse Jetty

Eclipse Jetty is a Java HTTP server and servlet container (application infrastructure) designed to host web applications, Representational State Transfer (REST) services, and other HTTP-based workloads on the Java Virtual Machine (VM). It targets scenarios where a compact, configurable, and programmatically controllable web runtime is required, including both standalone servers and applications that embed an HTTP stack directly.

Jetty provides core capabilities for serving HTTP requests and responses (web serving), handling static resources, and running Java web applications based on Jakarta Servlet (Java web runtime). It supports the deployment of standard servlet-based applications packaged as web archives (WAR files) as well as applications that construct and configure the server via code. The project aligns with Eclipse Foundation governance (open-source governance) and follows the Jakarta EE ecosystem for servlet-related behavior.

A primary use pattern for Eclipse Jetty is its embeddable architecture (embedded web server), which allows developers to integrate an HTTP server directly into Java applications, frameworks, or middleware. This approach enables applications to control server lifecycle, configuration, and connectors through code, which is used in products, appliances, and custom platforms that require a bundled web stack rather than a separately managed application server.

For enterprise environments, Jetty supports configuration options for connectors, thread pools, request handling, and security features (operations and management). Administrators can configure Transport Layer Security (TLS), authentication mechanisms, and access control using the provided modules and configuration files (security management). Logging, monitoring hooks, and integration points allow Jetty-based deployments to participate in existing observability and operations practices (observability and monitoring).

Jetty works with Jakarta Servlet and related web specifications (Java web runtime), which positions it within the Java web and application server ecosystem. It is part of the Eclipse Foundation project portfolio (open-source foundation project), which provides project governance, licensing, and release processes. Jetty can be used as a standalone HTTP server, as the servlet container within larger Jakarta EE stacks, or embedded into bespoke Java services, microservices, and tooling.

In a technical directory, Eclipse Jetty fits under categories such as Java web server, servlet container, and embeddable HTTP server (application infrastructure, web serving, embedded web server). It is relevant to architects and engineers planning Java-based web platforms, custom server products, or services that require an embedded, configurable HTTP and servlet runtime.