# nanomsg/nng

nanomsg-next-generation -- light-weight brokerless messaging

Repository: https://github.com/nanomsg/nng
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/nng
Homepage: https://nng.nanomsg.org
Language: C
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-08-26T22:46:41+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 95/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 87, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3552, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 7, "gap_med": 38.0, "n_releases_24m": 9}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 4660, forks 558 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:56.425890+00:00)

## What it is
NNG (nanomsg-next-generation) is a lightweight, broker-less messaging library in C implementing scalability protocols like pub/sub, request/reply, and pipeline. It provides a simple asynchronous API with TLS and ZeroTier transports for reliable, secure messaging.

## Use cases
- implement publish/subscribe messaging between services
- build request/reply RPC without a message broker
- send messages over IPC or TCP between processes
- add secure TLS-encrypted messaging to a C application
- replace ZeroMQ with a lighter messaging library
- implement service discovery and pipeline patterns

## When to choose
- you need brokerless messaging in C or C-compatible projects
- you want simple pub/sub or req/rep without running a broker
- you need a small, embeddable messaging library with TLS support
- you want mature, production-hardened scalability protocols

## When to avoid
- you need a full-featured message broker with queues and persistence
- you need Kafka/RabbitMQ-style durable messaging at scale
- your stack is higher-level and a native client for an existing broker is easier
- you need the legacy nanomsg API rather than NNG

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: message-queue, rpc, networking, concurrency, security
- domain: microservices, networking, developer-tools
- platform: windows, bsd, cross-platform, c
- tags: nanomsg, zeromq-alternative, scalability-protocols, brokerless, pubsub, request-reply, tls, ipc, c-library, messaging, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- nanomsg/nng (main) score 95

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:56.425890+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:19:27.122612+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/nanomsg/nng (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:56.425890+00:00, sha f5db30413296)
  - homepage: https://nng.nanomsg.org (fetched 2026-08-29T09:03:48.699795+00:00, sha 53d93ba4ae6a)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.