# basecamp/thruster

Repository: https://github.com/basecamp/thruster
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/thruster
Language: Go
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-09-02T15:53:50+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 71/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 100, release rhythm 35, longevity 69
- inputs: {"age_days": 971, "days_push": 0, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1157, forks 58 (observed 2026-09-03T02:15:09.556519+00:00)

## What it is
Thruster is an HTTP/2 proxy written in Go that wraps the Puma webserver to provide production-ready serving of Rails applications. It offers automatic Let's Encrypt TLS, HTTP caching of public assets, X-Sendfile support, and compression with near-zero configuration.

## Use cases
- serve a rails app directly on the open internet from a single container
- add http/2 support to a puma webserver
- automatically provision tls certificates with lets encrypt
- cache public assets in front of a rails app
- manage puma as a single process in docker without a process manager
- serve static files efficiently with x-sendfile and compression

## When to choose
- deploying simple Rails apps in a single container exposed directly to the internet
- you want zero-config HTTP/2 and automatic TLS without a separate reverse proxy
- you need Puma process management in containerized environments

## When to avoid
- you already run behind nginx, Caddy, or a cloud load balancer handling TLS and caching
- you need advanced proxy features like rate limiting, routing rules, or authentication
- your app is not Ruby/Puma-based

## Facets
- artifact type: service
- maturity: active
- function: http-server, proxy, caching, security
- domain: web-development, backend, self-hosted
- platform: self-hosted
- tags: http2, tls, lets-encrypt, puma, rails, reverse-proxy, x-sendfile, zero-config, devops, linux, macos, docker

## Member repositories
- basecamp/thruster (main) score 71

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-09-03T02:15:09.556519+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 2026-08-30T06:32:01.364237+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/basecamp/thruster (fetched 2026-09-03T02:15:09.556519+00:00, sha cbb9d1b33009)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.