# nginx/unit

NGINX Unit - universal web app server - a lightweight and versatile open source server that simplifies the application stack by natively executing application code across eight different programming language runtimes.

Repository: https://github.com/nginx/unit
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/unit
Homepage: https://unit.nginx.org
Language: C
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Archived: true
Last push: 2025-10-08T18:19:44+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 10/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 46, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3283, "days_push": 329, "days_rel": 356, "gap_med": 72.0, "n_releases_24m": 5}
- flags: archived
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 5548, forks 376 (observed 2026-08-28T04:09:22.305060+00:00)

## What it is
NGINX Unit is a lightweight universal web application server, written in C, that serves static assets, handles TLS, routes requests, and natively executes application code across eight runtimes (Python, PHP, Go, Java, Node.js, Ruby, Perl, and WebAssembly). Its entire configuration is managed dynamically at runtime through a RESTful JSON API with zero-interruption updates, but the project was archived in October 2025 and no longer receives fixes.

## Use cases
- run python and php apps behind a single web server
- polyglot application server for multiple language runtimes
- serve static assets and dynamic app code from one lightweight server
- zero downtime runtime reconfiguration of a web server
- host webassembly applications server-side
- self-host several web apps with tls termination and routing
- replace a separate nginx plus app runtime stack with one server

## When to choose
- You need one server to run apps in several different languages side by side
- You want dynamic, zero-interruption configuration changes via a RESTful JSON API
- You want static asset serving, request routing, TLS, and app execution in a single lightweight process
- You need an existing, pinned deployment where maintenance risk is already accepted

## When to avoid
- Starting any new deployment - the project is archived and security vulnerabilities may go unaddressed
- You require long-term support, security patches, or new features from an actively maintained project
- You need a Windows server - Unit only runs on Unix-like systems
- You need a full-featured reverse proxy or web server with a large ecosystem like nginx or HAProxy

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: abandoned
- function: http-server, routing, proxy, wasm
- domain: web-development, backend, self-hosted, apis
- platform: bsd, c
- tags: application-server, web-server, nginx, polyglot-runtime, tls-termination, static-assets, restful-json-api, zero-downtime-reconfiguration, load-balancing, webassembly, unitctl, archived-project, linux, macos, docker

## Member repositories
- nginx/unit (main) score 10

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:22.305060+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 2026-08-29T17:55:40.063589+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/nginx/unit (fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:22.305060+00:00, sha c7b61afafa03)
  - homepage: https://unit.nginx.org (fetched 2026-08-29T08:50:57.593515+00:00, sha f30d6412fdd8)
  - site_page: https://unit.nginx.org/keyfeatures (fetched 2026-08-29T08:50:57.595918+00:00, sha f5e7c722799a)
  - site_page: https://unit.nginx.org/installation (fetched 2026-08-29T08:50:57.597884+00:00, sha 561088d7830e)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.