Caddy

Judgement

What it is

Building block

What it does

A web server and reverse proxy that gets and renews TLS certificates automatically, configured with a short Caddyfile or a JSON API, and extended with Go plugins.

Adopt it when

You want to serve sites or proxy apps over HTTPS with almost no configuration and no separate certificate tooling.

Watch out

Plugins must be compiled into a custom binary with xcaddy, and some advanced nginx setups have no direct equivalent.

Ready for

Production-ready

Runs as

Self-hosted server and command line

Built with

Go

How established

Established: started 11 years ago, latest release v2.11.9.

What the license allows

You can build it into a product you sell, as long as you keep its copyright notice.

Judged on 2026-11-06 from the project's README and GitHub data. The license and age lines are worked out directly.

Built from

Follow it down: Caddy → Go → runs on a microchip

How compilers were built, back to punched paper tape

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