WebTransport

rustdocs

WebTransport is a browser API and protocol built on HTTP/3 and QUIC. It gives each session:

• Bidirectional streams — both sides can read and write; streams are independent, so a slow one doesn't block others
• Unidirectional streams — server-to-client or client-to-server, one-way
• Unreliable datagrams — low-latency messages that may be dropped or reordered, like UDP

This makes WebTransport well-suited for applications where WebSockets fall short: games, real-time audio/video signaling, live telemetry, and anything where head-of-line blocking or connection setup latency matters.

WebTransport requires an HTTP/3-capable server. See Runtime Adapters, TLS, and HTTP/3 for setup.

Handler

Add WebTransport to your handler chain. It intercepts incoming WebTransport CONNECT requests and hands each session to your function:

use trillium_webtransport::{WebTransport, WebTransportConnection};

let app = WebTransport::new(|wt: WebTransportConnection| async move {
    while let Some(stream) = wt.accept_next_stream().await {
        // handle inbound bidi or uni stream
        drop(stream);
    }
});

Other handlers in the chain that precede WebTransport run normally for non-WebTransport requests, so you can serve HTTP and WebTransport from the same handler tuple.

WebTransportConnection API

Each session gets a WebTransportConnection with these methods:

Method	Description
accept_bidi()	Wait for the next client-initiated bidirectional stream
accept_uni()	Wait for the next client-initiated unidirectional stream
accept_next_stream()	Wait for either kind of inbound stream
open_bidi()	Open a server-initiated bidirectional stream
open_uni()	Open a server-initiated unidirectional stream
recv_datagram()	Receive an unreliable datagram
send_datagram(&[u8])	Send an unreliable datagram

Streams implement AsyncRead and AsyncWrite (bidi) or just AsyncRead (uni inbound) or AsyncWrite (uni outbound).

ℹ️ Run datagram reception in a separate concurrent task from stream acceptance. Datagrams are typically on a latency-sensitive path and shouldn't wait behind slower stream I/O.

Full server example

use futures_lite::{AsyncReadExt, AsyncWriteExt};
use trillium_quinn::QuicConfig;
use trillium_rustls::RustlsAcceptor;
use trillium_webtransport::{InboundStream, WebTransport, WebTransportConnection};

async fn handle(wt: WebTransportConnection) {
    // Echo datagrams back to the client
    let datagram_loop = async {
        while let Some(data) = wt.recv_datagram().await {
            let _ = wt.send_datagram(&data);
        }
    };

    // Handle inbound streams
    let stream_loop = async {
        while let Some(stream) = wt.accept_next_stream().await {
            match stream {
                InboundStream::Bidi(mut s) => {
                    let mut buf = Vec::new();
                    if s.read_to_end(&mut buf).await.is_ok_and(|n| n > 0) {
                        let _ = s.write_all(&buf).await; // echo
                    }
                }
                InboundStream::Uni(mut s) => {
                    let mut buf = Vec::new();
                    let _ = s.read_to_end(&mut buf).await;
                }
            }
        }
    };

    futures_lite::future::zip(datagram_loop, stream_loop).await;
}

fn main() {
    trillium_smol::config()
        .with_acceptor(RustlsAcceptor::from_single_cert(CERT, KEY))
        .with_quic(QuicConfig::from_single_cert(CERT, KEY))
        .run(WebTransport::new(handle));
}

Datagram buffering

By default, up to 16 datagrams are buffered per session. When the buffer is full, the oldest datagram is dropped to make room for the newest. Adjust this with with_max_datagram_buffer:

// "latest-only" semantics: only the most recent datagram is kept
WebTransport::new(handler).with_max_datagram_buffer(1)