Higress WASM Go Plugin Development

Develop Higress gateway WASM plugins using Go language with the wasm-go SDK.

Quick Start

Project Setup

# Create project directory
mkdir my-plugin && cd my-plugin

# Initialize Go module
go mod init my-plugin

# Set proxy (China)
go env -w GOPROXY=https://proxy.golang.com.cn,direct

# Download dependencies
go get github.com/higress-group/proxy-wasm-go-sdk@go-1.24
go get github.com/higress-group/wasm-go@main
go get github.com/tidwall/gjson

Minimal Plugin Template

package main

import (
    "github.com/higress-group/wasm-go/pkg/wrapper"
    "github.com/higress-group/proxy-wasm-go-sdk/proxywasm"
    "github.com/higress-group/proxy-wasm-go-sdk/proxywasm/types"
    "github.com/tidwall/gjson"
)

func main() {}

func init() {
    wrapper.SetCtx(
        "my-plugin",
        wrapper.ParseConfig(parseConfig),
        wrapper.ProcessRequestHeaders(onHttpRequestHeaders),
    )
}

type MyConfig struct {
    Enabled bool
}

func parseConfig(json gjson.Result, config *MyConfig) error {
    config.Enabled = json.Get("enabled").Bool()
    return nil
}

func onHttpRequestHeaders(ctx wrapper.HttpContext, config MyConfig) types.Action {
    if config.Enabled {
        proxywasm.AddHttpRequestHeader("x-my-header", "hello")
    }
    return types.HeaderContinue
}

Compile

go mod tidy
GOOS=wasip1 GOARCH=wasm go build -buildmode=c-shared -o main.wasm ./

Core Concepts

Plugin Lifecycle

1. init() - Register plugin with wrapper.SetCtx()
2. parseConfig - Parse YAML config (auto-converted to JSON)
3. HTTP processing phases - Handle requests/responses

HTTP Processing Phases

Phase	Trigger	Handler
Request Headers	Gateway receives client request headers	ProcessRequestHeaders
Request Body	Gateway receives client request body	ProcessRequestBody
Response Headers	Gateway receives backend response headers	ProcessResponseHeaders
Response Body	Gateway receives backend response body	ProcessResponseBody
Stream Done	HTTP stream completes	ProcessStreamDone

Action Return Values

Action	Behavior
types.HeaderContinue	Continue to next filter
types.HeaderStopIteration	Stop header processing, wait for body
types.HeaderStopAllIterationAndWatermark	Stop all processing, buffer data, call proxywasm.ResumeHttpRequest/Response() to resume

API Reference

HttpContext Methods

// Request info (cached, safe to call in any phase)
ctx.Scheme()   // :scheme
ctx.Host()     // :authority
ctx.Path()     // :path
ctx.Method()   // :method

// Body handling
ctx.HasRequestBody()        // Check if request has body
ctx.HasResponseBody()       // Check if response has body
ctx.DontReadRequestBody()   // Skip reading request body
ctx.DontReadResponseBody()  // Skip reading response body
ctx.BufferRequestBody()     // Buffer instead of stream
ctx.BufferResponseBody()    // Buffer instead of stream

// Content detection
ctx.IsWebsocket()           // Check WebSocket upgrade
ctx.IsBinaryRequestBody()   // Check binary content
ctx.IsBinaryResponseBody()  // Check binary content

// Context storage
ctx.SetContext(key, value)
ctx.GetContext(key)
ctx.GetStringContext(key, defaultValue)
ctx.GetBoolContext(key, defaultValue)

// Custom logging
ctx.SetUserAttribute(key, value)
ctx.WriteUserAttributeToLog()

Header/Body Operations (proxywasm)

// Request headers
proxywasm.GetHttpRequestHeader(name)
proxywasm.AddHttpRequestHeader(name, value)
proxywasm.ReplaceHttpRequestHeader(name, value)
proxywasm.RemoveHttpRequestHeader(name)
proxywasm.GetHttpRequestHeaders()
proxywasm.ReplaceHttpRequestHeaders(headers)

// Response headers
proxywasm.GetHttpResponseHeader(name)
proxywasm.AddHttpResponseHeader(name, value)
proxywasm.ReplaceHttpResponseHeader(name, value)
proxywasm.RemoveHttpResponseHeader(name)
proxywasm.GetHttpResponseHeaders()
proxywasm.ReplaceHttpResponseHeaders(headers)

// Request body (only in body phase)
proxywasm.GetHttpRequestBody(start, size)
proxywasm.ReplaceHttpRequestBody(body)
proxywasm.AppendHttpRequestBody(data)
proxywasm.PrependHttpRequestBody(data)

// Response body (only in body phase)
proxywasm.GetHttpResponseBody(start, size)
proxywasm.ReplaceHttpResponseBody(body)
proxywasm.AppendHttpResponseBody(data)
proxywasm.PrependHttpResponseBody(data)

// Direct response
proxywasm.SendHttpResponse(statusCode, headers, body, grpcStatus)

// Flow control
proxywasm.ResumeHttpRequest()   // Resume paused request
proxywasm.ResumeHttpResponse()  // Resume paused response

Common Patterns

External HTTP Call

See references/http-client.md for complete HTTP client patterns.

func parseConfig(json gjson.Result, config *MyConfig) error {
    serviceName := json.Get("serviceName").String()
    servicePort := json.Get("servicePort").Int()
    config.client = wrapper.NewClusterClient(wrapper.FQDNCluster{
        FQDN: serviceName,
        Port: servicePort,
    })
    return nil
}

func onHttpRequestHeaders(ctx wrapper.HttpContext, config MyConfig) types.Action {
    err := config.client.Get("/api/check", nil, func(statusCode int, headers http.Header, body []byte) {
        if statusCode != 200 {
            proxywasm.SendHttpResponse(403, nil, []byte("Forbidden"), -1)
            return
        }
        proxywasm.ResumeHttpRequest()
    }, 3000) // timeout ms
    
    if err != nil {
        return types.HeaderContinue // fallback on error
    }
    return types.HeaderStopAllIterationAndWatermark
}

Redis Integration

See references/redis-client.md for complete Redis patterns.

func parseConfig(json gjson.Result, config *MyConfig) error {
    config.redis = wrapper.NewRedisClusterClient(wrapper.FQDNCluster{
        FQDN: json.Get("redisService").String(),
        Port: json.Get("redisPort").Int(),
    })
    return config.redis.Init(
        json.Get("username").String(),
        json.Get("password").String(),
        json.Get("timeout").Int(),
    )
}

Multi-level Config

插件配置支持在控制台不同级别设置：全局、域名级、路由级。控制面会自动处理配置的优先级和匹配逻辑，插件代码中通过 parseConfig 解析到的就是当前请求匹配到的配置。

Local Testing

See references/local-testing.md for Docker Compose setup.

Advanced Topics

See references/advanced-patterns.md for:

• Streaming body processing
• Route call pattern
• Tick functions (periodic tasks)
• Leader election
• Memory management
• Custom logging

Best Practices

1. Never call Resume after SendHttpResponse - Response auto-resumes
2. Check HasRequestBody() before returning HeaderStopIteration - Avoids blocking
3. Use cached ctx methods - ctx.Path() works in any phase, GetHttpRequestHeader(":path") only in header phase
4. Handle external call failures gracefully - Return HeaderContinue on error to avoid blocking
5. Set appropriate timeouts - Default HTTP call timeout is 500ms