Open-Awesome
CategoriesAlternativesStacksSelf-HostedExplore
Open-Awesome

© 2026 Open-Awesome. Curated for the developer elite.

TermsPrivacyAboutGitHubRSS
  1. Home
  2. Clojure
  3. Pedestal

Pedestal

Clojure0.7.2

A Clojure library suite for building secure, extensible, and asynchronous server-side applications.

Visit WebsiteGitHubGitHub
2.8k stars315 forks0 contributors

What is Pedestal?

Pedestal is a suite of Clojure libraries for server-side development that enables building secure, extensible, and high-performance web applications. It simplifies creating asynchronous services with built-in support for real-time features like Server-Sent Events and WebSockets, while integrating logging, metrics, and tracing out of the box.

Target Audience

Clojure developers building scalable server-side applications, APIs, or real-time web services who value simplicity, security, and extensibility in their tech stack.

Value Proposition

Developers choose Pedestal for its Clojure-native design, which brings the language's elegance to server-side development, along with robust defaults, asynchronous capabilities, and seamless integration with popular servers like Jetty and Http-Kit.

Overview

The Pedestal Server-side Libraries

Use Cases

Best For

  • Building real-time web applications with WebSockets or Server-Sent Events
  • Creating secure and scalable RESTful APIs in Clojure
  • Developing asynchronous server-side services that require non-blocking I/O
  • Implementing observability with integrated logging, metrics, and tracing
  • Prototyping server applications quickly with extensible defaults
  • Deploying Clojure services on Jetty or Http-Kit servers

Not Ideal For

  • Projects not using Clojure or teams unfamiliar with functional programming paradigms
  • Simple REST APIs that don't require asynchronous handling or real-time features
  • Applications needing extensive third-party middleware or a large plugin ecosystem
  • Teams looking for a full-stack framework with built-in client-side rendering or templating

Pros & Cons

Pros

Secure by Default

Built-in security practices protect against common vulnerabilities, as emphasized in the features list, ensuring applications are protected out of the box.

Asynchronous Efficiency

Manages requests without blocking, improving performance for scalable applications, which is a core feature highlighted in the README.

Real-Time Ready

Native support for Server-Sent Events and WebSockets as first-class citizens, making it ideal for building real-time web services directly from the library.

Integrated Observability

Comes with logging, metrics, and tracing built-in for monitoring application health, as stated in the key features, reducing setup overhead.

Server Flexibility

Default integration with Jetty 12 and Http-Kit allows for versatile deployment options, providing choice and adaptability for different environments.

Cons

Clojure Ecosystem Dependency

Limited to the Clojure community and libraries, which has a smaller ecosystem compared to more popular languages, potentially restricting tooling and support.

Configuration Overhead

While quick to start with a few lines of code, scaling to production requires extensive setup and tuning, as implied by the design to grow with the application.

Documentation Fragmentation

Relies on external documentation at pedestal.io, which might not be as integrated or frequently updated as inline docs, complicating learning and troubleshooting.

Java Version Constraints

Requires Java 17 or later, as noted in the README, which could be a barrier for teams operating on older Java versions or legacy systems.

Frequently Asked Questions

Quick Stats

Stars2,782
Forks315
Contributors0
Open Issues13
Last commit3 days ago
CreatedSince 2013

Tags

#server-side#observability#asynchronous#clojure#web-framework#jetty#real-time

Built With

C
Clojure
J
Java 17

Links & Resources

Website

Included in

Clojure2.8k
Auto-fetched 7 hours ago

Related Projects

CompojureCompojure

A concise routing library for Ring/Clojure

Stars4,112
Forks259
Last commit11 months ago
fulcrofulcro

A library for development of single-page full-stack web applications in clj/cljs

Stars1,612
Forks149
Last commit2 days ago
ReititReitit

A fast data-driven routing library for Clojure/Script

Stars1,583
Forks262
Last commit7 days ago
DuctDuct

Server-side application framework for Clojure

Stars1,154
Forks52
Last commit11 months ago
Community-curated · Updated weekly · 100% open source

Found a gem we're missing?

Open-Awesome is built by the community, for the community. Submit a project, suggest an awesome list, or help improve the catalog on GitHub.

Submit a projectStar on GitHub