ZeroTier Sockets

Part of the ZeroTier SDK

Peer-to-peer and cross-platform encrypted connections built right into your app or service. No drivers, no root, and no host configuration.

Examples | Documentation | Community | Report a Bug

Language/Platform	Installation	Version	Example
C/C++	Build from source		C/C++
C#	Install-Package ZeroTier.Sockets		C#
Python	pip install libzt		Python
Rust	Coming very soon		Rust
Java	./build.sh host-jar		Java
Linux	brew install zerotier/tap/libzt		C/C++
macOS	brew install zerotier/tap/libzt		C/C++
iOS / iPadOS	./build.sh iphoneos-framework		Objective-C, Swift
Android	./build.sh android-aar		Java

#include "ZeroTierSockets.h"

int main()
{
    zts_node_start();
    zts_net_join(net_id);
    int fd = zts_bsd_socket(ZTS_AF_INET, ZTS_SOCK_STREAM, 0);
    zts_bsd_connect(fd, ...);
    ...
}

Build from source

git submodule update --init

This project uses CMake as a build system generator. The scripts build.* simplify building and packaging for various targets. There are many targets and configurations not mentioned here.

Platform	Build instructions	Notes
Linux	./build.sh host "release"	build.sh
macOS	./build.sh host "release"	build.sh
Windows	. .\build.ps1; Build-Host -BuildType "Release" -Arch "x64"	build.ps1, Requires PowerShell

Using the host keyword will automatically detect the current machine type and build standard libzt for use in C/C++ (no additional language bindings.) See ./build.sh list for additional target options. libzt depends on cURL for the optional portion of the API that interfaces with our hosted web offering (my.zerotier.com). If you do not need this functionality you can omit it by passing -DZTS_DISABLE_CENTRAL_API=1 to CMake.

Example output:

~/libzt/dist/macos-x64-host-release
├── bin
│   ├── client
│   ├── server
│   └── ...
└── lib
    ├── libzt.a
    └── libzt.dylib

Important directories:

Directory	Purpose
dist	Contains finished targets (libraries, binaries, packages, etc.)
cache	Contains build system caches that can safely be deleted after use.
pkg	Contains project, script and spec files to generate packages.

Self-hosting (Optional)

We provide ways for your app or enterprise to function independently from any of our services if desired.

While we do operate a global network of redundant root servers, network controllers and an admin API/UI called Central, some use-cases require full control over the infrastructure and we try to make it as easy as possible to set up your own controllers and root servers: See here to learn more about how to set up your own network controller, and here to learn more about setting up your own roots.

Help

• Documentation: docs.zerotier.com
• Examples: examples/
• Bug reports: Open a github issue.
• General ZeroTier troubleshooting: Knowledgebase.
• Chat with us: discuss.zerotier.com

Licensing

ZeroTier and the ZeroTier SDK (libzt and libztcore) are licensed under the BSL version 1.1. ZeroTier is free to use internally in businesses and academic institutions and for non-commercial purposes. Certain types of commercial use such as building closed-source apps and devices based on ZeroTier or offering ZeroTier network controllers and network management as a SaaS service require a commercial license. A small amount of third party code is also included in ZeroTier and is not subject to our BSL license. See AUTHORS.md for a list of third party code, where it is included, and the licenses that apply to it. All of the third party code in ZeroTier is liberally licensed (MIT, BSD, Apache, public domain, etc.). If you want a commercial license to use the ZeroTier SDK in your product contact us directly via contact@zerotier.com