curl_multi_init(3)

💅 curl_multi_init — create a multi handle 💅

okay so bestie, this is the curl_multi_init(3) page from the Library Functions Manual and it is so much less scary than it sounds, i promise 🫶

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✨ NAME ✨

curl_multi_init — create a multi handle 🎀

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

#include <curl/curl.h>

CURLM *curl_multi_init();

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

okay so this function hands you back a pointer to a CURLM handle, and that handle is what you feed into all the other multi-functions — literally all of them. sometimes the docs just call it a "multi handle" in places, iykyk, that's the same thing 💅

no cap, this is important: this init call MUST have a matching call to curl_multi_cleanup(3) when the operation is complete. like, you don't just leave it hanging. that's not the vibe. that's a leak. 😭

by default, the multi handle is out here holding several caches for you — main character energy, it's carrying all of this 👜✨:

• the DNS cache
• the connection pool
• the TLS session ID cache
• the TLS CA cert cache

and the way that every single transfer using the same multi handle shares these caches?? obsessed. that's the whole point, that's the slay 🌸

🌈 PROTOCOLS 🌈

this functionality affects all supported protocols — yeah, all of them, periodt 👑

🦋 EXAMPLE 🦋

int main(void)
{
  /* init a multi stack */
  CURLM *multi = curl_multi_init();
  CURL *curl = curl_easy_init();
  CURL *curl2 = curl_easy_init();

  /* add individual transfers */
  curl_multi_add_handle(multi, curl);
  curl_multi_add_handle(multi, curl2);
}

look at her go 😌💖 two easy handles, one multi handle, all the transfers vibing together.

⭐ AVAILABILITY ⭐

added in curl 7.9.6 — an icon, a legend, she's been here a minute 🎀

💜 RETURN VALUE 💜

if this function returns NULL, bestie... something went wrong, and you legit cannot use the other curl functions. like, dead end. that's the vibe check failing 🙈

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

• curl_easy_init(3)
• curl_global_init(3)
• curl_multi_add_handle(3)
• curl_multi_cleanup(3)
• curl_multi_get_handles(3)

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okay that's the whole page bestie, go build something iconic 💅✨

this masterpiece brought to you by libcurl, dated 2026-10-12 — curl_multi_init(3), mwah 🫶