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CURLOPT_MAXCONNECTS

Section: C Library Functions (3)
Updated: 2026-03-19
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NAME

CURLOPT_MAXCONNECTS - maximum connection cache size

SYNOPSIS

#include <curl/curl.h>

CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, CURLOPT_MAXCONNECTS, long amount);

DESCRIPTION

Pass a long. The set amount is the maximum number of connections that libcurl may keep alive in its connection cache after use. The default is 5, and there is not much point in changing this value unless you are perfectly aware of how this works. This concerns connections using any of the protocols that support persistent connections.

When reaching the maximum limit, curl closes the oldest connection present in the cache to prevent the number of connections from increasing.

If you already have performed transfers with this curl handle, setting a smaller CURLOPT_MAXCONNECTS(3) than before may cause open connections to get closed unnecessarily.

If you add this easy handle to a multi handle, this setting is not acknowledged, and you must instead use curl_multi_setopt(3) and the CURLMOPT_MAXCONNECTS(3) option.

DEFAULT

PROTOCOLS

This functionality affects all supported protocols

EXAMPLE

int main(void)
{
  CURL *curl = curl_easy_init();
  if(curl) {
    CURLcode result;
    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, "https://example.com/");
    /* limit the connection cache for this handle to no more than 3 */
    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_MAXCONNECTS, 3L);
    result = curl_easy_perform(curl);
  }
}

AVAILABILITY

Added in curl 7.7

RETURN VALUE

curl_easy_setopt(3) returns a CURLcode indicating success or error.

CURLE_OK (0) means everything was OK, non-zero means an error occurred, see libcurl-errors(3).