diff --git a/server/request_handler.hpp b/server/request_handler.hpp
new file mode 100644
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/request_handler.hpp
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+//
+// request_handler.hpp
+// ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+//
+// Copyright (c) 2003-2012 Christopher M. Kohlhoff (chris at kohlhoff dot com)
+//
+// Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0. (See accompanying
+// file LICENSE_1_0.txt or copy at http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt)
+//
+
+#ifndef HTTP_REQUEST_HANDLER_HPP
+#define HTTP_REQUEST_HANDLER_HPP
+
+#include <string>
+#include <boost/noncopyable.hpp>
+
+namespace http {
+namespace server {
+
+struct reply;
+struct request;
+
+/// The common handler for all incoming requests.
+class request_handler
+  : private boost::noncopyable
+{
+public:
+  /// Construct with a directory containing files to be served.
+  explicit request_handler(const std::string& doc_root);
+
+  /// Handle a request and produce a reply.
+  void handle_request(const request& req, reply& rep);
+
+private:
+  /// The directory containing the files to be served.
+  std::string doc_root_;
+
+  /// Perform URL-decoding on a string. Returns false if the encoding was
+  /// invalid.
+  static bool url_decode(const std::string& in, std::string& out);
+};
+
+} // namespace server
+} // namespace http
+
+#endif // HTTP_REQUEST_HANDLER_HPP