SwiftNet is a lightweight networking library built on top of pcap, operating at Layer 2. It is designed for developers who value simplicity, readability, and performance.
- High performance server side networking with kernel bypass (DPDK / AF_XDP)
- Performance critical applications requiring minimal OS overhead
- Multiplayer game networking with fully custom transport protocols
- Apple Silicon (macOS arm64)
- Linux arm64 (Release build works, but testing is disabled due to TSAN issues)
- 💡 Ease of Use: Simple API designed to get up and running quickly, without needing to deal directly with scokets, ip/eth headers or complicated libraries.
- 📂 Lightweight: No dependencies except PCAP and a small footprint.
- Straightforward API: Get up and running with minimal setup.
- Open Source and Collaborative: Contributions are welcome to make it even better.
- Compile time feature choosing Compile only specific features of the library.
- Lightweight Static library build is under 1MB.
- Future-proof Designed to scale with optional features enabled at compile time.
- Server side performance The main focus is to make linux servers easily scalable, by enabling AF DXP, DPDK or other ways of accelerating packets without operating system involvement.
- 0.5.0: Performance improvements in critical paths, ready for some real world usage
-
Optimize the most obvious parts of the codebase
-
Stabilize the API to avoid breaking changes in future releases
-
AF_XDP Linux support
-
Long-term: optional hardware acceleration (FPGA/ASIC) with external NIC to bypass OS overhead for server side processing
-
Hardware & Conditions
Tested on a MacBook Air M3 (my daily driver machine, running multiple background applications) -
Interface
Real Wi-Fi interface: en0 -
Throughput
18 MB/s -
Memory Usage
Peak memory footprint: 10 million bytes -
CPU Usage
Average utilization: ~8% -
Detailed Timing (from /usr/bin/time -l)
- Real (wall-clock) time: 5.01 seconds
- User CPU time: 0.58 seconds
- System CPU time: 0.23 seconds
- Total CPU time: 0.81 seconds
-
CPU Cycles
2,273,393,860 cycles
Follow these steps to install SwiftNet:
vcpkg install morcules-swiftnet
- Clone the repository to your local machine:
git clone https://github.com/morcules/SwiftNet- Navigate to the build directory inside the SwiftNet directory:
cd SwiftNet/build- Compile:
./build_for_release.sh- To use SwiftNet in your project:
- Include the SwiftNet.h header from the
srcdirectory in your main source file (e.g.,main.c). - Link against the static library
libswiftnet.ausing your compiler.
- To run the library successfully, you're required to run the app with sudo.
- Pcap requires sudo
struct SwiftNetClientConnection* const client_conn = swiftnet_create_client("127.0.0.1", 8080, 1000);
if (client_conn == NULL) {
printf("Failed to create client connection\n");
return -1;
}
swiftnet_client_set_message_handler(client_conn, on_client_packet, NULL);
struct SwiftNetPacketBuffer buf = swiftnet_client_create_packet_buffer(sizeof(int));
int code = 0xFF;
swiftnet_client_append_to_packet(&code, sizeof(code), &buf);
swiftnet_client_send_packet(client_conn, &buf);
swiftnet_client_destroy_packet_buffer(&buf);
Contributions are very welcome no matter how small. Every single PR, issue, question, or typo fix is admired and appreciated.
- Check out open issues — Start with those labeled
good first issueorhelp wanted. - Found a bug or have a feature idea? Open an issue to discuss it first (especially for larger changes).
- Want to fix something yourself? Fork the repo, create a branch, and submit a pull request.
- AI - You're free to use anything you want to your advantage, but AI written slop that wasn't even ran locally won't be merged. If you don't understand the code please do not subbmit anything.
This project is licensed under the Apache License 2.0
