web server / arm64 / assembly

Why It Matters

A working ARM64 web server in raw assembly highlights low-level performance, portability, and syscall interfaces on Apple Silicon, informing server implementers and systems programmers about trade-offs without libc. It surfaces practical details for optimization, security considerations, and tooling gaps when targeting aarch64 in production or experimental stacks.

Latest Changes

• Author released ymawky, a minimalist web server written entirely in ARM64 assembly for Apple Silicon macOS.
• ymawky is syscall-only, no-libc, and implements a fork-per-connection model for serving static GET requests.
• Community posting and discussion surfaced across Hacker News, Reddit, and social platforms in early May 2026.

Timeline

• 2026-05-08 — Initial Reddit submissions and project links for a raw ARM64 assembly web server appeared.
• 2026-05-08 — Multiple posts titled 'building a web server in aarch64/arm64 assembly' circulated in community forums.
• 2026-05-10 — Show HN featured the project ymawky, describing it as a syscall-only, no-libc ARM64 static-file server on macOS.
• 2026-05-10 — Social commentary compared modern servers, with a tweet suggesting migration preferences like moving from nginx to Caddy.

What to Watch

• Whether the project adds more HTTP methods, concurrency models, or security hardening beyond fork-per-connection.
• Portability efforts or tooling to build and test raw ARM64 assembly servers across macOS and other aarch64 OSes.