Show HN: A pure ARM64 Assembly web server, now on Linux with CGI for no reason
A highly optimized, low-level web server, now dynamic with CGI support and Linux compatibility.
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A highly optimized, low-level web server, now dynamic with CGI support and Linux compatibility.
This project targets extreme performance and resource efficiency, a critical concern in specific infrastructure contexts, particularly edge computing or embedded systems where ARM64 is prevalent. The shift from macOS-only to Linux and the addition of CGI support significantly broaden its applicability, moving it from a niche curiosity to a potentially viable component for specialized, high-performance backend services. While not a general-purpose web server replacement, its assembly-level optimization addresses a pain point for applications demanding minimal overhead and maximum control. This demonstrates continued innovation in foundational infrastructure components, driven by specific performance and resource constraints.
This is ymawky, a now-dynamic web server written entirely in ARM64 Assembly. I've previously posted about ymawky here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48080587In the past month and a half, I've made some pretty major improvements: I've added CGI scripting support, so the server now supports query strings and dynamic content; and I've fully ported ymawky to run on Linux, rather than macOS-only.In addition to GET/PUT/HEAD/DELETE/OPTIONS requests, because of CGI support ymawky also accepts POST requests (only to CGI resources for now).I've also updated the more detailed writeup to reflect CGI support and the Linux port: https://imtomt.github.io/ymawky/
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What is A pure ARM64 Assembly web server, now on Linux with CGI for no reason?
A pure ARM64 Assembly web server, now on Linux with CGI for no reason is analyzed by our AI as: A highly optimized, low-level web server, now dynamic with CGI support and Linux compatibility.. It focuses on This project targets extreme performance and resource efficiency, a critical concern in specific infrastructure contexts, particularly edge computi...
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Data for A pure ARM64 Assembly web server, now on Linux with CGI for no reason was aggregated directly from the Hacker News community ecosystem, representing raw developer and early-adopter sentiment.
When was A pure ARM64 Assembly web server, now on Linux with CGI for no reason publicly launched?
The initial public indexing or launch date for A pure ARM64 Assembly web server, now on Linux with CGI for no reason within our tracked developer communities was recorded on June 23, 2026.
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A pure ARM64 Assembly web server, now on Linux with CGI for no reason has achieved measurable traction, logging over 46 traction score and facilitating 16 recorded discussions or engagements.
Which technical categories define A pure ARM64 Assembly web server, now on Linux with CGI for no reason?
Based on metadata extraction, A pure ARM64 Assembly web server, now on Linux with CGI for no reason is categorized under topics such as: ARM64 Assembly, web server, Linux, CGI scripting support.
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How does the creator describe A pure ARM64 Assembly web server, now on Linux with CGI for no reason?
The original author or development team describes the product as follows: "This is ymawky, a now-dynamic web server written entirely in ARM64 Assembly. I've previously posted about ymawky here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48080587In the past month and a half, I'v..."
Community Voice & Feedback
> written entirely by-hand in ARM64 assembly as a fun project. It's probably got a lot of vulnerabilities I'm unaware ofImpressive, but that second part worries me. I hope one day AI security scans upon commit (or integrated in the IDE) will alleviate that risk.What's the current security gold standard for web servers? Hiawatha? https://hiawatha.leisink.net/
Is an assembly webserver more performant than webservers written in other languages? Are there any hard limits on how much you can squeeze when using a particular framework?
arm64 is an IP-locked ISA, namely it is not worth assembly writting, stick to plain and simple C.RISC-V is. I am self-hosting many of my internet thingies. I plan to move to RISC-V only hardware and to rewrite my internet software directly in mono-threaded paranoid RISC-V assembly.
"raw syscalls only: no libc wrappers"insane! i wonder how many times you have spent to learn about them!
I love it :-)Back in the distant past I wrote some really big ARM 32 assembly projects. 64 bit ARM is really very similar!I had a look through the code. Some ENTRY/EXIT macros to help with the drudgery of save restore registers & stack frame would probably help. Also some register renaming would help readability (eg if a register points to incoming data throughout a subroutine rename it pdata).I salute your effort and please enjoy the core dumps :-)
I love projects like this because I think eventually all common computing tasks will be broken down in constituent most computationally optimized components
Ahh, this little gem ported to Linux, great! That opens much more possibilities to play with it, thanks
You wrote this by hand? Impressive.
Cool. I particularly like the O'Reilly book cover that never was. Although I fear you may have misunderstood what wasm is...Question/critique. Isn't getting the mime type by file extension a bit windowsy? Would it not be easier to read the magic number when you're at the assembly level?
This isn't a bad thing per se. I imagine this could be a thing for an embedded side project or a tiny rescue system.Edit: or learning arm64 assembly :)
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