SwiftCoreWeb

Your iPhone can run a real web server. SwiftCoreWeb turns any iOS 15+ app into a full HTTP/HTTPS/WebSocket backend, no separate server needed. Same fluent, Minimal-API feel .NET developers already love, done in idiomatic Swift, with zero runtime reflection.

• iOS 15.0+ deployment target
• Xcode 16+ / Swift 6 language mode (macros require a Swift 5.9+ toolchain at compile time only — zero runtime cost)
• Dependencies: swift-nio, swift-nio-transport-services, swift-syntax (macros only). Everything else — TLS, JWT signing/verification, logging, network monitoring — uses system frameworks (Security, CryptoKit, os.Logger, Network).

import SwiftCoreWeb

let app = WebApplication.createBuilder().build()
app.mapGet("/hello") { "Hello, world!" }
try await app.runAsync()

Binds to 127.0.0.1:8080 by default — secure by default, no LAN exposure until you explicitly opt in with builder.listenOnAllInterfaces().

A click in the browser runs Swift on the server, and the page updates — no client-side JS to write.

struct CounterPage: Page {
    static let template = "counter.html"
    var count = 0

    mutating func onEvent(_ event: String, _ ctx: PageContext) async throws -> PageAction {
        if event == "increment" { count += 1 }
        return .render
    }
}

app.useVue()
app.usePages(root: .bundle("Views"))
app.mapPage("/counter", CounterPage.self)

Views/counter.html — a Vue template, nothing else:

<button @click="$swift('increment')">Count: {{ count }}</button>

Three rules: form fields (none here) are what the user edits; every other property is server state the browser can see but not change; $swift('name') calls onEvent("name") in Swift. See docs/web/LIVE_PAGES_GUIDE.md for every input type, validation, and session state.

WebApplication.createBuilder() gives you a fluent builder for ports/TLS/limits/DI, one router that mixes Minimal API closures and macro-based @Controllers, a middleware pipeline (auth, CORS, security headers, logging), zero-build Vue or a full Vite workflow for the frontend, and a TestHost that runs the real production pipeline in-memory. Every one of these has its own short guide with runnable examples — the full index is docs/README.md:

• Getting started
• Routing & middleware
• Secrets & certificates
• Testing
• FAQ
• Building a web app? → docs/web/ — pages, Vue, Live Pages, sessions, the on-device dashboard
• Building an API? → docs/api/ — JSON routes, auth, OpenAPI, CRUD

Showcase/ is a complete, real end-to-end sample app — not a toy. It compiles against the actual API, and includes:

• A SwiftUI app whose device screen shows the on-device dashboard while / keeps serving the site to browsers
• A macro-based @Controller alongside closure Minimal API routes, on the same server
• Two authentication schemes: JWT and a custom API-key header
• SwiftUI ScenePhase lifecycle binding, plus keep-awake

It also walks through the three frontend workflows you'll actually use, and ships ready-to-copy Info.plist keys, vite.config.js, and both scripts:

• Vite on the Mac with API proxying
• on-device dev-deploy with live reload
• a production Xcode build phase that copies dist/ into the bundle

See Showcase/README.md for the full walkthrough and how to wire the sample into an Xcode project. It ships as source files, not an .xcodeproj, since the framework itself is SPM-only.

Two more things worth knowing exist, kept out of this file to keep it short:

• On-device dashboard — turn the device's own screen into a live console (request rate, latency, CPU/memory/battery/thermal state) instead of whatever your app would otherwise show. One line of SwiftUI (SwiftCoreWebDashboardView(app: app)), opt-in library target, the HTTP server keeps serving pages exactly as before.
• .NET naming table — coming from ASP.NET Core Minimal APIs? Every WebApplication.CreateBuilder()/MapGet/UseAuthentication/etc. has a direct SwiftCoreWeb equivalent, listed side by side.

SwiftCoreWeb is licensed under the PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0.

• Free for noncommercial use. Personal projects, education, research, and evaluation are all fine at no cost.
• Commercial use requires a separate commercialization agreement with the author. If your use case makes or supports revenue, get in touch before shipping it.
• The source is publicly readable on GitHub, but this is not an OSI-approved open-source license. SwiftCoreWeb is source-available, not open-source — please don't call it open-source in code, docs, or conversation.

The full license text is in LICENSE at the repository root. Third-party components embedded in this package (the Vue 3 runtime, SwiftNIO, swift-nio-transport-services) keep their own upstream licenses and required notices — see LICENSE-THIRD-PARTY.

Want to contribute? Read CONTRIBUTING.md and the Code of Conduct. Found a security issue? See SECURITY.md, don't open a public issue.

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