SwiftChannel

A high-performance, low-latency inter-process communication (IPC) library for modern C++.

Features

• Header-only sender API - Zero friction integration for sender applications
• Low latency - Lock-free ring buffer design with minimal syscalls
• Cross-platform - Works on Windows (named pipes/shared memory) and POSIX systems (sockets/shm)
• Type-safe - Modern C++20 design
• Easy to integrate - CMake support with prebuilt binaries

Quick Start

Sender (Header-only)

#include <swiftchannel/swiftchannel.hpp>

int main() {
    swiftchannel::Sender sender("my_channel");
    
    // Send a message
    MyMessage msg;
    sender.send(msg);
    
    return 0;
}

CMake integration (sender-only):

add_executable(my_sender main.cpp)
target_include_directories(my_sender PRIVATE path/to/swiftchannel/include)

Receiver (Requires linking)

#include <swiftchannel/swiftchannel.hpp>

int main() {
    swiftchannel::Receiver receiver("my_channel");
    
    receiver.start([](const void* data, size_t size) {
        // Process message
    });
    
    return 0;
}

CMake integration (receiver):

add_executable(my_receiver main.cpp)
target_link_libraries(my_receiver PRIVATE swiftchannel)

Architecture

Application Layer
       ↓
Header-only Sender API (zero-copy, inline ring buffer)
       ↓
Compiled Core Runtime (receiver, lifecycle management)
       ↓
OS Primitives (shared memory, sockets/pipes)

Building

mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
cmake --build .

Options

• SWIFTCHANNEL_BUILD_TESTS=ON/OFF - Build unit tests (default: ON)
• SWIFTCHANNEL_BUILD_EXAMPLES=ON/OFF - Build examples (default: ON)

📚 Documentation

• INDEX.md - Complete project navigation guide
• QUICK_REFERENCE.md - API cheat sheet & common patterns
• GETTING_STARTED.md - Comprehensive user guide
• ARCHITECTURE.md - Technical design deep dive
• PROJECT_SUMMARY.md - Framework overview

🚀 Quick Start

Option 1: Use verification script

# Linux/Mac
./verify_build.sh

# Windows
verify_build.bat

Option 2: Manual build

mkdir build && cd build
cmake .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build . --config Release
ctest -C Release

License

MIT License - See LICENSE file for details.

Design Philosophy

SwiftChannel is designed with the following principles:

1. Sender-first optimization - Most applications are senders; make their life easy
2. Zero-copy where possible - Direct memory access through shared memory
3. Fail-fast semantics - Clear error reporting and recovery
4. ABI stability - Compiled core with stable interface