Custom Web Server from scratch in Node.js!

Inspired by the book by James Smith, I have successfully built a Custom Web Server from scratch in Node.js!

This was not about using Express or other high-level frameworks. This server was built using only the Node.js net module, directly on top of raw TCP sockets.


What did I learn in this deep dive?
✅ How TCP sockets and the event loop really work.
✅ The anatomy of the HTTP protocol—from parsing requests to crafting responses.
✅ Implementing Chunked Transfer Encoding for memory-efficient file streaming.
✅ Upgrading an HTTP connection to a WebSocket for full-duplex, real-time communication.


Building this server provided a profound understanding of what happens "under the hood" between a browser and a server. It was a challenging yet incredibly rewarding experience that truly sharpened my low-level understanding of web technologies.

GitHub repo—Link