Developer Integrates Homemade TLS Layer Into Scratch-Built Web Server

A developer has documented the process of combining two personal learning projects: a web server built from raw sockets and a custom TLS-like secure channel constructed from scratch. The exercise focused on identifying exactly what changes when a web server shifts from receiving plaintext HTTP bytes to receiving encrypted TCP bytes. The key finding was that the HTTP parser, router, and file-serving logic required virtually no modification, as the only meaningful change occurred at the layer between TCP and HTTP. The integration works by inserting a TLS handshake and record-decryption step between the raw socket and the HTTP parser, so the rest of the server continues to handle plaintext as before. The author notes this is strictly a learning project and does not implement the real TLS 1.3 wire format, meaning standard browsers cannot connect to it.