# apple/swift-system

Low-level system calls and types for Swift

Repository: https://github.com/apple/swift-system
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/swift-system
Language: Swift
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: file-path, file-descriptor, posix
Last push: 2026-08-17T18:27:17+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 98/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 98, release rhythm 97, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2169, "days_push": 16, "days_rel": 20, "gap_med": 8.5, "n_releases_24m": 19}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1415, forks 150 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:39.785375+00:00)

## What it is
Swift System (SystemPackage) is an Apple-maintained Swift library providing idiomatic, type-safe interfaces to low-level system calls and currency types like file paths and file descriptors. It exposes native platform APIs per OS (Darwin, POSIX, Windows) rather than abstracting over them, aiming to make platform-specific code safer and more expressive.

## Use cases
- open, read, and write files with type-safe file descriptors in Swift
- manipulate file paths without raw C strings
- build cross-platform Swift libraries like SwiftNIO or SwiftPM on top of system calls
- wrap POSIX system calls with idiomatic Swift error handling
- work with low-level OS interfaces on Darwin, Linux, or Windows

## When to choose
- you need safe, idiomatic Swift bindings to file descriptors and file paths
- you are building a systems-level Swift library or tool that touches the OS directly
- you want Apple-maintained, source-stable system interfaces for Darwin and POSIX platforms

## When to avoid
- you want a single unified cross-platform API that hides OS differences
- you need high-level file system utilities like directory walking or file copying
- your target platform is Windows and you require source stability

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: file-system, developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools, operating-systems, cross-platform
- platform: windows
- tags: posix, file-descriptor, file-path, system-calls, swiftpm, macos, linux, ios, swift

## Member repositories
- apple/swift-system (main) score 98

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:39.785375+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T04:38:08.204055+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/apple/swift-system (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:39.785375+00:00, sha 9cd08ec7fc51)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.