NetherNet

A standalone NetherNet transport library for PHP.

NetherNet handles the WebRTC transport layer for Minecraft: Bedrock Edition connections, acting as an alternative transport alongside RakNet.

RakNet/RakLib ─┐
               ├─> NetworkSession -> protocolId -> MV layer
NetherNet ─────┘

This library focuses strictly on the transport connection itself. Packet decoding, session handling, and gameplay logic are left to the server implementation.

Requirements

• PHP 8.1 or higher, with OpenSSL
• ext-webrtc 0.3.0 and libdatachannel 0.24.5 for the native backend
• A native extension built for the running PHP ABI; ZTS builds are required when embedding the library in Amber/PocketMine

Composer enforces the extension requirement. ExtWebRtcPeer::assertAvailable() also verifies the libdatachannel version and native API before listening. NetherNet stays transport-only; server packaging and operator trust provisioning belong to the embedding application.

Development

With the native backend installed, run tests and analysis with Composer:

composer check

Or run individual steps:

composer test
composer analyse
composer bench:check

Backend-independent development can install with composer install --ignore-platform-req=ext-webrtc and run composer test and composer analyse. This exemption only supports fake-backend unit tests; it does not provide a working native transport. The library CI uses that explicit exemption for its PHP/Windows unit matrix; Amber release CI builds and validates the pinned native backend against PocketMine ZTS PHP. Run composer test:native with the real extension to validate transport interoperability.

License

NetherNet is licensed under the LGPL-3.0-only.