# Phoenix X server

18 Hacker News commenters recommended Phoenix X server and 10 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** A clean, from-scratch X11 server written in Zig, praised for modern design and built-in security ideas; critics say it is incomplete and lacks many X11 features.

## Why people recommend it

- Modern clean X11 rewrite with security (4 comments): "Phoenix is a great project, and it clearly shows that a clean, modern X11 implementation still resonates with many developers." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46628148)) "Phoenix[0] has some good ideas about how X11 could be made more secure without breaking backwards compatibility." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47480441)) "it's an X11 server written from the ground up, with security and legacy feature removal in mind" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48405066))
- Technically interesting new approach (4 comments): "by itself it looks like a fairly reasonable set of choices" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46380322)) "This is very good. We can see innovation in this space." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46382551)) "don't see the point but technically interesting" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46381352))
- Supports X preservation and new server (2 comments): "This is the kind of initiative I’d prefer to see from X preservationists. Great job, I hope it succeeds." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46380653)) "I have argued for a new X server following almost exactly the steps this project outlines." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46380790))
- Possible alternative to Xwayland (2 comments): "this might make a good alternative to Xwayland though, which can be exciting." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46382943)) "this looks like a better plan than XLibre" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46380471))

## What people warn about

- Lacks X11 drawing features apps need (5 comments): "While I appreciate and welcome this work, I still use and write software that makes use of old X draw calls" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46385847)) "It sounds like currently a lot of those reasons for using X11 would prevent using this X server." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46380540)) "If you are not going to implement X11 drawing ops and XRender" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46380314))
- Incomplete; few things work yet (4 comments): "Why a new incomplete implementation would be better to use than a project that is stable, full-featured, and with a proven track record?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46389750)) "I'm not even even convinced about the server if talking about a minimal server like this" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46380908)) "a11y aside of course... given that this was not really finished" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46401552))
- Unclear why it beats existing servers (3 comments): "don't see the point but technically interesting" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46381352)) "Why a new incomplete implementation would be better to use than a project that is stable, full-featured, and with a proven track record?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46389750)) "It sounds like currently a lot of those reasons for using X11 would prevent using this X server." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46380540))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Yserver X11 server](https://hackerapproved.com/p/yserver.md): 5 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Phoenix X server", https://hackerapproved.com/p/phoenix-x-server/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).