Unix domain sockets

Unix domain sockets (UDS) enable high-performance interprocess communication (IPC) on a single operating system kernel.

Unix domain sockets (UDS) facilitate efficient, low-latency interprocess communication (IPC) exclusively within a single operating system kernel. Unlike network sockets (e.g., TCP/IP), UDS bypasses the network stack, operating directly in the kernel's memory. This direct path significantly reduces overhead, offering performance advantages of up to 2x over loopback TCP for local communication. UDS supports both stream (SOCK_STREAM) and datagram (SOCK_DGRAM) communication, mirroring network socket types but utilizing file system pathnames (e.g., `/tmp/my_socket`) or abstract names for addressing. They are ideal for local services requiring high-throughput, secure IPC, such as communication between a web server and a local caching service, or between microservices on the same host.

https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/unix.7.html