Awesome WebSockets

A curated list of WebSockets related principles and technologies.

WebSocket is a computer communications protocol, providing full-duplex communication channels over a single TCP connection. The WebSocket protocol was standardized by the IETF as RFC 6455 in 2011, and the WebSocket API in Web IDL is being standardized by the W3C.

Contents

• Tools per Language
  • Agnostic
  • C
  • C++
  • C#
  • Erlang
  • Go
  • Haskell
  • Java VM
    • Clojure
    • Java
    • Scala
  • Node.js
  • Perl
  • PHP
  • Python
  • Ruby
  • Rust
  • Swift
  • Protocols and APIs
• Command-Line Interface (CLI) Tools
• Real Life Stories
• Security
• Theory
  • Articles & Papers
  • Talks
  • Tutorials
  • Books
  • Sites
• License
• Contributing
• Acknowledgments

Tools per Language

Agnostic

• Centrifugo - Scalable real-time messaging in language-agnostic way.
• Websocketd - WebSockets the UNIX way - Full duplex messaging between web browsers and servers.
• Nchan - Nchan is a scalable, flexible pub/sub server for the modern web, built as a module for the Nginx web server.
• Apache-websocket - Apache WebSocket module.
• MinnowServer - A super small and fast embedded HTTP(S) WebSocket server.
• gwsocket - Fast, standalone, language-agnostic WebSocket server RFC6455 compliant.

C

• Libwebsockets - It's a lightweight pure C library built to use minimal CPU and memory resources, and provide fast throughput in both directions as client or server.
• Libwebsock - C library for easy WebSockets server.
• Websocket - Websocket server written in C.
• facil.io - A server/framework library for web applications, including Websockets and native pub/sub.
• libuwsc - A Lightweight and fully asynchronous WebSocket client C library based on libubox for Embedded Linux.
• mongoose - Mongoose Embedded Web Server Library - Mongoose is more than an embedded webserver. It is a multi-protocol embedded networking library with functions including TCP, HTTP client and server, WebSocket client and server, MQTT client and broker and much more.
• WebSockets in C - A minimal implementation for embedded applications.

C++

• Websocketpp - C++ Websocket client/server library.
• QtWebSockets - The QtWebSockets module is an add-on for the Qt5 library.
• Beast - HTTP and WebSocket built on Boost.Asio in C++11.
• µWebSockets - Highly scalable WebSocket server & client library.
• Simple-WebSocket-Server - A very simple, fast, multithreaded, platform independent WebSocket (WS) and WebSocket Secure (WSS) server and client library implemented using C++11, Boost.Asio and OpenSSL.
• UEWebsocket - Unreal engine 4 websocket plugin for both c++ and blueprint developer.
• IXWebSocket - Lightweight C++11 multi-threaded client library with TLS support.
• LAppS - LAppS - Lua Application Server for micro-services with default communication over WebSockets.
• libhv - A network library for developing TCP/UDP/SSL/HTTP/WebSocket client/server.

C#

• ASP.NET SignalR - Incredibly simple real-time web for .NET.
• WebSocketListener - Lightweight and highly scalable asynchronous WebSocket server for .NET/Mono.
• websocket-rpc - WebSocket RPC library for .NET with auto JavaScript client code generation, supporting ASP.NET Core.
• NetGain - A high performance websocket server library powering Stack Overflow.
• websocket-manager - Real-Time library for ASP .NET Core.
• WebSockets - Implementation of the WebSocket protocol, along with client and server integration components.
• WebSockets support in ASP.NET Core - This article explains how to get started with WebSockets in ASP.NET Core.
• unity-websocket-server - A simple, zero-dependency WebSocket server for Unity.

Erlang

• Sockjs-erlang - WebSocket emulation - Erlang server.
• Cowboy - Small, fast, modular HTTP server written in Erlang.
• n2o - Erlang web server on websockets.
• Kraken - Distributed Pubsub Server for Realtime Apps.

Go

• Gorilla Websocket - WebSocket implementation for Go.
• Websocket - Package Websocket implements a client and server for the WebSocket protocol as specified in RFC 6455.
• Ws - Tiny WebSocket library for Go.
• 1m-go-websockets - Handling 1M websockets connections in Go.
• gotify/server - A simple server for sending and receiving messages in real-time per web socket.
• nhooyr/websocket - A minimal and idiomatic WebSocket library for Go.
• Centrifuge - Real-time messaging library for Go with scalability in mind.

Haskell

• Websockets - A Haskell library for creating WebSocket-capable servers.
• n2o - Haskell implementation of Erlang's n2o - web server on websockets.

Java VM

Clojure

• Sente - Realtime web comms for Clojure/Script.
• Chord - Library designed to bridge the gap between the triad of CLJ/CLJS, web-sockets and core.async.
• Luminusweb - Luminus is a Clojure micro-framework based on a set of lightweight libraries.

Java

• Project Tyrus - JSR 356: Java API for WebSocket - Reference Implementation.
• Java-WebSocket - Barebones WebSocket client and server implementation written in 100% Java.
• Atmosphere - Realtime Client Server Framework for the JVM, supporting WebSockets with Cross-Browser Fallbacks.
• Webbit - Java event based WebSocket and HTTP server.

Kotlin

• Scarlet - Tinder's Retrofit inspired WebSocket client for Kotlin, Java, and Android

Scala

• Play - The high velocity web framework for Java and Scala.
• Finagle-websocket - Finagle Websocket clients and servers.

Node.js

• Socket.IO - Featuring the fastest and most reliable real-time engine.
• Nodejs-websocket - Node.js module for websocket server and client.
• WebSocket-Node - WebSocket Implementation for Node.JS (Draft -08 through the final RFC 6455).
• Sockjs-node - WebSocket emulation - Node.js server.
• Ws - ws: The fastest cross platform RFC-6455 WebSocket implementation for Node.js.
• deepstream.io - Open realtime server a fast, secure and scalable realtime server for mobile, web & iot.
• websocket-as-promised - Promise-based W3C WebSocket wrapper: allows to use promises when connecting, disconnecting and messaging with WebSocket server.
• faye-websocket-node - Standards-compliant WebSocket client and server.
• ws-wrapper - Lightweight WebSocket wrapper that provides a socket.io-like event-handler API along with Promise-based requests.
• ws-server-wrapper - Companion library for ws-wrapper for the server-side.
• uws - Tiny WebSockets (access to the C++ library, µWebSockets, via Node.js)
• netflux - JavaScript client and server side transport API based on WebRTC & WebSocket
• Sockette - WebSocket client that will automatically reconnect if the connection is lost.
• rpc-websockets - JSON-RPC 2.0 implementation over WebSockets for Node.js and JavaScript/TypeScript.

Perl

• Net::WebSocket::Server - Straightforward Perl WebSocket server with minimal dependencies.
• [AnyEvent::WebSocket::Server][https://metacpan.org/pod/AnyEvent::WebSocket::Server] - WebSocket server for AnyEvent
• Mojolicious - An amazing real-time web framework built on top of the powerful Mojo web development toolkit and comes with websockets built in.
• [Dancer2::Plugin::WebSocket][https://metacpan.org/pod/Dancer2::Plugin::WebSocket] - add a websocket interface to your Dancer2 app
• Plack::App::WebSocket - WebSocket server as a plack/PSGI application
• Net::WebSocket - Super-flexible, minimal client & server library

PHP

• Ratchet - Ratchet is a loosely coupled PHP library providing developers with tools to create real time, bi-directional applications between clients and servers over WebSockets.
• Php-websocket - Simple PHP WebSocket implementation for PHP 5.3.
• Phpws - PHP Web Socket server.
• Sandstone - Microframework to build a real time Rest API.

Python

• Django Channels - Extends Django with WebSocket, long-poll HTTP, task offloading and other async support.
• Websockets - Websockets is a library for developing WebSocket servers and clients in Python 3.
• Ws4py - WebSocket package for Python.
• Autobahn.ws - Open-source real-time framework for Web, Mobile & Internet of Things.
• Tornado - Tornado is a Python web framework and asynchronous networking library, originally developed at FriendFeed.
• WebSocket Benchmarker - CLI tool for benchmarking WebSocket Servers.

Ruby

• AnyCable - Polyglot replacement for Ruby WebSocket servers with Action Cable protocol.
• Em-websocket - EventMachine based WebSocket server.
• Faye-websocket-ruby - Standards-compliant WebSocket client and server.
• Iodine - WebSocket/HTTP server with integrated pub/sub and optional Redis support.
• Websocket-driver-ruby - WebSocket protocol handler with pluggable I/O.
• Websocket-ruby - Universal Ruby library to handle WebSocket protocol.
• Scorched - Light-weight web framework for Ruby.
• Firehose - Build realtime Ruby web applications. Created by the fine folks at Poll Everywhere.
• Slanger - Open Pusher implementation compatible with Pusher libraries.
• render_sync - Real-time Rails Partials.
• websocket-rails - Plug and play websocket support for ruby on rails.

Rust

• Websocket Core - Rust Websocket server for periodic message broadcast

Swift

• Vapor - A high level web framework for Swift.
• WebsocketKit - A low level WebSocket client library built on SwiftNIO.

Protocols and APIs

• RFC6455 - The WebSocket Protocol.
• The WebSocket API - The W3C The WebSocket API.
• Hixie76 - The WebSocket protocol draft-hixie-thewebsocketprotocol-76

GUI Testing Tools

• Cleora - A native macOS, iOS and iPadOS WebSocket client for testing and documenting APIs.
• Firecamp - Full-featured GUI WebSocket testing client which helps Dev team to test WebSocket events visually. Test APIs, save them in the project and share it with your team.
• WebSocket King - A browser based WebSocket testing client that supports multiple simultanious connections, logs of incoming and outgoing messages, custom protocols and multiple projects.

Command-Line Interface (CLI) Tools

• claws - Awesome WebSocket Client - an interactive command line client for testing websocket servers.
• wscat - WebSocket cat.
• wsta - A CLI development tool for WebSocket APIs.
• ws - websocket command line tool.
• wssh - wssh ("wish") is a command-line utility/shell for WebSocket inspired by netcat.
• wsc - A tiny command line websocket client written in Go.
• ws-cli - WebSocket Command Line Client written in Go.
• ws-tool - A Develop Tool to Test WebSocket, Socket.IO, Stomp, Bayeux, HTTP, TCP, UDP, WebRTC, DNS API.
• websocketd - Turn any program that uses STDIN/STDOUT into a WebSocket server. Like inetd, but for WebSockets.
• websocat - Command-line client for WebSockets, like netcat (or curl) for ws:// with advanced socat-like functions.
• iola - Socket client with Rest API (WebSocket, Socket.IO, TCP, Unix socket).

Real Life Stories

• The top 10 realtime web apps
• Super sync sports
• Firepad
• JabbR
• Kaazing
• Taskade - Real-time collaborative task lists and outlines.

Security

• WebSockets - An Introduction - The problems and some security implications of websockets - Cross-site WebSockets Scripting (XSWS).
• Hacking with WebSockets - Talk on Blackhat USA 2012 Conference.
• Testing for WebSockets Security Vulnerabilities - Interactive vulnerable WebSocket demos that provide hands-on learning of WebSocket security risks
• Testing WebSockets - This article is part of the new OWASP Testing Guide v4.
• Websockets Auth - Journey into WebSockets Authentication/Authorization.
• WebSocket Security - The WebSocket protocol is a young technology, and brings with it some risks. Decades of experience have taught the web community some best practices around HTTP security, but the security best practices in the WebSocket world aren’t firmly established, and continue to evolve. Nevertheless, some themes have emerged and they are described in this article.
• Cross-Site WebSocket Hijacking - Cross-Site WebSocket Hijacking (CSWSH) - Web Application Security Blog.

Theory

Articles & Papers

• An introduction to Websockets - Brief History of Real-Time Web Applications.
• Introducing WebSockets: Bringing Sockets to the Web - The Problem: Low Latency Client-Server and Server-Client Connections.
• About HTML5 WebSocket - About HTML5 WebSocket.
• Node.js WebSocket - Finding the right Node.js WebSocket implementation.
• Websockets 101 - Armin Ronacher's Thoughts and Writings (creator of Flask).
• Real-time Apps - Building Real-time Apps with Websockets & Server-Sent Events.
• Real-Time Web by Paul Banks - The State of Real-Time Web in 2016.
• Are WebSockets the future? - WebSockets, caution required!
• MSDN Microsoft Blog - The Dangers of HTML5: WebSockets and Stable Standards.
• Webpush Internet-Draft - Generic Event Delivery Using HTTP Push.
• Full Stack Python - WebSockets on Python.
• Do you really need WebSockets? - WebSockets explanation.
• Be lazy and test your WebSocket APIs with Firecamp - How to test Websocket in a team.

Talks

• Initial Steps to Use Websocket-rails - This is the very initial steps to use websocket-rails.

Tutorials

• Honeybadger.IO - Building a simple websockets server from scratch in Ruby.
• Engineyard - Getting Started with Ruby and WebSockets.
• David Walsh - WebSocket and Socket.IO.
• Implementing a WebSocket server with Node.js.
• Lostmoa - A collection of Django Channels WebSocket tutorials.

Books

• WebSocket - Lightweight Client-Server Communications. Andrew Lombardi.
• The Definitive Guide to HTML5 WebSocket - Build Real-Time Applications with HTML5. By Vanessa Wang, Frank Salim, and Peter Moskovits. Source Code here.
• High Performance Browser Networking - High Performance Browser Networking: WebSocket.

Sites

• WebSocket ORG - The one-stop-shop for all your websocket needs.
• WebSockets MDN - WebSockets Mozilla Developer Network (MDN).

License

Contributing

Please, read the Contribution Guidelines before submitting your suggestion.

Feel free to open an issue or create a pull request with your additions.

Thanks!

Acknowledgments

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