WebSocket Protocol Guide

Build real-time applications using WebSocket for full-duplex, low-latency communication. Covers the protocol handshake, message handling, connection management, and scaling strategies.

Usage

Ask about implementing WebSocket connections, handling reconnection, or scaling WebSocket servers.

Examples

• "How do I implement WebSocket reconnection with backoff?"
• "What is the difference between WebSocket and Server-Sent Events?"
• "How do I scale WebSocket connections across multiple servers?"

Guidelines

• Implement heartbeat pings to detect dead connections
• Use exponential backoff for reconnection attempts
• Consider sticky sessions or a pub/sub layer for multi-server WebSocket
• Always handle the connection close event and clean up resources
• Use WebSocket for bidirectional communication, SSE for server-to-client only