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WebSockets Cheat Sheet

WebSockets Cheat Sheet

Quick reference for opening, sending, and closing full-duplex WebSocket connections between browser and server, including lifecycle events and reconnection.

2 PagesIntermediateMar 2, 2026

Client-Side WebSocket API

Opening a connection and handling core events.

javascript
// Create connectionconst socket = new WebSocket('wss://example.com/socket');socket.addEventListener('open', () => {  console.log('Connected');  socket.send('Hello Server!');});socket.addEventListener('message', (event) => {  console.log('Received:', event.data);});socket.addEventListener('close', (event) => {  console.log('Closed:', event.code, event.reason);});socket.addEventListener('error', (event) => {  console.error('WebSocket error:', event);});// Send JSONsocket.send(JSON.stringify({ type: 'chat', text: 'hi' }));// Close gracefullysocket.close(1000, 'Done');

Node.js WebSocket Server (ws)

Accepting connections and broadcasting messages.

javascript
const { WebSocketServer } = require('ws');const wss = new WebSocketServer({ port: 8080 });wss.on('connection', (ws, req) => {  console.log('Client connected:', req.socket.remoteAddress);  ws.on('message', (data) => {    // Broadcast to all connected clients    wss.clients.forEach((client) => {      if (client.readyState === ws.OPEN) {        client.send(data.toString());      }    });  });  ws.on('close', () => console.log('Client disconnected'));  ws.ping(); // heartbeat frame});

readyState Values

The four states a WebSocket connection moves through.

  • CONNECTING (0)- Socket created, connection not yet open
  • OPEN (1)- Connection is open and ready to send/receive
  • CLOSING (2)- Connection handshake for closing is in progress
  • CLOSED (3)- Connection is closed or failed to open
  • socket.readyState- Property on the WebSocket instance exposing the current state as a number

Common Close Codes

Status codes sent in the close frame.

  • 1000- Normal closure, purpose fulfilled
  • 1001- Going away (e.g. page navigating away, server shutting down)
  • 1006- Abnormal closure; no close frame was received (connection dropped)
  • 1008- Policy violation (generic rejection)
  • 1011- Server encountered an unexpected internal error
  • 4000-4999- Reserved range for application-defined custom codes
Pro Tip

Implement heartbeat ping/pong frames and exponential-backoff reconnect logic on the client — WebSocket connections silently die behind proxies and load balancers without periodic keepalive traffic.

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