Building WebSocket Server

Overview

Build scalable WebSocket servers for real-time bidirectional communication using the ws library, Socket.IO, or native framework WebSocket support. Handle connection lifecycle management, room/channel subscriptions, message broadcasting, heartbeat keepalive, and horizontal scaling with Redis pub/sub adapters.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ with ws or socket.io, or Python 3.10+ with websockets or FastAPI WebSocket, or Go with gorilla/websocket
• Redis for horizontal scaling with pub/sub adapter (Socket.IO Redis adapter, or manual pub/sub)
• Load balancer configured for WebSocket upgrade (sticky sessions or proper Upgrade header forwarding)
• JWT or session-based authentication for connection handshake
• Monitoring for active connection counts and message throughput

Instructions