ws

RFC6455 WebSocket implementation in Go.

Features

Zero-copy upgrade
No intermediate allocations during I/O
Low-level API which allows to build your own logic of packet handling and buffers reuse
High-level wrappers and helpers around API in wsutil package, which allow to start fast without digging the protocol internals

Documentation

Why

Existing WebSocket implementations do not allow users to reuse I/O buffers between connections in clear way. This library aims to export efficient low-level interface for working with the protocol without forcing only one way it could be used.

By the way, if you want get the higher-level tools, you can use wsutil package.

Status

Library is tagged as v1* so its API must not be broken during some improvements or refactoring.

This implementation of RFC6455 passes Autobahn Test Suite and currently has about 78% coverage.

Examples

Example applications using ws are developed in separate repository ws-examples.

Usage

The higher-level example of WebSocket echo server:

package main

import (
	"net/http"

	"github.com/gobwas/ws"
	"github.com/gobwas/ws/wsutil"
)

func main() {
	http.ListenAndServe(":8080", http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
		conn, _, _, err := ws.UpgradeHTTP(r, w)
		if err != nil {
			// handle error
		}
		go func() {
			defer conn.Close()

			for {
				msg, op, err := wsutil.ReadClientData(conn)
				if err != nil {
					// handle error
				}
				err = wsutil.WriteServerMessage(conn, op, msg)
				if err != nil {
					// handle error
				}
			}
		}()
	}))
}

Lower-level, but still high-level example:

import (
	"net/http"
	"io"

	"github.com/gobwas/ws"
	"github.com/gobwas/ws/wsutil"
)

func main() {
	http.ListenAndServe(":8080", http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
		conn, _, _, err := ws.UpgradeHTTP(r, w)
		if err != nil {
			// handle error
		}
		go func() {
			defer conn.Close()

			var (
				state  = ws.StateServerSide
				reader = wsutil.NewReader(conn, state)
				writer = wsutil.NewWriter(conn, state, ws.OpText)
			)
			for {
				header, err := reader.NextFrame()
				if err != nil {
					// handle error
				}

				// Reset writer to write frame with right operation code.
				writer.Reset(conn, state, header.OpCode)

				if _, err = io.Copy(writer, reader); err != nil {
					// handle error
				}
				if err = writer.Flush(); err != nil {
					// handle error
				}
			}
		}()
	}))
}

We can apply the same pattern to read and write structured responses through a JSON encoder and decoder.:

	...
	var (
		r = wsutil.NewReader(conn, ws.StateServerSide)
		w = wsutil.NewWriter(conn, ws.StateServerSide, ws.OpText)
		decoder = json.NewDecoder(r)
		encoder = json.NewEncoder(w)
	)
	for {
		hdr, err = r.NextFrame()
		if err != nil {
			return err
		}
		if hdr.OpCode == ws.OpClose {
			return io.EOF
		}
		var req Request
		if err := decoder.Decode(&req); err != nil {
			return err
		}
		var resp Response
		if err := encoder.Encode(&resp); err != nil {
			return err
		}
		if err = w.Flush(); err != nil {
			return err
		}
	}
	...

The lower-level example without wsutil:

package main

import (
	"net"
	"io"

	"github.com/gobwas/ws"
)

func main() {
	ln, err := net.Listen("tcp", "localhost:8080")
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}

	for {
		conn, err := ln.Accept()
		if err != nil {
			// handle error
		}
		_, err = ws.Upgrade(conn)
		if err != nil {
			// handle error
		}

		go func() {
			defer conn.Close()

			for {
				header, err := ws.ReadHeader(conn)
				if err != nil {
					// handle error
				}

				payload := make([]byte, header.Length)
				_, err = io.ReadFull(conn, payload)
				if err != nil {
					// handle error
				}
				if header.Masked {
					ws.Cipher(payload, header.Mask, 0)
				}

				// Reset the Masked flag, server frames must not be masked as
				// RFC6455 says.
				header.Masked = false

				if err := ws.WriteHeader(conn, header); err != nil {
					// handle error
				}
				if _, err := conn.Write(payload); err != nil {
					// handle error
				}

				if header.OpCode == ws.OpClose {
					return
				}
			}
		}()
	}
}

Zero-copy upgrade

Zero-copy upgrade helps to avoid unnecessary allocations and copying while handling HTTP Upgrade request.

Processing of all non-websocket headers is made in place with use of registered user callbacks whose arguments are only valid until callback returns.

The simple example looks like this:

package main

import (
	"net"
	"log"

	"github.com/gobwas/ws"
)

func main() {
	ln, err := net.Listen("tcp", "localhost:8080")
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	u := ws.Upgrader{
		OnHeader: func(key, value []byte) (err error) {
			log.Printf("non-websocket header: %q=%q", key, value)
			return
		},
	}
	for {
		conn, err := ln.Accept()
		if err != nil {
			// handle error
		}

		_, err = u.Upgrade(conn)
		if err != nil {
			// handle error
		}
	}
}

Usage of ws.Upgrader here brings ability to control incoming connections on tcp level and simply not to accept them by some logic.

Zero-copy upgrade is for high-load services which have to control many resources such as connections buffers.

The real life example could be like this:

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"log"
	"net"
	"net/http"
	"runtime"

	"github.com/gobwas/httphead"
	"github.com/gobwas/ws"
)

func main() {
	ln, err := net.Listen("tcp", "localhost:8080")
	if err != nil {
		// handle error
	}

	// Prepare handshake header writer from http.Header mapping.
	header := ws.HandshakeHeaderHTTP(http.Header{
		"X-Go-Version": []string{runtime.Version()},
	})

	u := ws.Upgrader{
		OnHost: func(host []byte) error {
			if string(host) == "github.com" {
				return nil
			}
			return ws.RejectConnectionError(
				ws.RejectionStatus(403),
				ws.RejectionHeader(ws.HandshakeHeaderString(
					"X-Want-Host: github.com\r\n",
				)),
			)
		},
		OnHeader: func(key, value []byte) error {
			if string(key) != "Cookie" {
				return nil
			}
			ok := httphead.ScanCookie(value, func(key, value []byte) bool {
				// Check session here or do some other stuff with cookies.
				// Maybe copy some values for future use.
				return true
			})
			if ok {
				return nil
			}
			return ws.RejectConnectionError(
				ws.RejectionReason("bad cookie"),
				ws.RejectionStatus(400),
			)
		},
		OnBeforeUpgrade: func() (ws.HandshakeHeader, error) {
			return header, nil
		},
	}
	for {
		conn, err := ln.Accept()
		if err != nil {
			log.Fatal(err)
		}
		_, err = u.Upgrade(conn)
		if err != nil {
			log.Printf("upgrade error: %s", err)
		}
	}
}

imawhale/ws