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### [Full Documentation](https://ittysockets.com/docs) | [Discord](https://discord.gg/53vyrZAu9u)
---
# Zero-Config WebSockets.
No accounts, no API keys, nothing to deploy. Just connect and start sending.
### **~466 bytes** • **free forever**
> After building realtime apps for years, I wanted something absolutely frictionless for prototyping. Spinning up socket servers or authenticating to services like Pusher/Ably involves overhead every time... so I built a service for myself (and everyone else). Then I designed this super-tiny WebSocket client that made even *that* side really easy to work with.
>
> Welcome to `itty-sockets`!
## Features
- **Zero Config/Cost** - No accounts, no API keys, no server. Pick a channel name and you're live.
- **Private** - No logging, no tracking, no storage. Messages are relayed and forgotten.
- **Flexible** - Send any JSON-serializable data/shape.
- **Access Control** - [Reserve a namespace](https://ittysockets.com/reservations) to control who can join or send on your channels.
- **Use Anywhere** - No vendor lock. This client works with *any* WebSocket server. Want to host your own? No problem.
- **Tiny Client** - Only 466 bytes gzipped.
## Chat Example
```ts
import { connect } from 'itty-sockets' // ~466 bytes
// connect to a room
const bob = connect('my-secret-chat-room', { as: 'Bob' })
bob
.send('hey Alice!')
.send([1, 2, 3])
.send({ foo: 'bar' })
```
meanwhile, elsewhere...
```ts
// connect to the same room as above, and listen for messages
const alice = connect('my-secret-chat-room', { as: 'Alice' })
.on('message', ({ message, alias }) =>
console.log(`${alias}: ${message}`)
)
// → "Bob: hey Alice!"
// → "Bob: [1, 2, 3]"
// → "Bob: { foo: 'bar' }"
```
## Installation
```bash
npm install itty-sockets
```
Or just paste the following snippet (loses TypeScript support):
```ts
let connect=(e,s={})=>{let a,t,n=[],p={},o=()=>(a||(a=new WebSocket((/^wss?:/.test(e)?e:"wss://itty.ws/c/"+e)+"?"+new URLSearchParams(s)),a.onmessage=(e,s=JSON.parse(e.data),a=s?.message,t={...null==a?.[0]&&a,...s})=>[t.type,s.type?0:"message","*"].map(e=>p[e]?.map(e=>e(t))),a.onopen=()=>(n.splice(0).map(e=>a.send(e)),p.open?.map(e=>e(t)),t&&a?.close()),a.onclose=()=>(t=a=null,p.close?.map(e=>e(t)))),l),l={open:o,send:(e,s)=>(e=(s?` ${s} `:"")+JSON.stringify(e),1&a?.readyState?a.send(e):n.push(e),o()),on:(e,s)=>((p[e?.[0]?e:"*"]??=[]).push(e?.[0]?s:a=>e?.(a)&&s(a)),o()),remove:(e,s)=>(p[e]=p[e]?.filter(e=>e!=s),l),close:()=>(1&a?.readyState?a.close():t=1,l),push:(e,s)=>(t=1,l.send(e,s))};return l};
```
## API at a Glance
| Method | Description |
|---|---|
| `connect(channel, options?)` | Connect to a channel (or raw `wss://` URL) |
| `.on(type, listener)` | Listen for events (`'message'`, `'join'`, `'leave'`, `'open'`, `'close'`, `'error'`, custom types, or `'*'`) |
| `.on(filterFn, listener)` | Listen with a custom filter function |
| `.send(message, uid?)` | Send a message (optionally to a specific user) |
| `.push(message, uid?)` | Send a message and disconnect afterwards |
| `.open()` | (Re)connect — safe to call anytime, listeners are preserved |
| `.close()` | Disconnect |
| `.remove(type, listener)` | Remove a listener |
## See the [full documentation](https://ittysockets.com/docs).