# websocat

> Command-line WebSocket client and server, like netcat, curl and socat for ws:// and wss://, with TCP/UNIX socket proxying and program execution.

Stars: 8.7k · Language: Rust · License: MIT · Categories: Network

- Repository: https://github.com/vi/websocat
- Page: https://www.trmn.sh/tools/websocat

## Install

- Homebrew: `brew install websocat`
- FreeBSD pkg: `pkg install websocat`
- Cargo: `cargo install websocat`

## Overview

websocat is a command-line client and server for WebSockets, comparable to netcat, curl and socat but for ws:// and wss:// endpoints. It has a simple client mode (`websocat ws://URL`), a simple server mode (`websocat -s port`), and an advanced mode that takes two address arguments (`websocat [FLAGS] [OPTIONS] <addr1> <addr2>`) in the style of socat, so any two endpoints can be connected.

Beyond plain connections, it can run an external program and connect its stdin/stdout to a WebSocket, proxy TCP connections to WebSockets and back (e.g. `ws-l:127.0.0.1:1234 tcp:127.0.0.1:22`), and broadcast messages between connected clients using `broadcast:mirror:`. It supports text and binary modes, conversion between lines (or null-terminated records) and messages, inetd mode, UNIX sockets including Linux abstract sockets, unauthenticated SOCKS5 servers, auto-reconnect and connection-reuse modes, and Nginx integration over TCP or UNIX sockets. Other options include `--jsonrpc` to format typed lines as JSON-RPC 2.0 calls (used in the README to drive Chromium's remote debugging port), deflate/gzip/zlib compression of binary messages, and `--print-ping-rtts` to print round-trip times.

Transports can be overridden, for example by calling an external program to handle SSL or proxying. Pre-built executables exist for Linux (glibc and musl), Windows, macOS and Android, and a container image is available at ghcr.io/vi/websocat. It suits developers testing or debugging WebSocket APIs, scripting against WebSocket services from the shell, and people bridging WebSocket traffic to ordinary TCP or stdio tools.

### Installation

```bash
# via Homebrew
brew install websocat
```

```bash
# via FreeBSD pkg
pkg install websocat
```

```bash
# via Cargo
cargo install websocat
```

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Canonical: https://www.trmn.sh/tools/websocat