LiveWire

High-performance WebSocket implementation from scratch.
No libraries, no ws, no socket.io. Built directly on raw TCP using Node.js net module and RFC 6455.

Overview

LiveWire is a ground-up implementation of the WebSocket protocol. It was born from a desire to understand exactly how bytes travel across the wire during a WebSocket connection.

Features

• Raw TCP Handshake: Manual parsing of HTTP "Upgrade" headers.
• RFC 6455 Compliant Framing: Full support for FIN bits, Opcodes, and Masking.
• Payload Management: Handles small, medium, and large (64-bit) payloads.
• Fragmentation: Reassembles fragmented frames into complete messages.
• Control Frames: Native support for PING/PONG heartbeats and Graceful Close.
• Broadcast Engine: Built-in multi-client management for real-time applications.
• Generic Protocol: Send raw strings or structured JSON with ease.

Installation

To use LiveWire in your own project:

npm install live-wire

Usage

Basic Server

import { LiveWireServer } from "live-wire";

const server = new LiveWireServer();

server.on("connection", (ws) => {
    console.log("A new client joined!");

    ws.on("message", (data) => {
        console.log("Received:", data);
        
        // Broadcast to everyone
        server.broadcast({
            type: "chat",
            message: data
        });
    });
});

server.listen(5000, () => {
    console.log("LiveWire Server running on port 5000");
});

Architecture

LiveWire is modularly designed:

• LiveWireServer: Orchestrates the TCP server and the HTTP -> WebSocket upgrade handshake.
• LiveWire: Encapsulates a single client connection, handling the framing and unmasking of packets.

Author

Built as a deep-dive into networking protocols. Feel free to use it for your own learning or to power lightweight real-time apps!