# vi/websocat

Command-line client for WebSockets, like netcat (or curl) for ws:// with advanced socat-like functions

Repository: https://github.com/vi/websocat
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/websocat
Language: Rust
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: websockets, websocket-server, websocket-client, proxy, socat, rfc-6455, cli, command-line, command-line-tool, netcat, curl
Last push: 2026-08-13T10:17:56+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 74/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 97, release rhythm 31, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3570, "days_push": 20, "days_rel": 249, "gap_med": 409, "n_releases_24m": 2}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 8673, forks 327 (observed 2026-08-28T04:10:24.161256+00:00)

## What it is
websocat is a command-line tool for WebSockets, acting like netcat, curl, and socat for ws:// and wss:// connections. It supports both connecting to and serving WebSocket endpoints, with advanced features like proxying between TCP and WebSocket, broadcasting, auto-reconnect, and UNIX socket integration.

## Use cases
- test a websocket server from the command line
- run a websocket echo server for debugging
- bridge a TCP connection over a websocket
- pipe stdin/stdout of a program to a websocket
- broadcast websocket messages between multiple clients
- debug browser devtools protocol over websocket
- connect to a websocket through a SOCKS5 proxy

## When to choose
- you need a quick netcat-style tool for testing or scripting WebSocket connections
- you want to proxy or bridge TCP and WebSocket traffic from the shell
- you need a lightweight WebSocket server or client without writing code
- you want cross-platform prebuilt binaries for Linux, Windows, and macOS

## When to avoid
- you need a WebSocket library to embed in an application rather than a CLI tool
- you need a GUI WebSocket client with saved request collections
- you need production-grade WebSocket load testing or monitoring at scale

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: websocket, http-client, proxy, cli, networking
- domain: developer-tools, networking, web-development
- platform: windows, bsd, cli, rust
- tags: websocket-client, websocket-server, netcat, socat, rfc6455, tcp-proxying, unix-sockets, socks5, command-line, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- vi/websocat (main) score 74

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:24.161256+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:25:37.055091+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/vi/websocat (fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:24.161256+00:00, sha c0cc03cd183c)
  - registry_crates: https://crates.io/api/v1/crates/websocat (fetched 2026-08-29T08:25:56.746617+00:00, sha 0e75789ec420)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.