# joewalnes/websocketd

Turn any program that uses STDIN/STDOUT into a WebSocket server. Like inetd, but for WebSockets.

Repository: https://github.com/joewalnes/websocketd
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/websocketd
Homepage: http://websocketd.com/
Language: Go
License: BSD-2-Clause
License Family: permissive
Topics: websocket-server, websockets, proxy
Last push: 2026-08-20T15:07:59+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 67/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 98, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4948, "days_push": 13, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 17466, forks 1008 (observed 2026-08-28T04:11:19.905018+00:00)

## What it is
websocketd is a small command-line tool written in Go that wraps any executable program reading STDIN and writing STDOUT, exposing it as a WebSocket server. It works like inetd or CGI for WebSockets, forking a dedicated process per connection and piping messages between the client and the program.

## Use cases
- turn a bash script into a websocket server
- expose a command-line program over websockets
- build realtime browser apps without websocket libraries
- pipe stdin/stdout to a web browser
- prototype websocket endpoints in any language
- stream live output from a script to a web page

## When to choose
- you want websocket endpoints in any language with no networking libraries
- you prefer the UNIX philosophy of small text-stream programs
- you need quick prototypes or simple realtime push from scripts
- you want per-connection process isolation

## When to avoid
- you need high-performance, in-process websocket handling at large scale
- you need rich websocket features like binary frames, subprotocols, or fine-grained control
- you need TLS termination, clustering, or advanced routing built in
- your messages are not newline-delimited text

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: stable
- function: websocket, http-server, cli
- domain: web-development, backend, developer-tools
- platform: windows, cross-platform, cli
- tags: websocket-server, stdin-stdout, language-agnostic, unix-philosophy, inetd-like, real-time, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- joewalnes/websocketd (main) score 67

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:19.905018+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 2026-08-29T17:02:55.756859+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/joewalnes/websocketd (fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:19.905018+00:00, sha 1b6fb4300f17)
  - homepage: http://websocketd.com/ (fetched 2026-08-29T08:00:59.195973+00:00, sha ce4f6d2e83af)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.