WebSocket Tester
Test real-time socket endpoints in-browser with frame logging, JSON send validation, auto reconnect backoff, ping intervals, and saved targets.
Updated
Connection
Connect to any ws:// or wss:// endpoint. Browsers block ws:// from HTTPS pages because of mixed content, so prefer wss://.
Status: idle
Sample echo endpoint: wss://echo.websocket.org. This is a third-party service; any messages you send go to that server.
Send frame
Connection behavior
Current reconnect attempt: 0/5
Message log
No messages yet.
How to use WebSocket Tester
WebSocket Tester helps you debug real-time socket integrations without spinning up local scripts or browser devtools snippets. Enter any ws:// or wss:// URL, connect instantly, send text or JSON frames, and inspect every sent or received message with timestamps and byte sizes. The tool also includes reconnect backoff controls, optional ping frames, and local endpoint shortcuts so you can reproduce unstable connection behavior repeatedly while keeping all payload handling in your browser.
- Enter a ws:// or wss:// endpoint and connect; use wss:// when testing from HTTPS pages.
- Send a plain text frame or enable JSON formatting to validate and minify payloads before transmission.
- Watch sent, received, and system messages in the log with timestamps and UTF-8 byte sizes.
- Toggle auto reconnect to test drop recovery with 1s→16s exponential backoff over five attempts.
- Enable optional ping intervals to keep long-running connections active during diagnostics.
Your data never leaves your device — 100% private processing.
Why wss matters on secure pages
Browsers enforce mixed-content rules: if your app is loaded over HTTPS, opening a ws:// socket is treated as insecure active content and is blocked before the handshake completes. That often looks like a mysterious connection failure in frontend logs even though the backend is running. Using wss:// upgrades the socket handshake to TLS, aligning security guarantees with the surrounding page and avoiding browser blocks. During troubleshooting, verify scheme, certificate validity, and proxy forwarding together so socket endpoints behave consistently across local, staging, and production environments.
Interpreting close codes and reconnect strategy
A dropped socket is only useful when you know why it closed. Standard close codes such as 1000 (normal), 1001 (going away), 1006 (abnormal closure, synthetic), and 1011 (server error) reveal whether disconnects are expected or operational failures. Pairing those codes with a deterministic reconnect policy avoids both silent downtime and aggressive reconnect storms. Exponential backoff intervals of 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 seconds are a practical default for client diagnostics: quick enough for iteration, but spaced enough to reduce pressure on unstable upstream services.
Worked examples
Chat event payload check
Inputs: wss://chat.example/ws + {"type":"join","room":"ops"}
Result: Sent frame appears with byte size and echoed ACK response in log
Reconnect sequence audit
Inputs: Auto reconnect on; server drops every 5s
Result: System log shows retries at 1s, 2s, 4s, 8s, and 16s
Glossary
- WebSocket handshake
- The initial HTTP Upgrade request and response that establish a persistent bi-directional socket channel.
- Frame payload
- The message data transmitted in an individual WebSocket frame, often text JSON for app events.
- Close code
- A numeric reason code included when a WebSocket connection is closed, used for diagnostics and retry policy.
- Heartbeat ping
- A periodic lightweight message used to keep idle connections alive and detect broken links sooner.
- Backoff
- A retry strategy that increases delay after each failure to prevent repeated immediate reconnect attempts.
Related reading
Frequently Asked Questions
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Why use WebSocket Tester?
- Connect to public or private WebSocket endpoints and inspect full frame flow in one place
- Validate outgoing JSON payloads before send to avoid malformed frame errors
- Track close codes, close reasons, and reconnect attempts with exponential timing
- Save frequently used endpoints in localStorage for faster regression testing
Common use cases
- Debug chat, live-collaboration, or presence channels that depend on bi-directional socket events
- Verify gateway behavior for auth failures, unexpected close codes, and reconnect timing logic
- Test custom ping or heartbeat frames against backend idle-timeout handling
- Capture reproducible sent/received payload timelines for bug reports and QA evidence
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