nanobot/docs/websocket.md

WebSocket Server Channel

Nanobot can act as a WebSocket server, allowing external clients (web apps, CLIs, scripts) to interact with the agent in real time via persistent connections.

Features

• Bidirectional real-time communication over WebSocket
• Streaming support — receive agent responses token by token
• Token-based authentication (static tokens and short-lived issued tokens)
• Multi-chat multiplexing — one connection can run many concurrent chat_ids
• TLS/SSL support (WSS) with enforced TLSv1.2 minimum
• Client allow-list via allowFrom
• Auto-cleanup of dead connections

Quick Start

1. Configure

Add to config.json under channels.websocket:

{
  "channels": {
    "websocket": {
      "enabled": true,
      "host": "127.0.0.1",
      "port": 8765,
      "path": "/",
      "websocketRequiresToken": false,
      "allowFrom": ["*"],
      "streaming": true
    }
  }
}

2. Start nanobot

nanobot gateway

You should see:

WebSocket server listening on ws://127.0.0.1:8765/

3. Connect a client

# Using websocat
websocat ws://127.0.0.1:8765/?client_id=alice

# Using Python
import asyncio, json, websockets

async def main():
    async with websockets.connect("ws://127.0.0.1:8765/?client_id=alice") as ws:
        ready = json.loads(await ws.recv())
        print(ready)  # {"event": "ready", "chat_id": "...", "client_id": "alice"}
        await ws.send(json.dumps({"content": "Hello nanobot!"}))
        reply = json.loads(await ws.recv())
        print(reply["text"])

asyncio.run(main())

Connection URL

ws://{host}:{port}{path}?client_id={id}&token={token}

Parameter	Required	Description
client_id	No	Identifier for allowFrom authorization. Auto-generated as anon-xxxxxxxxxxxx if omitted. Truncated to 128 chars.
token	Conditional	Authentication token. Required when websocketRequiresToken is true or token (static secret) is configured.

Wire Protocol

All frames are JSON text. Each message has an event field.

Server → Client

ready — sent immediately after connection is established:

{
  "event": "ready",
  "chat_id": "uuid-v4",
  "client_id": "alice"
}

message — full agent response:

{
  "event": "message",
  "chat_id": "uuid-v4",
  "text": "Hello! How can I help?",
  "media": ["/tmp/image.png"],
  "reply_to": "msg-id"
}

media and reply_to are only present when applicable.

delta — streaming text chunk (only when streaming: true):

{
  "event": "delta",
  "chat_id": "uuid-v4",
  "text": "Hello",
  "stream_id": "s1"
}

stream_end — signals the end of a streaming segment:

{
  "event": "stream_end",
  "chat_id": "uuid-v4",
  "stream_id": "s1"
}

attached — confirmation for new_chat / attach inbound envelopes (see Multi-chat multiplexing):

{"event": "attached", "chat_id": "uuid-v4"}

error — soft error for malformed inbound envelopes. The connection stays open:

{"event": "error", "detail": "invalid chat_id"}

Client → Server

Legacy (default chat): send a plain string, or a JSON object with a recognized text field:

"Hello nanobot!"

{"content": "Hello nanobot!"}

Recognized fields: content, text, message (checked in that order). Invalid JSON is treated as plain text. These frames route to the connection's default chat_id (the one announced in ready).

Typed envelopes (multi-chat): any JSON object with a string type field is a typed envelope:

type	Fields	Effect
new_chat	—	Server mints a new chat_id, subscribes this connection, replies with attached.
attach	chat_id	Subscribe to an existing chat_id (e.g. after a page reload). Replies with attached.
message	chat_id, content	Send content on chat_id. First use auto-attaches; no explicit attach needed.

See Multi-chat multiplexing for the full flow.

Configuration Reference

All fields go under channels.websocket in config.json.

Connection

Field	Type	Default	Description
enabled	bool	false	Enable the WebSocket server.
host	string	"127.0.0.1"	Bind address. Use "0.0.0.0" to accept external connections.
port	int	8765	Listen port.
path	string	"/"	WebSocket upgrade path. Trailing slashes are normalized (root / is preserved).
maxMessageBytes	int	1048576	Maximum inbound message size in bytes (1 KB – 16 MB).

Authentication

Field	Type	Default	Description
token	string	""	Static shared secret. When set, clients must provide ?token=<value> matching this secret (timing-safe comparison). Issued tokens are also accepted as a fallback.
websocketRequiresToken	bool	true	When true and no static token is configured, clients must still present a valid issued token. Set to false to allow unauthenticated connections (only safe for local/trusted networks).
tokenIssuePath	string	""	HTTP path for issuing short-lived tokens. Must differ from path. See Token Issuance.
tokenIssueSecret	string	""	Secret required to obtain tokens via the issue endpoint. If empty, any client can obtain tokens (logged as a warning).
tokenTtlS	int	300	Time-to-live for issued tokens in seconds (30 – 86,400).

Access Control

Field	Type	Default	Description
allowFrom	list of string	["*"]	Allowed client_id values. "*" allows all; [] denies all.

Streaming

Field	Type	Default	Description
streaming	bool	true	Enable streaming mode. The agent sends delta + stream_end frames instead of a single message.

Keep-alive

Field	Type	Default	Description
pingIntervalS	float	20.0	WebSocket ping interval in seconds (5 – 300).
pingTimeoutS	float	20.0	Time to wait for a pong before closing the connection (5 – 300).

TLS/SSL

Field	Type	Default	Description
sslCertfile	string	""	Path to the TLS certificate file (PEM). Both sslCertfile and sslKeyfile must be set to enable WSS.
sslKeyfile	string	""	Path to the TLS private key file (PEM). Minimum TLS version is enforced as TLSv1.2.

Token Issuance

For production deployments where websocketRequiresToken: true, use short-lived tokens instead of embedding static secrets in clients.

How it works

1. Client sends GET {tokenIssuePath} with Authorization: Bearer {tokenIssueSecret} (or X-Nanobot-Auth header).
2. Server responds with a one-time-use token:

{"token": "nbwt_aBcDeFg...", "expires_in": 300}

3. Client opens WebSocket with ?token=nbwt_aBcDeFg...&client_id=....
4. The token is consumed (single use) and cannot be reused.

Example setup

{
  "channels": {
    "websocket": {
      "enabled": true,
      "port": 8765,
      "path": "/ws",
      "tokenIssuePath": "/auth/token",
      "tokenIssueSecret": "your-secret-here",
      "tokenTtlS": 300,
      "websocketRequiresToken": true,
      "allowFrom": ["*"],
      "streaming": true
    }
  }
}

Client flow:

# 1. Obtain a token
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer your-secret-here" http://127.0.0.1:8765/auth/token

# 2. Connect using the token
websocat "ws://127.0.0.1:8765/ws?client_id=alice&token=nbwt_aBcDeFg..."

Limits

• Issued tokens are single-use — each token can only complete one handshake.
• Outstanding tokens are capped at 10,000. Requests beyond this return HTTP 429.
• Expired tokens are purged lazily on each issue or validation request.

Multi-chat multiplexing

A single WebSocket can carry many concurrent chats. The server tracks chat_id -> {connections} as a fan-out set, so the same chat can also be mirrored across multiple connections (e.g. two browser tabs).

Typical flow (web UI with a sidebar)

client                                server
  | --- connect -------------------->  |
  | <-- {"event":"ready",              |
  |      "chat_id":"d3..."}   (default)|
  |                                     |
  | --- {"type":"new_chat"} --------->  |
  | <-- {"event":"attached",            |
  |      "chat_id":"a1..."}             |
  |                                     |
  | --- {"type":"message",              |
  |      "chat_id":"a1...",             |
  |      "content":"hi"} ------------>  |
  | <-- {"event":"delta", ...}          |
  | <-- {"event":"stream_end", ...}     |
  |                                     |
  | --- {"type":"attach",               |  # after page reload
  |      "chat_id":"a1..."} --------->  |
  | <-- {"event":"attached", ...}       |

Rules

• Every outbound event carries chat_id. Clients must dispatch by that field.
• chat_id format: ^[A-Za-z0-9_:-]{1,64}$. Non-matching values return error.
• message auto-attaches on first use — no separate attach is required for chats the server minted (new_chat) on the same connection.
• Errors (invalid envelope, unknown type, bad chat_id) are soft: the server replies with {"event":"error","detail":"..."} and keeps the connection open.

Backward compatibility

Legacy clients that only send plain text or {"content": ...} keep working unchanged: those frames route to the connection's default chat_id (the one from ready). No config flag is needed.

Security boundary

chat_id is a capability: anyone holding a valid WebSocket auth credential and the chat_id can attach to that conversation and see its output. This is safe for nanobot's local, single-user model. Multi-tenant deployments should namespace chat_ids per user (or introduce a per-tenant auth gate) — nanobot does not do this today.

Security Notes

• Timing-safe comparison: Static token validation uses hmac.compare_digest to prevent timing attacks.
• Defense in depth: allowFrom is checked at both the HTTP handshake level and the message level.
• chat_id as capability: see Multi-chat multiplexing. Auth on the WebSocket handshake is the single line of defense; callers who pass it can attach to any chat_id they know.
• TLS enforcement: When SSL is enabled, TLSv1.2 is the minimum allowed version.
• Default-secure: websocketRequiresToken defaults to true. Explicitly set it to false only on trusted networks.

Media Files

Outbound message events may include a media field containing local filesystem paths. Remote clients cannot access these files directly — they need either:

• A shared filesystem mount, or
• An HTTP file server serving the nanobot media directory

Common Patterns

Trusted local network (no auth)

{
  "channels": {
    "websocket": {
      "enabled": true,
      "host": "0.0.0.0",
      "port": 8765,
      "websocketRequiresToken": false,
      "allowFrom": ["*"],
      "streaming": true
    }
  }
}

Static token (simple auth)

{
  "channels": {
    "websocket": {
      "enabled": true,
      "token": "my-shared-secret",
      "allowFrom": ["alice", "bob"]
    }
  }
}

Clients connect with ?token=my-shared-secret&client_id=alice.

Public endpoint with issued tokens

{
  "channels": {
    "websocket": {
      "enabled": true,
      "host": "0.0.0.0",
      "port": 8765,
      "path": "/ws",
      "tokenIssuePath": "/auth/token",
      "tokenIssueSecret": "production-secret",
      "websocketRequiresToken": true,
      "sslCertfile": "/etc/ssl/certs/server.pem",
      "sslKeyfile": "/etc/ssl/private/server-key.pem",
      "allowFrom": ["*"]
    }
  }
}

Custom path

{
  "channels": {
    "websocket": {
      "enabled": true,
      "path": "/chat/ws",
      "allowFrom": ["*"]
    }
  }
}

Clients connect to ws://127.0.0.1:8765/chat/ws?client_id=.... Trailing slashes are normalized, so /chat/ws/ works the same.