wscat

wscat is a command-line tool that acts as a WebSocket client, similar to the cat command but for WebSocket connections. It allows you to send data from standard input to a WebSocket server and receive data from the server to standard output.

Features

• Supports WebSocket (ws) and secure WebSocket (wss) connections.
• Supports HTTP and HTTPS proxies.
• Supports custom WebSocket protocol names.
• Supports buffer size configuration.
• Supports connection and DNS timeout configuration.
• Supports deflate compression.
• Supports ignoring invalid SSL certificates.

Requirements

• libcurl with WebSocket support.

Installation

Debian/Ubuntu

1. Install the required dependencies:

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install build-essential libcurl4-openssl-dev

2. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/wscat.git
   cd wscat

3. Compile the wscat tool:

   gcc -o wscat wscat.c -lcurl

macOS

1. Install the required dependencies using Homebrew:

   brew install curl

2. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/wscat.git
   cd wscat

3. Compile the wscat tool:

   gcc -o wscat wscat.c -lcurl

Usage

./wscat [options] <WebSocket URL>

Options

• --protocol <protocol name>: Set the WebSocket protocol name (default: wscat-protocol).
• --buffer-size <buffer size>: Set the buffer size (default: 1024).
• --timeout <timeout>: Set the connection timeout in seconds (default: 60).
• --dns-timeout <dns timeout>: Set the DNS resolution timeout in seconds (default: 30).
• --deflate: Enable deflate compression.
• --insecure: Ignore invalid SSL certificates.

Examples

1. Connect to a WebSocket server with default settings:

   ./wscat ws://echo.example.site

2. Connect to a WebSocket server with a custom protocol name and buffer size:

   ./wscat --protocol my-protocol --buffer-size 2048 ws://echo.example.site

3. Connect to a WebSocket server with a connection timeout and DNS timeout:

   ./wscat --timeout 60 --dns-timeout 30 ws://echo.example.site

4. Connect to a WebSocket server with deflate compression enabled:

   ./wscat --deflate ws://echo.example.site

5. Connect to a WebSocket server and ignore invalid SSL certificates:

   ./wscat --insecure wss://echo.example.site

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue or submit a pull request.

Acknowledgments

• libcurl for providing the WebSocket support.