+[](https://websocket-client.readthedocs.io/)

+[](https://github.com/websocket-client/websocket-client/actions/workflows/build.yml)

+[](https://codecov.io/gh/websocket-client/websocket-client)

+[](https://pepy.tech/project/websocket-client)

+[](https://pypi.org/project/websocket_client/)

+

+# websocket-client

+

+websocket-client is a WebSocket client for Python. It provides access

+to low level APIs for WebSockets. websocket-client implements version

+[hybi-13](https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-hybi-thewebsocketprotocol-13)

+of the WebSocket procotol. This client does not currently support the

+permessage-deflate extension from

+[RFC 7692](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7692).

+

+## Documentation

+

+This project's documentation can be found at

+[https://websocket-client.readthedocs.io/](https://websocket-client.readthedocs.io/)

+

+## Contributing

+

+Please see the [contribution guidelines](https://github.com/websocket-client/websocket-client/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md)

+

+## Installation

+

+First, install the following dependencies:

+- six

+- backports.ssl\_match\_hostname for Python 2.x

+

+You can install the dependencies with the command `pip install six` and

+`pip install backports.ssl_match_hostname`

+

+You can use either `python setup.py install` or `pip install websocket-client`

+to install. This module is tested on Python 2.7 and Python 3.4+. Python 3

+support was first introduced in version 0.14.0, but is a work in progress.

+

+## Usage Tips

+

+Check out the documentation's FAQ for additional guidelines:

+[https://websocket-client.readthedocs.io/en/latest/faq.html](https://websocket-client.readthedocs.io/en/latest/faq.html)

+

+Known issues with this library include lack of WebSocket Compression

+support (RFC 7692) and [minimal threading documentation/support](https://websocket-client.readthedocs.io/en/latest/threading.html).

+

+## License

+

+- LGPL version 2.1

+

+### Performance

+

+The `send` and `validate_utf8` methods are very slow in pure Python. You can

+disable UTF8 validation in this library (and receive a performance enhancement)

+with the `skip_utf8_validation` parameter. If you want to get better

+performance, please install both numpy and wsaccel, and import them into your

+project files - these other libraries will automatically be used when available.

+Note that wsaccel can sometimes cause other issues.

+

+### Long-lived Connection

+

+Most real-world WebSockets situations involve longer-lived connections.

+The WebSocketApp `run_forever` loop automatically tries to reconnect when a

+connection is lost, and provides a variety of event-based connection controls.

+The project documentation has

+[additional examples](https://websocket-client.readthedocs.io/en/latest/examples.html)

+

+```python

+import websocket

+try:

+ import thread

+except ImportError:

+ import _thread as thread

+import time

+

+def on_message(ws, message):

+ print(message)

+

+def on_error(ws, error):

+ print(error)

+

+def on_close(ws):

+ print("### closed ###")

+

+def on_open(ws):

+ def run(*args):

+ for i in range(3):

+ time.sleep(1)

+ ws.send("Hello %d" % i)

+ time.sleep(1)

+ ws.close()

+ print("thread terminating...")

+ thread.start_new_thread(run, ())

+

+if __name__ == "__main__":

+ websocket.enableTrace(True)

+ ws = websocket.WebSocketApp("ws://echo.websocket.org/",

+ on_open = on_open,

+ on_message = on_message,

+ on_error = on_error,

+ on_close = on_close)

+

+ ws.run_forever()

+```

+

+### Short-lived Connection

+

+This is if you want to communicate a short message and disconnect

+immediately when done. For example, if you want to confirm that a WebSocket

+server is running and responds properly to a specific request.

+The project documentation has

+[additional examples](https://websocket-client.readthedocs.io/en/latest/examples.html)

+

+```python

+from websocket import create_connection

+ws = create_connection("ws://echo.websocket.org/")

+print("Sending 'Hello, World'...")

+ws.send("Hello, World")

+print("Sent")

+print("Receiving...")

+result = ws.recv()

+print("Received '%s'" % result)

+ws.close()

+```

+

+If you want to customize socket options, set sockopt, as seen below:

+

+```python

+from websocket import create_connection

+ws = create_connection("ws://echo.websocket.org/",

+ sockopt=((socket.IPPROTO_TCP, socket.TCP_NODELAY),))

+```

+

+### Acknowledgements

+

+Thanks to @battlemidget and @ralphbean for helping migrate this project to

+Python 3.