🔌Websocket

Stream data directly to your applications with our websocket integration.

Websockets allow for two-way communication between a client and a server. Unlike traditional request-response models, Websockets keep a persistent connection open, enabling real-time data exchange. This is perfect for applications that require instant updates, such as chat apps, online games and marketplaces.

Standard Websockets

Helius supports all stable Solana Websockets.

You can use these with your Helius WSS URL:

• Mainnet – wss://mainnet.helius-rpc.com

• Devnet – wss://devnet.helius-rpc.com

WebSocket methods marked as "unstable" in Solana's documentation, such as blockSubscribe, slotsUpdatesSubscribe and voteSubscribe are not supported. This could be enabled for dedicated nodes.

After connecting to the websocket:

• Submit subscription requests to the websocket using the methods.

• Multiple subscriptions may be active at once.

• Many subscriptions take the optional commitment parameter, defining how finalized a change should be to trigger a notification. For subscriptions, if commitment is unspecified, the default value is finalized.

Javascript Examples

Program Susbcribe

const WebSocket = require('ws');

// Create a WebSocket connection
const ws = new WebSocket('wss://mainnet.helius-rpc.com/?api-key=<api-key>');

// Function to send a request to the WebSocket server
function sendRequest(ws) {
    const request = {
        "jsonrpc": "2.0",
        "id": 1,
        "method": "programSubscribe",
        "params": [
          "6EF8rrecthR5Dkzon8Nwu78hRvfCKubJ14M5uBEwF6P",
          {
            "encoding": "jsonParsed"
          }
        ]
      };
    ws.send(JSON.stringify(request));
}

// Function to send a ping to the WebSocket server
function startPing(ws) {
    setInterval(() => {
        if (ws.readyState === WebSocket.OPEN) {
            ws.ping();
            console.log('Ping sent');
        }
    }, 30000); // Ping every 30 seconds
}

// Define WebSocket event handlers

ws.on('open', function open() {
    console.log('WebSocket is open');
    sendRequest(ws); // Send a request once the WebSocket is open
    startPing(ws); // Start sending pings
});

ws.on('message', function incoming(data) {
    const messageStr = data.toString('utf8');
    try {
        const messageObj = JSON.parse(messageStr);
        console.log('Received:', messageObj);
    } catch (e) {
        console.error('Failed to parse JSON:', e);
    }
});

ws.on('error', function error(err) {
    console.error('WebSocket error:', err);
});

ws.on('close', function close() {
    console.log('WebSocket is closed');
});

Signature Subscribe

This subscription is for a single notification. The server automatically cancels it after sending the signatureNotification via the RPC.

const WebSocket = require('ws');

// Create a WebSocket connection
const ws = new WebSocket('wss://mainnet.helius-rpc.com/?api-key=<api-key>');

// Function to send a request to the WebSocket server
function sendRequest(ws) {
    const request = {
        "jsonrpc": "2.0",
        "id": 1,
        "method": "signatureSubscribe",
        "params": [
          "2EBVM6cB8vAAD93Ktr6Vd8p67XPbQzCJX47MpReuiCXJAtcjaxpvWpcg9Ege1Nr5Tk3a2GFrByT7WPBjdsTycY9b",
          {
            "commitment": "finalized",
            "enableReceivedNotification": false
          }
        ]
      };
    ws.send(JSON.stringify(request));
}

// Function to send a ping to the WebSocket server
function startPing(ws) {
    setInterval(() => {
        if (ws.readyState === WebSocket.OPEN) {
            ws.ping();
            console.log('Ping sent');
        }
    }, 30000); // Ping every 30 seconds
}

// Define WebSocket event handlers

ws.on('open', function open() {
    console.log('WebSocket is open');
    sendRequest(ws); // Send a request once the WebSocket is open
    startPing(ws); // Start sending pings
});

ws.on('message', function incoming(data) {
    const messageStr = data.toString('utf8');
    try {
        const messageObj = JSON.parse(messageStr);
        console.log('Received:', messageObj);
    } catch (e) {
        console.error('Failed to parse JSON:', e);
    }
});

ws.on('error', function error(err) {
    console.error('WebSocket error:', err);
});

ws.on('close', function close() {
    console.log('WebSocket is closed');
});