Foundation or terminal standard
WebSocket / WSS
WebSocket Protocol
Widely used
Documented current use
Provides a browser-compatible bidirectional transport that can carry text, an application API, or full Telnet negotiation.
Protocol overview
- First seen
- 2011
- Present-day status
- Widely used
- In use today?
- Yes, with documented current use.
- Legacy?
- No.
- Layer
- Foundation or terminal standard
- Transport
- HTTP Upgrade to WebSocket, optionally protected by TLS
- Research validated
Current use and fit
Widely used for browser clients; WSS is the secure deployment form.
Implementation essentials
- Define and document the selected subprotocol.
- Use WSS in production.
- If carrying Telnet, preserve the normal byte-level option semantics.
Compatibility and safety notes
- A plain text WebSocket and Telnet-over-WebSocket are not interchangeable.
- Browser origin and authentication rules still apply.
Original specifications and sources
- RFC 6455 WebSocket Protocol Standard
- FluffOS WebSocket documentation Implementation
Where an original site has disappeared, a preservation archive is linked and identified as such. MUDVerse does not claim authorship of the original protocol.