Socket Laravel Package

Getting Started

Start by installing the package via Composer: composer require react/socket. The SocketServer class is the primary entry point for building socket servers — pass a bound address like '127.0.0.1:8080' or '0.0.0.0:8080' to listen publicly. Use the connection event to handle incoming clients, receiving a ConnectionInterface instance that supports standard async streaming operations (write, end, close, pipe, and events like data, end, error, close). For clients, instantiate Connector and call connect('host:port') to get a promise resolving to a ConnectionInterface. Check the examples/ directory for minimal, working demos.

Implementation Patterns

• Server with rate limiting: Wrap SocketServer in LimitingServer to restrict simultaneous connections, using getConnections() for introspection.
• Security-first servers: Use SecureServer (or TLS URLs like tls://0.0.0.0:443) with stream_context_create() options for certificates.
• Custom DNS resolution: Chain DnsConnector before TcpConnector in the Connector pipeline to enforce DNS validation or fallback.
• Connection pooling / pipelining: Leverage ConnectionInterface’s pipe() to relay data streams (e.g., proxy servers), or use buffering strategies with ReadableStreamInterface / WritableStreamInterface interfaces.
• Event loop integration: Use React’s EventLoop to schedule pauses/resumes (pause()/resume()) for traffic shaping or maintenance windows.
• DNS-aware clients: Prefer HappyEyeBallsConnector for IPv4/IPv6 dual-stack fallback, and wrap with TimeoutConnector to avoid hanging on DNS resolution or connection delays.

Gotchas and Tips

• IPv6 literals: Always wrap IPv6 addresses in square brackets ('[::1]:8080'); missing brackets cause InvalidArgumentException.
• Port reuse: On Unix-like systems, set SO_REUSEADDR via stream_context_create(['socket' => ['so_reuseaddr' => true]]) and pass as context to avoid Address already in use errors during rapid restarts.
• Error event ≠ fatal: The error event fires for non-fatal issues (e.g., failed connection attempts), not server shutdown — always attach handlers to avoid silent failures.
• Context options: When constructing SocketServer or Connector, pass an optional stream_context to configure TLS (e.g., verify peers, SNI), bind to specific interfaces, or tweak timeouts.
• Unix sockets: Paths must be absolute and prefixed with unix://; ensure the process has read/write permissions on the socket file/directory.
• TLS certificate validation: By default, SecureConnector and SecureServer skip peer verification for dev safety. Always enable verification (verify_peer => true) in production and provide cafile or capath.
• Typehinting: Accept ServerInterface/ConnectorInterface in your own APIs to enable easy mocking, swapping, and future upgrades (e.g., v3).