WebSocket API

DeepWiki uses WebSocket connections to provide real-time streaming responses for chat completions and wiki generation. This enables a more responsive user experience with lower latency compared to traditional HTTP streaming.

Overview

The WebSocket API replaces HTTP streaming endpoints with persistent WebSocket connections that:

Stream AI responses in real-time as they’re generated
Provide immediate feedback for long-running operations
Support bidirectional communication for future enhancements
Automatically fall back to HTTP if WebSocket connection fails

Connection Establishment

Endpoint

ws://localhost:8001/ws/chat

For production deployments with SSL:

wss://your-domain.com/ws/chat

Client Connection Example

// Convert HTTP URL to WebSocket URL
const getWebSocketUrl = () => {
  const baseUrl = process.env.SERVER_BASE_URL || 'http://localhost:8001';
  // Replace http:// with ws:// or https:// with wss://
  const wsBaseUrl = baseUrl.replace(/^http/, 'ws');
  return `${wsBaseUrl}/ws/chat`;
};

// Create WebSocket connection
const ws = new WebSocket(getWebSocketUrl());

ws.onopen = () => {
  console.log('WebSocket connection established');
  // Send the request after connection is open
  ws.send(JSON.stringify(requestData));
};

Message Formats

Request Format

After establishing the connection, send a JSON message with the following structure:

interface ChatCompletionRequest {
  repo_url: string;              // Repository URL (GitHub, GitLab, BitBucket)
  messages: ChatMessage[];       // Conversation history
  filePath?: string;            // Optional: Focus on specific file
  token?: string;               // Optional: Access token for private repos
  type?: string;                // Repository type: 'github' | 'gitlab' | 'bitbucket'
  provider?: string;            // AI provider: 'google' | 'openai' | 'openrouter' | 'ollama' | 'azure'
  model?: string;               // Model name for the provider
  language?: string;            // Response language: 'en' | 'ja' | 'zh' | 'es' | 'kr' | 'vi'
  excluded_dirs?: string;       // Newline-separated list of directories to exclude
  excluded_files?: string;      // Newline-separated list of file patterns to exclude
  included_dirs?: string;       // Newline-separated list of directories to include
  included_files?: string;      // Newline-separated list of file patterns to include
}

interface ChatMessage {
  role: 'user' | 'assistant' | 'system';
  content: string;
}

Response Format

The server streams text responses as they’re generated:

// Each WebSocket message contains a text chunk
ws.onmessage = (event) => {
  const textChunk = event.data; // Plain text chunk
  console.log('Received:', textChunk);
  // Append to the full response
  fullResponse += textChunk;
};

Event Types

Connection Events

// Connection established
ws.onopen = (event) => {
  console.log('Connected to DeepWiki WebSocket');
  // Send your request here
};

// Connection closed
ws.onclose = (event) => {
  console.log('WebSocket connection closed');
  // Handle completion or reconnection logic
};

// Connection error
ws.onerror = (error) => {
  console.error('WebSocket error:', error);
  // Fall back to HTTP streaming
};

Message Flow

Client connects to WebSocket endpoint
Client sends JSON request after connection opens
Server streams text responses
Server closes connection when complete
Client handles close event

Streaming Features

Wiki Generation

For wiki page generation, the WebSocket streams Markdown content in real-time:

const generateWikiPage = async (page: WikiPage) => {
  const ws = new WebSocket(wsUrl);
  
  await new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
    ws.onopen = () => {
      ws.send(JSON.stringify({
        repo_url: repoUrl,
        messages: [{
          role: 'user',
          content: generatePagePrompt(page)
        }],
        provider: selectedProvider,
        model: selectedModel,
        language: language
      }));
    };
    
    let content = '';
    ws.onmessage = (event) => {
      content += event.data;
      // Update UI with streaming content
      updatePageContent(content);
    };
    
    ws.onclose = () => resolve(content);
    ws.onerror = (error) => reject(error);
  });
};

Chat/Ask Feature

The Ask feature uses WebSocket for real-time streaming with support for:

Conversation History: Maintains context across multiple questions
Deep Research Mode: Multi-turn research with automatic continuation
File Context: Include specific file content in queries

// Example: Deep Research request
const deepResearchRequest = {
  repo_url: 'https://github.com/user/repo',
  messages: [
    {
      role: 'user',
      content: '[DEEP RESEARCH] How does the authentication system work?'
    }
  ],
  provider: 'google',
  model: 'gemini-2.0-flash',
  language: 'en'
};

ws.send(JSON.stringify(deepResearchRequest));

Connection Lifecycle

Automatic Closure

The server automatically closes the WebSocket connection after:

Completing the response stream
Encountering an error
Detecting client disconnect

Reconnection Strategy

const createResilientWebSocket = (
  request: ChatCompletionRequest,
  maxRetries: number = 3
) => {
  let retryCount = 0;
  
  const connect = () => {
    const ws = new WebSocket(getWebSocketUrl());
    
    ws.onerror = (error) => {
      if (retryCount < maxRetries) {
        retryCount++;
        console.log(`Retrying connection (${retryCount}/${maxRetries})...`);
        setTimeout(connect, 1000 * retryCount); // Exponential backoff
      } else {
        console.error('Max retries reached, falling back to HTTP');
        fallbackToHttp(request);
      }
    };
    
    ws.onopen = () => {
      retryCount = 0; // Reset on successful connection
      ws.send(JSON.stringify(request));
    };
    
    return ws;
  };
  
  return connect();
};

Error Handling

Server-Side Errors

The server sends error messages as text before closing the connection:

ws.onmessage = (event) => {
  const message = event.data;
  
  if (message.startsWith('Error:')) {
    // Handle error message
    console.error('Server error:', message);
    // Error types:
    // - "Error: No valid document embeddings found..."
    // - "Error: No messages provided"
    // - "Error: Last message must be from the user"
    // - "Error preparing retriever: ..."
  } else {
    // Handle normal response
    processResponse(message);
  }
};

Client-Side Error Handling

const handleWebSocketError = (error: Event) => {
  console.error('WebSocket error:', error);
  
  // Fallback to HTTP streaming
  return fetch('/api/chat/stream', {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
    body: JSON.stringify(request)
  });
};

Status Codes

WebSocket connections use standard close codes:

Code	Status	Description
1000	Normal Closure	Request completed successfully
1001	Going Away	Server is shutting down
1002	Protocol Error	Invalid message format
1003	Unsupported Data	Invalid request data
1006	Abnormal Closure	Connection lost unexpectedly
1011	Internal Error	Server encountered an error

Security Considerations

Authentication

For private repositories, include the access token in the request:

const secureRequest = {
  repo_url: 'https://github.com/org/private-repo',
  token: 'ghp_xxxxxxxxxxxx', // GitHub personal access token
  type: 'github',
  messages: [...]
};

Connection Security

Use WSS in Production: Always use wss:// (WebSocket Secure) in production
Token Validation: Tokens are validated server-side before accessing repositories
Origin Validation: Consider implementing origin checks for CORS security
Rate Limiting: Implement connection rate limiting to prevent abuse

Example Security Headers

// Server-side WebSocket upgrade with security headers
app.add_websocket_route("/ws/chat", handle_websocket_chat, {
  headers: {
    'X-Content-Type-Options': 'nosniff',
    'X-Frame-Options': 'DENY',
    'X-XSS-Protection': '1; mode=block'
  }
});

Complete Client Implementation Example

import { ChatCompletionRequest } from '@/types/chat';

class DeepWikiWebSocketClient {
  private ws: WebSocket | null = null;
  private messageBuffer: string = '';
  
  async streamCompletion(
    request: ChatCompletionRequest,
    onChunk: (chunk: string) => void,
    onError: (error: Error) => void,
    onComplete: () => void
  ): Promise<void> {
    return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
      try {
        // Close existing connection if any
        this.close();
        
        // Create new WebSocket connection
        this.ws = new WebSocket(this.getWebSocketUrl());
        
        // Set binary type for potential future binary support
        this.ws.binaryType = 'arraybuffer';
        
        // Connection opened
        this.ws.onopen = () => {
          console.log('WebSocket connection established');
          this.ws!.send(JSON.stringify(request));
        };
        
        // Message received
        this.ws.onmessage = (event) => {
          try {
            const chunk = event.data;
            this.messageBuffer += chunk;
            onChunk(chunk);
          } catch (error) {
            console.error('Error processing message:', error);
            onError(error as Error);
          }
        };
        
        // Connection closed
        this.ws.onclose = (event) => {
          console.log('WebSocket closed:', event.code, event.reason);
          onComplete();
          resolve();
        };
        
        // Connection error
        this.ws.onerror = (error) => {
          console.error('WebSocket error:', error);
          onError(new Error('WebSocket connection failed'));
          reject(error);
        };
        
        // Set timeout for connection
        setTimeout(() => {
          if (this.ws?.readyState === WebSocket.CONNECTING) {
            this.close();
            reject(new Error('WebSocket connection timeout'));
          }
        }, 5000);
        
      } catch (error) {
        reject(error);
      }
    });
  }
  
  private getWebSocketUrl(): string {
    const baseUrl = process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_SERVER_BASE_URL || 'http://localhost:8001';
    return baseUrl.replace(/^http/, 'ws') + '/ws/chat';
  }
  
  close(): void {
    if (this.ws && this.ws.readyState === WebSocket.OPEN) {
      this.ws.close(1000, 'Client closing connection');
    }
    this.ws = null;
    this.messageBuffer = '';
  }
  
  getFullResponse(): string {
    return this.messageBuffer;
  }
}

// Usage example
const client = new DeepWikiWebSocketClient();

await client.streamCompletion(
  {
    repo_url: 'https://github.com/user/repo',
    messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'Explain the main functionality' }],
    provider: 'google',
    model: 'gemini-2.0-flash',
    language: 'en'
  },
  (chunk) => {
    // Update UI with streaming chunk
    setResponse(prev => prev + chunk);
  },
  (error) => {
    console.error('Streaming error:', error);
    // Fall back to HTTP
  },
  () => {
    console.log('Streaming complete');
    // Enable UI for next question
  }
);

Performance Considerations

Advantages over HTTP Streaming

Lower Latency: No HTTP overhead for each chunk
Bidirectional: Enables future features like progress updates
Connection Reuse: Single connection for entire session
Binary Support: Can handle binary data if needed

Best Practices

Implement Fallback: Always have HTTP streaming as fallback
Handle Disconnects: Gracefully handle unexpected disconnections
Buffer Management: Clear buffers after each completion
Resource Cleanup: Close connections when component unmounts

// React cleanup example
useEffect(() => {
  return () => {
    client.close(); // Clean up WebSocket on unmount
  };
}, []);

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Connection Refused
- Check if the API server is running on port 8001
- Verify WebSocket endpoint URL is correct
- Check for proxy/firewall blocking WebSocket connections
Immediate Disconnect
- Verify request JSON format is valid
- Check for missing required fields
- Ensure messages array is not empty
No Response
- Check server logs for errors
- Verify model provider credentials are set
- Ensure repository URL is accessible

Debug Logging

Enable detailed logging for troubleshooting:

const debugWebSocket = (ws: WebSocket) => {
  ws.addEventListener('open', (e) => console.log('WS Open:', e));
  ws.addEventListener('message', (e) => console.log('WS Message:', e.data));
  ws.addEventListener('error', (e) => console.log('WS Error:', e));
  ws.addEventListener('close', (e) => console.log('WS Close:', e.code, e.reason));
};

Future Enhancements

The WebSocket infrastructure enables future real-time features:

Progress indicators for long operations
Cancel/interrupt ongoing generation
Real-time collaboration features
Live repository updates
Streaming file analysis
Interactive debugging sessions

API Documentation

​WebSocket API

​Overview

​Connection Establishment

​Endpoint

​Client Connection Example

​Message Formats

​Request Format

​Response Format

​Event Types

​Connection Events

​Message Flow

​Streaming Features

​Wiki Generation

​Chat/Ask Feature

​Connection Lifecycle

​Automatic Closure

​Reconnection Strategy

​Error Handling

​Server-Side Errors

​Client-Side Error Handling

​Status Codes

​Security Considerations

​Authentication

​Connection Security

​Example Security Headers

​Complete Client Implementation Example

​Performance Considerations

​Advantages over HTTP Streaming

​Best Practices

​Troubleshooting

​Common Issues

​Debug Logging

​Future Enhancements