What is go-socket.io?

googollee/go-socket.io — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-06-26

★ 5,791GoAudience · developerComplexity · 3/5LicenseSetup · easy

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((go-socket.io))
    What it does
      Real-time Go server
      Push to browsers
      Socket.IO v1.4
    Features
      Rooms grouping
      Namespaces
      Broadcasting
      engineio transport
    Status
      Archived repo
      Community fork active
      BSD 3-Clause license
    Use Cases
      Live chat
      Real-time dashboards
      Collaborative editing

mindmap root((go-socket.io)) What it does Real-time Go server Push to browsers Socket.IO v1.4 Features Rooms grouping Namespaces Broadcasting engineio transport Status Archived repo Community fork active BSD 3-Clause license Use Cases Live chat Real-time dashboards Collaborative editing

Click or tap to explore — scroll the page freely

What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Add real-time push updates to a Go web server so connected browsers receive changes the moment they happen without polling

USE CASE 2

Build a live group chat feature where messages sent by one user are broadcast to all other connected clients instantly

USE CASE 3

Use the engineio sub-package independently to handle low-level WebSocket or long-polling transport without the full Socket.IO protocol

USE CASE 4

Study the library's source code as a reference for understanding how the Socket.IO v1.4 protocol works under the hood

What is it built with?

GoSocket.IOengineio

How does it compare?

	googollee/go-socket.io	go-pg/pg	ltaoo/wx_channels_download
Stars	5,791	5,786	5,797
Language	Go	Go	Go
Setup difficulty	easy	moderate	moderate
Complexity	3/5	3/5	2/5
Audience	developer	developer	general

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 30min

This repository is archived, use the community fork listed in the README for new projects to receive bug fixes and updates.

Use freely for any purpose including commercial use with attribution, the BSD 3-Clause license requires keeping the copyright notice and does not restrict modification or distribution.

So what is it?

go-socket.io is a Go implementation of Socket.IO, a protocol that lets web browsers and servers communicate in real time. Normally, a web page loads and the connection closes. Socket.IO keeps that connection open so the server can push updates to the browser instantly, without the page needing to ask again. This library brings that real-time behavior to servers written in Go, the programming language developed by Google. The README states that this repository is archived and no longer actively maintained. Development has moved to a community fork at a different GitHub organization. If you are starting a new project that needs this library, the README points you to that fork as the recommended alternative. When it was active, the library supported version 1.4 of the Socket.IO client protocol. It included support for rooms (a way to group connected clients so you can message them collectively), namespaces (separate communication channels hosted on the same server connection), and broadcasting messages to multiple clients at once. These three features cover most of the common use cases for real-time web applications, such as chat rooms, live dashboards, and collaborative editing tools. The library also contains a sub-package called engineio, which handles the lower-level transport layer that Socket.IO builds on. That sub-package can be used independently if you want the underlying connection handling without the full Socket.IO protocol on top. Installation followed the standard Go toolchain process. Examples were available in the project repository. A community chat group existed on Telegram for questions. The library is released under the BSD 3-Clause license.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1

Show me a minimal Go server using go-socket.io that broadcasts a message to all connected clients whenever any client sends one, like a simple chat room

Prompt 2

How do namespaces work in go-socket.io? Give me an example of a server that handles two separate communication channels on the same connection

Prompt 3

I want to send a message to only the clients in a specific room using go-socket.io. Show me how to join a room and broadcast to it

Prompt 4

The README says development has moved to a community fork. What is the fork location and how do I update my import path to use it instead of this repo?

Prompt 5

How do I integrate go-socket.io with the standard Go net/http server so that regular HTTP routes and Socket.IO connections are served from the same port?

Frequently asked questions