actix-web/guide/src/qs_9.md

WebSockets

Actix supports WebSockets out-of-the-box. It is possible to convert request's Payload to a stream of ws::Message with a ws::WsStream and then use stream combinators to handle actual messages. But it is simpler to handle websocket communications with http actor.

This is example of simple websocket echo server:

# extern crate actix;
# extern crate actix_web;
use actix::*;
use actix_web::*;

/// Define http actor
struct Ws;

impl Actor for Ws {
    type Context = ws::WebsocketContext<Self>;
}

/// Handler for ws::Message message
impl StreamHandler<ws::Message, ws::ProtocolError> for Ws {

    fn handle(&mut self, msg: ws::Message, ctx: &mut Self::Context) {
        match msg {
            ws::Message::Ping(msg) => ctx.pong(&msg),
            ws::Message::Text(text) => ctx.text(text),
            ws::Message::Binary(bin) => ctx.binary(bin),
            _ => (),
        }
    }
}

fn main() {
    Application::new()
      .resource("/ws/", |r| r.f(|req| ws::start(req, Ws)))  // <- register websocket route
      .finish();
}

Simple websocket echo server example is available in examples directory.

Example chat server with ability to chat over websocket connection or tcp connection is available in websocket-chat directory